Can You Trust Your Gut When It Comes to Dyslexia?

“You don’t grow out of dyslexia, you grow into dyslexia. You learn to manage.” Dyslexia expert Laura Ross Stephenson helps families understand how to identify and prepare for a dyslexia diagnosis.

My Special Education Story

By Hilary Laxson

When Active-duty members are forced to choose between career and their kid’s education because of lack of services in some areas it is time for the military to change how we help these families. Some parents are forced to live separately to avoid constantly moving a child in special education. Some spouses are not aware they are being sent to a place that doesn’t have services or can’t handle the child’s needs because often the service member either doesn’t know any better or doesn’t tell their spouse.

Moving with Dyslexia

We were stationed in California, home to one of the worst dyslexia laws in the country. It doesn’t include any mandated screenings, teacher certification, teacher instruction on dyslexia in teaching programs, nor does it require any mandated multi-sensory explicit instruction (Orton-Gillingham) for anyone who has dyslexia.

Every time someone has to move the IEP process basically starts over. While the federal law requires a state to implement the IEP within 30 days as is or start the process over in the new state it is fairly common for a state and/or district to try to remove services without notice. We know this is illegal, but it happens to parents who are not aware of the law.