With the work that we do we naturally talk to a great number of parents. These parents, more often than not, have the same stories which range from delayed evaluations, evaluations that claim dyslexia isn't present, services not provided to fidelity, if at all, etc. Most of us truly hear the same delay and misdirection tactics.
Then there are those stories that absolutely gut you.
You see, there's this one mom who has a private dyslexia diagnosis for her child. Despite this private diagnosis, she has had to reapply to the school for a few years in a row to ask them to redo their evaluation to align on a dyslexia diagnosis. (Do not ask questions about IEE's and attorney's. That's not appropriate here.) This last school year, one of the school employees, frustrated by the mother's insistence, called Child Protective Services and reported the mother as having a perfectly healthy child that she clearly just wants to be handicapped.
Naturally CPS has to investigate, and investigating they are.
The mother is heart broken and afraid.
So, dear school, congratulations on using a heinous retaliation tactic to beat a mother into submission. Well done! Not only have you denied the child their right to FAPE, you've endangered the stability of their family unit by making a baseless and damaging claim to CPS.
I truly find the fact that this happened at all shocking. Truly. It's hard to surprise me, but that one definitely took me off my feet. This story needs to equally shock and appall all who are vested in literacy, education and dyslexia rights.
I'd like to ask how the individual who called CPS can sleep at night, but that's a pointless question. Clearly they sleep just fine or this is a tactic they wouldn't have sunk to.
This is an extreme example, but a factual one, and one that is happening to our children, to the families that fight.
We must put an end to this! Forever!
Join the #DyslexiaRevolution!