Dyslexia and my 7 year old.?

Question

My 7 year old has been diagnosed with a CAPD already. We strongly feel that she may also be dyslexic and we do not know where to turn. The scholl has been of NO help at all. They will not offer any services for the CAPD, so we have been seeing private ST/OT therapists for a year and a half.

I have no idea where to turn to get a diagnosis. we live in a pretty rural area in upstate NY. Another school is not an option. All we have is public and Catholic schools...which have no services at all.

All the online info about dyslexia seems vague and there seem to be nothing helpful.

Any help would be great!!

Thanks!!!!

Answer 1

You do NOT have to have a diagnosis to get special ed help.  The school does testing to see if the childs problem(s) has an adverse affect on his learning, if child can recieve FAPE, can access the curiculum, etc.

This testing is not done ONLY to see what the childs problems are, it is mainly done to see if child can qualify for  special ed services.

They can find all this out without a child having a diagnosis.

If anyone at school told you have to have a diagnosis first, tell them to show you where it states this in law.

Go to www.schwablearning.org and post on their parent to parent message board. There are lots of parents there, lots who have been there for years and have LOTS of experience wiht this and will be glad to help you.

Answer 2

Has your daughter been assessed by your school district? If not, that is the first thing that needs to be done. Submit a written request for a complete psycho-educational evaluation. How is she performing in the classroom? Tests, grades, work completion, etc. Typically students with CAPD can qualify under Specific Learning Disability (which is what dyslexia will fall under), but the processing disorder has to be adversely affecting her educational performance. Be persistant! Keep copies of any written correspondence and if they refuse to assess ask for it in writing. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Yeah, try and get special help or get courses for him.

Answer 4

me and my sister have mirror dislexia.....we got a tutor and it really helped...get a tutor

Answer 5

As was said before, you do not need a diagnosis of anything to get special ed services. Everything in special ed needs to be educationally relevant, so unless your child is doing poorly at school, then no services will be offered.

If he/she is doing poorly and by poorly I mean getting D's and F's, then you need to go to the school counselor and ask them to begin a child study process or whatever it is called at your school. The school will then develop an academic improvement plan. They will do two of these in a row, usually from 3 to 6 weeks each.

If no progress is made, then they should refer your child for testing by the school psychologist. Not only are school districts required to do this, there is also a "Child Find" part of IDEA that requires them to seek out children with disabilities. Being in a rural area has nothing to do with it. They are required to offer you a free and appropriate public education, known as FAPE. Denying FAPE is a serious issue.

Since you like to use the "Net, look up Specific Learning Disability. If your child has CAPD, the chances are that he or she could have a visual processing disorder, which is one of the specific learning disabilities. Dyslexia is a medical term meaning difficulty learning to read. The school term will be Specific Learning Disability. You might also check out Language Impaired, which is another category that might fit.