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Dyslexia
Different, Not Dumb By Kelly Burgess
There are no hard and fast "symptoms" of dyslexia, but if an otherwise bright, creative, motivated, academically oriented child is obviously struggling in the language arts, such as reading, spelling and writing, dyslexia should be suspected. At this point, it is the responsibility of the public school to give a series of tests that cover cognitive, linguistic, social/emotional and academic abilities.
The drawbacks are that often the public school system can wait too long to diagnose the problem, and this may result in a lot of frustration for the child. In the case of Ethan, Marshall knew something was wrong as early as first grade, but she believed the school's assurances that he was just running a little behind. By second grade, there was no doubt in her mind, because Ethan was the only child in his class who couldn't read.
"I suggested several times that Ethan be tested for dyslexia, but people I talked to in the school assured me that was not his problem, and I assumed they knew what they were doing," Marshall says. "They told me, variously, that Ethan was lazy, unmotivated and not trying. Against my better judgment, I pushed him to try harder. By the time he was in fifth grade, he was really struggling. Then one day I heard one of his friends talking about how much writing they had to do in the sixth grade. I realized that Ethan would never make it. I decided to have him tested myself."
Marshall took Ethan to the Davis Center in San Francisco for testing and discovered he was a classic dyslexic. Instead of getting the school involved further, she decided to deal with it at home. Using strategies suggested in the book The Gift of Dyslexia
