As an education student, a common sentiment was you would learn more on the job than you would in a college lecture hall.  But what about the things you learn in neither? It goes back to the saying you don’t know what you don’t know, but what if this means students suffer in the process.  

One of these topics is dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia.  Beyond knowing that it interferes with reading, I didn’t know much.  So as a teacher and someone not trained in dyslexia, how would I know if a student had it? Years into my career, I took a new position in a school district and worked with students from Kindergarten through 12th grade.  I met the family of a student who had struggled her entire academic career.  She was classified as having a speech and language disability.  It was clear she had some articulation struggles, but why was she still struggling in her day to day efforts?  We continued to work to support her but something was missing.  This student went years doubting herself, affecting her self esteem and perspective of school.  After years of this she was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyscalculia.  Once diagnosed we worked to adjust her programming.  At this point, the student soared!  It’s hard to not reflect and wonder...What if she was diagnosed sooner? What if we knew more about dyslexia within a public school? What if she had been lost her entire educational journey? 

I came across a blog post by a teacher who was struggling to understand her own child’s struggle with reading.  This post has so many of the same thoughts and feelings I have experienced in the classroom and made me think back to the student above.    

A Former Teacher's Story on How Balanced Literacy Failed My Son 

As I have moved through my career, I’ve worked hard to understand these areas more.  Often, I will make suggestions to families to seek further evaluation in these areas.  Most want to begin with schools but I have found very limited resources at school, especially around the ability to diagnose.  

When speaking to adults who may have not been diagnosed until later in life, they often reflect and talk about their difficulties in school or how they just believed they were “stupid” and couldn’t read.  We need to do better!  We need systems in place to help recognize and teach all of our students.  

Dyslexia at a glance

Self-Assessment tool for dyslexia

Advocating for students with dyslexia in public schools

#standreadytosupport

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