My Story of How I Got into Dyslexia

In my pursuit of continuing education, I have met people all over the country who work with students have dyslexia.  Every single one of them has a story of how they got into it, and it is usually because of a family member.  Here is my story.

I am not dyslexic.  I have always been a good reader and speller.  In fact, I would call the language arts my forte.  I love words and grammar.  I even see words in my mind.  I never dreamed that I would have a child who struggled so much with reading that he came to hate reading and school in general, nor that I would end up on the path I am on now.

I first heard of dyslexia in college, but it wasn't much.  After college, my husband and I went to Guam to teach at a Christian school there.  I taught kindergarten, the grade where students learn to read.  Some years, I taught regular kindergarten, and some years I taught the advanced class.  Each class had a few students who struggled with reading.  Looking back, I realize that they probably had dyslexia.  As I said, I had heard of dyslexia in college, but I thought it was rare, and it never entered my mind my students might be struggling because of it.  

We moved back to the States when we started having children.  I had always planned on homeschooling.  I majored in elementary education and figured that I would teach for a few years, and when kids came along, I would stay home and teach them.  To make a long story short, that didn't end up working out, and I sent them to school.

I stayed home with my children for 7 years.  For 5 of those years, I operated a home bakery.  I loved the customers, but it was exhausting.  The fact that I left baking to go back to teaching should tell you just how exhausting it was!

When I went back to teaching, I taught 5th grade.  I was reintroduced to dyslexia at the very beginning of the first year through some parent conferences with a certified academic language therapist (CALT) who was working with students at our school.  These conferences were to discuss accommodations, and since I knew nothing, and the CALT was an expert, I just did whatever she said.  Her name is Becky, and she has since become a very good friend and mentor.  A few months later, I attended a workshop she presented about dyslexia, and my eyes were opened.  I got it.  I thought of so many people from my past who were probably dyslexic.

I don't want to give away the story about my son because I am going to do a separate video for his story, but though I was getting good at picking up dyslexia in the 5th graders I taught, I was not so good at it in the younger grades.  He was struggling terribly for several years until he got a teacher who suspected dyslexia, and we had Becky screen him.  She was able to confirm dyslexia, and I immediately wanted to learn how to help him.  

I remember very distinctly standing in the breezeway between two of our school buildings, and Becky saying that she needed to clone herself.  The need was greater than she could meet.  1 in 5 people has dyslexia.  That means there are several in every classroom.  All of a sudden my future came into focus.  I wanted to be that clone.  I wanted to step up and meet that need.  

I signed up for the first Orton-Gillingham based seminar that would be in my area.  It was a week-long boot camp, and it was like drinking water from a fire hose.  This was all new to me.  I was overwhelmed, but in a good way, and I knew I needed to learn this stuff to help my son and other kids.  I started working with my son.  I ended up switching to the Barton System for Reading and Spelling because I could learn as I went, and it told me exactly what to say.  I made it my goal to open a tutoring practice and build it up to the point that I would be able to leave the classroom and do it full time.  I decided that offering screening services would be a great way to get clients, so I took Susan Barton's screening seminar the summer after finding out that my son is dyslexic.  It was, hands-down, the best seminar/workshop I have ever attended.  I left there absolutely on fire to help kids, and I wanted to jump right into it.  However, I had another year of teaching ahead of me while I continued to learn and built up my practice.  I took several more workshops to round out my skill set.  I taught 5th grade by day and tutored in the evenings.  It was hard, but I kept reminding myself that I could do anything for a short time to reach my goal. For a while, I even got up at 4am to work on my business.  By the end of that school year, I had become a Certified Barton Tutor, and I was able to step out of the classroom.  

I love what I do, and I am incredibly thankful that I am able to do it.  This was never anywhere on my radar, but when you look at my love for teaching, my entrepreneurial bend (this was the 8th home business I had tried), my interest in language, and my experience as a mom of a dyslexic child, you can see how God orchestrated my life to bring me to this point.  I have now been working as a dyslexia specialist for three years, the last two of which have been full-time.

I had been attending a parent support group at my church run by Becky, and when I started pursuing dyslexia as my next career, she asked me if I would help her with it.  I have spoken at it several times and wondered how I could get this valuable information out to more people.  That is how my YouTube channel was born.

To watch the video about this post, click here.  

Are accommodations fair? Are they a crutch?

I would like to address a couple of questions/objections that come up regarding accommodations:

• How are accommodations fair?  
• When do accommodations become a crutch?  

I don't mind when people ask questions like this.  Misunderstanding often comes about because of a lack of information.  That's OK!  Explaining the difference between fairness and sameness is a concept that can and should be taught to people of all ages.  

Accommodations... 

