The new school year is here and I am excited! My excitement stems from finally being able to remove my sons, well at least one, from the public school system. While public school may serve the needs of some it definitely does not serve my eight year old son, Ryan.
Ryan is a very bright and energetic young man. He excels in math, science, and art but is having difficulty with reading, writing, and spelling. He can recite his spelling and vocabulary words and spell them perfectly aloud but when he is required to put pencil to paper he fails. His generally sweet and loving disposition transforms into frustration and anger.
I have counseled with his teachers so often that I can now recite what they will say to me about my "uncooperative lazy boy." I have met with his school counselor who has recommended a child psychologist. In despair I made the initial appointment and we went and met Dr. Doug. Ryan likes him and enjoys talking with him about school, life, and games. After a couple of appointments Dr. Doug suggests testing Ryan's competency level to which I agreed.
Low and behold he is just a few points short of a perfect score! How can this be when he struggles with reading, writing, and spelling? Dr. Doug and Ryan agree that to resolve this problem anger management should be addressed and practiced. Guess what? It didn't work.
So we were back to square one with the school year half over. I tried many methods while helping him at home with his school work but to no avail. So I have rearranged our lives and gathered resources, friends, and family in an effort to allow me time to homeschool Ryan. However, it was too late in the school year to pull him from public school because of deadlines for testing requirements. In the mean time Ryan was continually chastised and berated by his teacher. He has very low self esteem and would cry over having to endure another day at school. Still I was left wondering why he is having this difficulty.
Time passed and I found myself reading a parent magazine sent home from the public school. The article that has caught my interest is on dyslexia. You know, reversing similar letters or numbers when reading and writing. Wrong! Dyslexia entails so much more and my son has all but two of the 16 traits listed in the article. Wow! I immediately went to the referred website and read every word under every tab. Within this site is an online evaluation for initial determination of dyslexia so I filled it out. This evaluation has 37 different characteristics listed for dyslexia but states that most dyslexics will exhibit about 10. Ryan exhibits 29 of the 37 characteristics on this initial evaluation. WOW!!
Could this be it? Could this be why my son is having such difficulty? So far all that I have read says "yes" In light of this I arranged for him to be professionally tested because when I suggested it to his teacher when she called to complain about him one morning she outright refused the idea because he is nothing like her son or husband who are dyslexic. Puh-leeze!!! Just because she has family members with dyslexia that doesn't make her an expert in the area. I mean who does she think she is giving a flip diagnosis? Perhaps I can start diagnosing cardiac problems since myself and other family members have them. Seems the same to me.
I know you are thinking that I should have called the principal or the board but believe me it would do no good at all. This I know because last year while in the afterschool program at school ran by the county my sons' life was threatened by another child who revealed a weapon. I reported it to the police, the afterschool director, the principal, and the board only to be told that this older bigger boy didn't really mean it because he is a good kid just like Ryan. Hello!!!
Promptly I made extraordinary alternative arrangements so my sons would not have to go to afterschool but was not able to arrange it so they could stay home and be schooled. It has taken a year of careful planning and a career change but it is now possible for me to homeschool my boys. My suspicion that Ryan may be dyslexic was warranted. He does have a form that prevents him from writing correctly. So just let me say one more time that I am excited that this school year is here. Yippie!!!
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