Jennie Sjursen 00:00
I've been paying attention and taking notes. My mom intuition is tingling, and I really think my child has dyslexia. What do I do next? How do I find out if my suspicions are correct?
Jennie Sjursen 00:13
I'm Jennie Sjursen. Ex special educator turned dyslexia interventionist. It wasn't so long ago that I too, was overwhelmed by balanced literacy versus structured literacy, education speak, and everything in between. Fast forward after many, many hours of self driven education. And you'll see I've built a thriving dyslexia practice helping students from ages six to eight. My specialties, working with a quote unquote difficult almost always 2E student, and breaking down the complexities of dyslexic to everyday language strategies and action steps.
Jennie Sjursen 00:55
When I sat down to put this episode together, I got completely overwhelmed and I know the options and steps you should be taking. This is the first big step into your family's possible dyslexia journey. A big scary step. Let's dig in and see if we can make things a little less scary and provide a path for moving forward. The first misconception we have to tackle revolves around the notion that dyslexia is a medical diagnosis. It is not, there's nothing medically wrong with a person with dyslexia. Dyslexia is an educational disability, not a medical one. As the International Dyslexia Association points out, quote, assessment of dyslexia involves individual testing, most often provided by a team of qualified professionals who have had extensive clinical training and assessment as part of a graduate degree program. Professional clinicians who assess specific learning disabilities SLD and dyslexia may have an MA, M S, M.Ed, EdD, or PhD degrees in education, reading, Speech, Language Pathology, school psychology, psychology or neuro psychology. evaluation by a medical doctor is not required for assessment or identification of SLD or dyslexia, and, quote,
Jennie Sjursen 02:20
Nowhere not in one single place at the federal or state level isn't required for you to take your child to an educational psychologist or neuropsychologist for a formal quote, medical diagnosis. Insurance companies don't recognize Dyslexia as a medical disability, it fully falls under the category of an educational disability. That said, most school systems will not recognize or does value evaluations not done by neuro Psych. I've seen it happen. I have all of the acquired certifications and trainings and fall under the list of recognized qualified professionals who can identify dyslexia. And I pee meeting with one of my families, the Special Education Coordinator looked at my report and said, Oh, you're not a psychologist. This doesn't count. I was flabbergasted. Now, this varies from state to state and even school district to school gesture. When a family local to my area contacts me now I tell them that yes, I can do the evaluation. However, I have found the local school system holds an evaluation from a neuro site to have the highest value. So what do you do? How do you get your child evaluated and find out what's going on with them, you have one of two paths to take the public school system route or the private evaluation route. I'll tackle the private evaluation route first. While it's an expensive path take it also throws less hurdles in your way. Once you've made the decision to go with a private evaluation, ask around and find out what type of evaluation the local school system values the most. Like I said earlier around here, it's a neuro psych report than do your homework. Not all neuropsychologist are created equal. Nor do all neuro psychologists fully understand reading in the brain.
Jennie Sjursen 04:25
Look for a neuro psych who fully understands the ins and outs of how the brain processes both oral and written language and provides a full report. You do not want a three to four page report. The type of detail you require will usually be well over 10 pages long and provide all the scores with a full analysis. The testing can be done over one or more sessions, and the final report can take up to three to six weeks to complete. Once you have the report in hand, and if it confirms your suspicions your child has dyslexia, set up a meeting with your child's school to go over your concerns the report, and how they'll help your child moving forward. This may or may not include going through the IEP eligibility process, and getting your child formally identified.
Jennie Sjursen 05:17
If you decided, right, I'm gonna take it through the school. First, set up a meeting with your child's school, bring your concerns and request a full evaluation in writing. Don't ask for dyslexia evaluation, they will tell you there is no such thing. And while they're playing semantics, they are technically correct. Even if your child does not attend the local public school, under ID a child find regulations, your LEA has a duty to locate, evaluate and potentially serve any infant toddler or school age student impacted by a disability. These evaluations are provided at no cost to the family. The evaluation and eligibility process can be a long drawn out process, and your request may be denied. Your child's school may tell you that they reasonably leave. There's no evidence your child has a disability. If they tell you this, they have to put their reasoning in writing in a document called prior written notice. Once your request for evaluation is made, the school has 15 days to set up an IEP meeting to discuss the referral. What evaluations need to take place. And if the school agrees your child should be evaluated or not. If the school agrees, you will be asked to sign a consent to evaluate the school that has 45 days to complete the evaluations and hold an eligibility meeting. After all, that your child may still be found not eligible for an IEP and may be offered a 504 instead, or nothing. So if this was my child and money wasn't a factor, what would I do? I would go the private evaluation route. I would find a local neuro psych or educational psychologist who truly understands how the brain develops processes and functions in both oral and written language. I would then have more data schools love data, and a stronger case for when I next meet the school.
Jennie Sjursen 07:24
So let's recap. Dyslexia is not a medical diagnosis, you have two options for getting your child evaluated and then identified. The first option is the private route. Find the best private clinician who truly understands language and the brain. Armed with a report, request the school start the eligibility process. Now be forewarned, they only have to consider a private evaluation, and may still request their own evaluations before identifying your child. The second route, go through the public school system, bring your concerns to the school and request a full evaluation in writing. This should kick off the evaluation and eligibility process which can take up to 60 days. Now you know how to get your child evaluated and identified.
Jennie Sjursen 08:15
But what should the evaluation include? In our next episode, we'll look at all the different pieces an educational evaluation should include when you're concerned your child might have dyslexia. I hope you enjoyed this episode of literacy untangled if you love this episode as much as I can head on over and rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode. If you want to continue the conversation or share your takeaways, head on over to our Instagram @literacyuntangled and comment on your favorite part. I can't wait to hang out with you again soon. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
