Wait and See? Pursue a Diagnosis? