The Dyslexia Initiative
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Advocating. Educating. Inspiring. Empowering.
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Join the #DyslexiaRevolution
DYSLEXIA
Dyslexia is a language processing disorder. –Dr. Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia
Welcome to an introduction to dyslexia. Immediately below you will find three files. The first two are one page documents, meant to be a quick handout to other parents or teachers which lists some of the warning signs of dyslexia. The second is a PDF file which is meant to serve as an introduction to the world of dyslexia. We hope you find these pieces informative and enlightening.
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Signs of Dyslexia
Dyslexia: An Understanding
Stealth Dyslexia
In the scheme of things, my dyslexic journey, as I like to call it, has been going on for a while now. In the years that I've been traveling this road, the lack of knowledge I've been faced with while advocating for my child has been rather overwhelming. As I have fought for specific goals within his educational program, I have been in a position where I had to educate people on why the goal I was requesting was so critical to my child's overall success in his dyslexia remediation.
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Across this journey I have met both dyslexic and non-dyslexic parents and professionals, advocating for their own children, as well as teachers, CALTs, and other passionate dyslexia community leaders working for the same goal, fighting for our children's legal right to a free and appropriate education (FAPE) with their children's dyslexia addressed properly. I have gained so much knowledge in my journey.
So, while working for my own child's IEP goals, I developed the document below, specifically meant to be a quick information share on the various components of dyslexia and why schools cannot approach it purely from the perspective that dyslexia is only about reading.
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This document, which admittedly can be a bit cumbersome, is truly meant for a determined and informed level of advocacy.
I hope you will find this tool helpful as you work for your child's educational rights.
Dyslexia 101
The advocacy for our children focuses on Hollis Scarborough's Reading Rope, which is a critical key to goal development as we understand that each strand of the rope is necessary for full and complete fluency in order to achieve true reading fluency. The threads of the rope may not be overlooked or dismissed. We here at The Dyslexia Initiative highly encourage you to know and love the rope and use it as a key part of your advocacy for your child.
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Additionally, we have had a great conversation with Peter Wright of www.wrightslaw.com on Dyslexia Coffee Talk and he shared amazing information about the legal aspects of supporting our dyslexic children. The presentation he shared with us can be found here: https://www.wrightslaw.com/dyslexia/coffee.talk.dyslexia.pdf