Marilyn: My daughter is in 10th grade and had a 504 since 6th grade. The beginning of 9th grade I realized her 504 wasn’t being implemented and as a result she failed all 4 core subjects. I requested an evaluation and eventually signed an IEP in September 5, 2016, based on an evaluation conducted by the school, but the evaluation didn’t specify that my daughter has dyslexia. The psychologist told me this is what she has but didn’t put it in her evaluation. She is currently still failing all 4 core subjects. I don’t believe she’s receiving the academic accommodations for her specific learning disability.
Marilyn, you have gotten over the first hurdle. The next one is to put some meat into the IEP. Request a meeting. Brainstorm all the things you think would help your child be more successful: services (push-in, pull-out), accommodations, communication with parents, training for staff, possibly summer services, modifications, frequent progress monitoring. Find out what supports have helped other children by networking with other parents. A week before the meeting, send your proposals to those who will attend the meeting. Your child needs a detailed, meaningful, individualized, well-structured IEP. If you don’t see meaningful improvement in 3 months of the IEP, then the IEP needs to be more creative.
Dyslexia is a medical term that simply means that someone cannot read. It does not specify why. Specific learning disability is the language that is used in special education. It’s just two different ways of essentially saying the same thing.