From: "Suzanne Heath" To: "SHIRLEY KING" Subject: Re: 9 year old with reading problems Date: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 8:26 PM The school has to educate your son. He has a disability that is interfering with his education. He needs specialized instruction. Collect all your records, put them in chronological order, write a 2 page summary to have it handy while you are on the phone, and call the Disability Rights Center in your state. http://www.napas.org/ [scroll down to the directory] You need someone to walk you through the system. The school district has made 2 years progress in 4 years. That is not an indicator that they understand what your son needs or what their responsibilities are. These are other directories of people who can help you. Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities http://www.yellowpagesforkids.com/ Education-A-Must http://www.education-a-must.com/aalist.html Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates http://www.copaa.org/index.html International Dyslexia Association http://www.interdys.org/jsp/branch/branch-list.jsp [look for your state branch] NAMI http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=Your_Local_Nami CHADD http://www.chadd.org/findchap.cfm?cat_id=7&subcat_id=36 Sue Heath ----- Original Message ----- From: SHIRLEY KING To: sueheath@wrightslaw.com Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 10:31 AM Subject: 9 year old with reading problems I am very concerned about my son's academic progress. I am concerned about all areas but reading has me the most concerned because without reading, he won't succeed in other areas. He is 9 years old and has a dx of Bipolar and ADHD. His emotional instability caused his second grade school year to be a complete waste. He actually lost ground from what he had learned in first grade. Although second grade was a waste, the moved him to third grade. He is in a therapeutic day school for children with emotional difficulties. He has been stable most of this school year and I expected him to make a lot of ground but he hasn't. I took him to a reading tutor from February 2004 through September 2004. He did make a lot of progress. His reading level improved from not reading at all to reading at a beginning second grade level. I had to stop when school started because he started to become unstable again (I think he also suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder). He started doing better again in March and I have resumed reading with him but have not taken him back to the tutor. On the Woodcock Johnson test hear are his reading and writing scores (I think they kind of go together) from last year to this year. May 2004 May 2005 Broad Reading 1.9 2.1 Broad Written Language 2.0 2.6 Letter Word Identification 1.9 2.3 Reading Fluency 2.0 2.0 Story Recall 3.3 2.3 may not be accurate Spelling 1.8 2.6 Writing Fluency 1.6 2.2 Passage Comprehension 1.9 2.1 Applied Problems 3.5 3.1 Writing Samples 2.2 2.5 Now that school is getting out, I have began working with him again in reading. We are reading "I can read" books. I am looking for help. They are moving him to 4th grade next year. He has to take 4th grade equivalency testing but he is at a second grade level. The school says he is ED not LD but I see him struggle.