• allow students access to education
• are reasonable
• change HOW they learn, not WHAT they learn
• allow students to demonstrate what they know
• remove barriers
• level the playing field
• are a necessity, not an advantage
• remove obstacles that hinder academic potential
• help students reach their full potential
• happen in the real world

"Fair" does not mean that everyone gets the same, but that everyone gets what they need to be successful.  Consider a couple of illustrations to use in explaining this:

• (Great for a group of adults at a meeting) I wear glasses.  They allow me to see what everyone else sees.  They are what I need to be successful in a classroom and in life.  Does everyone need glasses?  Do they give me an unfair advantage?  
• (Great for a classroom of children)  Do an activity where you hand out "injury cards" randomly to some of the students.  Each card has a different type of injury on it.  Then, hand out bandages to everyone.  Does everyone need a bandage?  Is a bandage appropriate for every type of injury?  If a bandage would not work, what would?  What if I say that nobody can have a bandage?  Would that be fair?  

Can accommodations become a crutch?

• Traditionally, a "crutch" is a support.  However, the expression "using it as a crutch" ironically  implies that someone is relying on something that they do not need because they are lazy, or do not want to deal with the problem directly.  I acknowledge that this could happen, but it is rare.  

• First of all, I usually see the opposite.  I have a difficult time getting students to use their accommodations.  They do not want to be different.  Even though accommodations would help them, they would rather struggle on than be different.  

• Secondly, if a student is truly using accommodations as a crutch, there has been a breakdown somewhere.  The student was absolutely drowning academically, not getting the needed support, and turned to accommodations as a life boat.  If so, it may be a good idea to re-evaluate the student's needs.  For example, they may need study skills, organizational skills, or an accountability partner.  The student may also not understand that the purpose of accommodations is to allow a student to learn with everyone else, not to get a free pass.  Students should know what accommodations they have, why they have them, how they help, and how to advocate for themselves.  

Click here to see the video of this post.  

Teacher Appreciation!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and I wanted to be one of the first to tell the teachers how much I appreciate them!

Having been a classroom teacher for 10 years, I know what it takes.  I have been in the trenches.  It is a 24/7 job.  Even if I wasn't actually teaching, planning lessons, answering emails, and grading papers, I was thinking about my students.  It was GAME ON for nine months, and then all of a sudden, it was over.  No more lesson plans, no more papers to grade, no more conflicts to resolve.  Every year, it took a while for that to sink in.  Waves of panic would wash over me wondering what I had forgotten to do. Waves of relief would wash over me knowing that I had FINISHED THE COURSE.  Then, there were the waves of disbelief and sadness that these students who had been my children for nine months were no-longer mine.  I usually spent the first few weeks of summer break just vegging and decompressing while my brain recovered.

Most teachers love their students as if they were their own children, and you really have to love it in order to do it.  There is no other way to do it, because it is hard.  Actually, the teaching would be easy...if you were teaching robots!  However, you are teaching people, imperfect people...who have imperfect parents.  Yet, something drives teachers.  Teachers want their students to succeed.  When the student succeeds, the teacher succeeds.  You ask just about any teacher what they love about teaching, and probably the most popular answer would be seeing a student light up with understanding.  Teachers live for those moments.

I still teach, but not in a classroom.  I work with students one-on-one, mostly helping students who struggle with dyslexia to be better readers and spellers, but I do whatever is needed.  I love that I am still able to work with teachers.  We are a team, working to meet the needs of the students.  I admire them so much.  I have had great experiences with the teachers being willing to learn about dyslexia and give accommodations.  They really have a heart for the students, and have been great about accommodating my students' needs.

Thank you to my children's teachers, my students' teachers, and all the teachers out there!  Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and you are my heroes!  Thank you!

Click here to watch my YouTube video about Teacher Appreciation.

Accommodations for Dyslexia

I have listed the main purpose of accommodations and all of the accommodations my students with dyslexia receive.  You may want to print this out to take with you when you meet with teachers to discuss accommodations.  The better prepared you are as a parent, the more successful the meeting will be, and the more likely it will be that your child will receive what he/she needs.  

Purpose of accommodations: 

• To allow students to demonstrate what they know
• To give students a “stepstool” so that they can learn with the others
• To reduce anxiety about school
• To reduce stress in the home

Possible accommodations (Depending on a variety of factors...severity of dyslexia, age of the student, subject, co-existing conditions, etc...different accommodations will be needed at different times.):

• Not required to read orally in class
• Not required to spell orally in class
• Not required to write on the board
• Allow the use of audio books/parent reads to them or takes turns
• Accept typed or dictated assignments
• Additional time for tests/quizzes
• Oral testing (may give test with other students and then ask missed questions orally)
• Do not count off for spelling (grade on content)
• Do not count off for handwriting
• Do not require copying/Provide copy of notes or study sheet
• Reduced classwork/homework
• Reduced spelling list
• Allow use of tools that may help in problem-solving in math, language, science, etc. (steps to solve, multiplication tables, graph paper, definition of parts of speech, list of preposition, etc.)
• Breaker larger assignments into chunks

Click here to watch the YouTube video where I discuss each of these accommodations.