More Support to Be Given To Dyslexic Children of California

Ian Kennedy along with his mom Katrina Kennedy works on his daily lessons. His mom brings out a list of new words along with a timer, and Ian tries to pronounce the words as fast as possible. Ian is dyslexic. This daily exercise will help Ian with his delayed phonological processing.

Ian is a 10-year-old and has great visions of having his own channel at YouTube and to become a flourishing video game developer. But as he became hesitant to read in kindergarten and struggled hard with complex reading lessons in his first grade, his parents took notice of their kid’s difficulty and eventually, the kid was diagnosed with dyslexia.

The proper diagnosis didn’t bring any help to the kid and his parents. The boy got extremely stressed and de-motivated. He vigorously worked through recess and acted out at home. His mother Katrina was reported saying that the whole family had a real hard time while trying to manage the amount of homework that was given to the child without caring for his special needs.

This led the parents to take the tough decision of homeschooling their child. This change brought relaxation and relief in the family’s lives but they were highly disappointed with the lack of concern and support from the Ian’s school.

Now, a recent state law makes it mandatory for the schools to properly consider phonological processing while evaluating a kid for special education. Tobie Meyer, who happens to be an integral part of Decoding Dyslexia California, led the movement to pass this law after she faced extreme resistance while trying to acquire educational assistance for her dyslexic son.

She declared that the new law will help the future students to be found eligible of special education services more comfortably than in past incidences.

The law will also bring to action the new guidelines which will assist both the teachers and parents in identifying dyslexic kids and helping them in the most appropriate ways.

The new law is highly supported by Dr Sally Shaywitx, the co-director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. She has a viewpoint that early intervention is mandatory for treating dyslexia and strongly condemns the general perception that dyslexic people aren’t as smart as others.

Dr Sally Shahwitz further explains this condition as an unexpected difficulty in reading and comprehension. Hence, unexpected implies that it usually occurs in people who are intelligent and sharp.

She welcomed a resolution passed by the U.S. Senate which defined this disorder and called on schools to recognize its impact on a person’s education. A latest official letter was given to the local and state education agencies by the US Department of Education which clarified that it’s alright to use the specific term ‘dyslexia’ while discussing a kid’s education.

Ian Kennedy is getting better at reading because of the impactful exercise which he does to identify the sounds within different words and he’s not embarrassed of being dyslexic.

Let’s hope that this new law paves the way for improved educational reforms for kids with special needs.