Dyslexia & FCPS

[Anonymous]

I have been told that Fairfax county schools will not recognize dyslexia as a disability and will look for alternate terminology to describe it. Is this true? Why do they not recognize dyslexia?

[Anonymous]

The term dyslexia is often used interchangeably with reading disability. Dyslexia is commonly used in medical settings, although the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) uses the term “reading disorder” instead. Some researchers use the term dyslexia in a narrow sense to refer to difficulty with accurate and fluent single word identification, or decoding.

To avoid confusion, NASP advises school psychologists to use the term “reading disability,” rather than dyslexia, when referring to learning disabilities in the area of reading, and to reframe parents’ referrals and inquiries accordingly.

http://www.caspsurveys.org/NEW/pdfs/nasp12.pdf

[Anonymous]

I have a dyslexic child at MCPS..while they do not recognize dyslexia..they do acknowledge that he has a "specific learning disability" He has an IEP..not that it the school actually follows it much..but that is a whole nother story.. Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

I think "dyslexia" is just considered to be a vague term that has different meaning in different contexts, so the school district is going with "Specific Learning Disability" and then identifying the actual disabilty that is impeding the ability to learn to read. (auditory processing, phonic manipulations, short term memory deficit, etc...) THat way the instruction can be geared towards improving that particular deficit.

[Anonymous]

Informative post 16:50. Thanks for providing it.

My DS was identified with a Specific Learning Disability and has an IEP (he also has OHI - ADHD). I don't know why it's called a "specific" LD since it's really not specific.

[Anonymous]

School psychologist here. PPs are correct. Dyslexia is such a broad term that unless we have reports documenting assessment findings that support something more specific (like phonological awareness etc.) we will need to do our own evaluations and find the specific "processing deficit" that is impeding your child's learning.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing unspecific about dyslexia when properly diagnosed by a psychologist. It can be described with specific deficits identified and reccomendations to meet the unique needs of each child. Fairfax county simply does not want to identify children as dyslexic because then they would have to recognize the 15% they currently ignore. They pass children from grade to grade with the expectation these children will never go to college. They lump these unique children under the umbrella of reading disordered children. The fact is these children cannot process the same as other children. Ignoring this providing meaningless programs created at the local school does not allow these children access to the ciriculum like their peers have. These children often fall behind or progress very little over years of school at FCPS. You can get the best IEP at a school here-it means nothing if it is not implemented systematically or sequentially. A huge problem at FCPS. The teachers are also not at all knowledgeable in dyslexia. Our casual polling of special education teachers from grade school to high school revealed not one-NOT ONE teacher we polled had any knowledge in dyslexia. When asked why, they stated they simply never learned about it in school. Hey-heres an idea-do a little research on the internet. Even one minute would result in more knowledge then you have now. Statistics show 15% of all children have dyslexia. That is a huge portion of our school population that is virtually being ignored.
Shame on FCPS! The law states schools must provide for the unique needs of the child. The law also states that meaningful progress must be made. Our PSL stated to us,"Any progress is progress." When I questioned her, not believing what she stated she answered," One word a month would be progress." Wow! That is truly unacceptable!
FCPS refers parents back to the principle, the very person who has created issues in our case, stonewalled us with no options to provide parental input and offered no options but the "Expert" program the teachers (who know nothing about dyslexia) created.
I have an unbelievable history of events that include having won multiple state complaints that FCPS ignored stating they have done no wrong and my child was not impacted by any of their actions.
Sad to say-No progress can be made under these conditions. It is not just me. I have heard a multitude of stories almost exactly the same. Momentum is gainng.

[Anonymous]

PP, will you say which school? I wouldn't be surprised if it was our school.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with 20:24. I have two dyslexic children and I have NEVER come across a single teacher or specialist or administrator in FCPS who knows anything about dyslexia. This is absolutely ridiculous. Our school even has a reading specialist who knows nothing about it. It boggles my mind since the research is out there, and the prevalence is so high. FCPS is one of the largest and wealthiest school systems in the entire United States. Take a look at all the administrative staff that our taxpayer dollars support -- all of the employees developing FCPS curriculum, teacher training, fancy FCPS brochures....and yet NOBODY is addressing an easily diagnosed, easily remediated, and very common learning disability. There was an article in the Fairfax Times two weeks ago on this very topic. http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/cms/story.php?id=3101

[Anonymous]

It is odd that dyslexia is so common, but Fairfax acts like it doesn't exist.

[Anonymous]

If the schools can't help a kid with dyslexia, where do you go to for help?

[Anonymous]

PPs, can you specifically describe what difficulties your child with dyslexia has, and how those difficulties were diagnosed? I suspect that we're discussing semantics here. FCPS often completes pretty thorough testing in an effort to identify specific processing weakness that impact learning. If your child's needs are not being met through his IEP, it is likely not due to misidentification, but a failure to tailor his program to the specific needs identified in his assessment.

[Anonymous]

It's not that many of us in the public schools (at least where I work) don't understand dyslexia. Although we may not use the term dyslexia in our reports, if a school psychologist recommends Specific Learning Disability eligibility consideration after noting weaknesses in basic reading/decoding skills, as well as processing weaknesses (such as phonological memory, rapid naming skills, ability to manipulate sounds, etc., that's what it means.

[Anonymous]

PP - My DD had trouble with reading in kindergarten. FCPS said wait; reading specialist said we won't know anything until 3rd grade. DD still had trouble in 1st grade. I asked for testing and school refused because her grades were too high. I got private testing with a diagnosis. School said we can't do anything until she is two grade levels behind - she must fail before we can help her. So we had to go to private school -- She just could not be writing book reports along with the rest of the 1st grade class without any help.

So maybe your school is unique, but the elementary school we attend has been horrible. None of the special ed teachers are trained in dyslexia, the reading specialist doesn't know one thing about it, and neither do the teachers. But I don't mean to sound like I am blaming them -- I blame the system and the schools that offer education degrees., The teachers who are open to learning about dyslexia are always shocked that they did not learn about it in school or in their continuing ed training, especially since it is so prevalent and treatable.

I have talked to FCPS administrators about this problem and they have done nothing to address it. Yet lots of other smaller school systems throughout the country formally recognize dyslexia and even routinely screen for it in kindergarten! From a cost perspective, this is much less expensive....and think about all of the ways kids can be helped through early identification.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone attend the FCPS workshop on special ed yesterday? Just curious if they used the D-word...