Questions for parents of kids with dyslexia

[Anonymous]

My ADHD 3rd grader was just diagnosed with dyslexia. She has always gotten 3s and 4s on her report cards (grade level or above grade level) in her dcps school and her standardized tests show that she’s on grade level, but I’ve felt for a while that reading isn’t clicking for her. Her processing speed is somewhat low (40%), but her neuropsych shows her as 70th to 88th percentile in most non-reading related areas. Here are my questions as a dyslexia newbie.

1. Is a private focused on dyslexia a good idea for next year? Assume cost isn’t an issue, but we love our bilingual DCPS and really appreciate going to a neighborhood school, so we haven’t chosen private even though we can afford it. That said, we want to do what’s best for our kid.

2. If you think a school for dyslexia is a good idea, what are the options within 30 minutes of NW DC? Are these schools good for kids who are strong in math, but not reading?

3. If we stay in public school, is it ok to continue with bilingual education? My kid likes learning in Spanish. She struggles to read in both languages a bit. As I mentioned, her teachers didn’t notice and the testing didn’t pick it up, which I assume means it’s relatively mild…but I wonder if things will get harder/ more apparent in 4th grade next year.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Great questions OP. DC was diagnosed about the same time, I think it was 2nd grade. She was below reading level when tested, but with time and tutoring she was on grade level the next year and excelled in English and Reading every year since. We did not move her out of her private Catholic school.

She has had Spanish since K and we continue with foreign language today in high school. It was recommended that we not continue with a foreign language. We did include in her IEP that spelling in foreign language classes would not be marked incorrectly.

She had nearly a perfect English/Reading score on her HSPT and last spring on her SAT. And she is my only DC that still reads for pleasure.

Good luck with your decision.

[Anonymous]

If your child is thriving in bilingual program, keep at it. Our DC who has fairly significant dyslexia does well in Spanish and has really quite good verbal Spanish skills. But the dyslexia was not subtle.

Im a little confused why you had your DC tested in the first place if they were not struggling in school and teachers had not noticed?

[Anonymous]

Op here. We had her tested because we were doing the follow up neuropsych related to her adhd. I flagged dyslexia as a potential issue for the tester because I just had a sense that reading wasn’t clicking for her (I could tell from listening to her struggle to read out loud to me). She covered it well in school because she’s pretty good at guessing, I think.

[Anonymous]

I'm based in Virginia, so I'm not very familiar with private schools in Maryland.
The Lab School in DC is designed for students with more severe dyslexia and learning differences, so it may not be the right fit depending on your child's needs.
In Virginia, there's Sienna School in Oakton and Oakwood School in Annandale. However, both could be difficult to access from DC. Flint Hill in Oakton is another option; they offer support for a range of learning differences and provide bus transportation. That said, from what I understand, they focus more on accommodations rather than direct dyslexia remediation or intervention.
I’d also encourage you to consider the social and emotional impact. Does your child have close friends at their current school? Would switching to a private school feel like a punishment to them? Are you planning to keep them in private school through 12th grade? If not, what would a transition back to public school look like—especially since older students often have long-established social circles?
We're not in DC, but we chose to keep our child in public school with their peers and supplement with outside tutoring. It’s worked well for us so far.

[Anonymous]

The dyslexia can be remediated with private tutoring while she stays at her current school. That's a whole lot cheaper than a private school for kids with dyslexia. Check out Kids Up Reading Tutors; they work with lots of bilingual Spanish/English kids.

[Anonymous]

I would not move her - it sounds like she is doing great and just needs some support with mastering reading. I am a trilingual dyslexic, with two other languages learned in mid-childhood and early adulthood. It’s a great gift, so if it is going well carry on.

Some kids who have compensated for years without truly learning to decode can be complicated to remediate. A CALT would be able to figure out how to best fill her gaps, or go back to basic skills, or whatever she needs.

[Anonymous]

Try private tutoring first and really lean into it hard in these early years. If the bilingual school is working for right now, stick with it. You can always pull her out of a foreign language later if needed. My DS, a junior, cannot handle a foreign language but is doing very well in American Sign Language. Everyone is different.

[Anonymous]

If I were you I’d apply her to the Lab School. You may decide not to send her, but at least you will learn about that option, and also have an opportunity to see what they say about her.

[Anonymous]

I would not apply to Lab School or Siena. The fact that your child is reading on grade level suggests to me this is mild dyslexia. I think it could make sense to get a Wilson-certified or ASDEC tutor to help her get stronger at automaticity.
Lab school helps kids with more severe deficits than your daughter. Siena tends to take kids one year behind, and there was another poster in this forum who said her daughter did not get the skills she'd hoped for there (daughter is now a frosh in MCPS).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try private tutoring first and really lean into it hard in these early years. If the bilingual school is working for right now, stick with it. You can always pull her out of a foreign language later if needed. My DS, a junior, cannot handle a foreign language but is doing very well in American Sign Language. Everyone is different.

+1 to the bolded

My fourth grader has dyslexia and is in a two-way immersion program in MCPS. We love the school overall, but having less exposure to English isn’t helpful for a kid with dyslexia. That said, if your kid is reading on grade level and hasn’t had any reading-specific interventions yet, that suggests very mild dyslexia. Hit it hard with tutoring and see where it gets her.

FWIW, we’ve had good success using the Phono-Graphix method (specifically with Beth Cianguilli at Stepping Stones in Bethesda), which has a good evidence base and is very straightforward. My DC still isn’t on grade level, but has made significant progress over the past year.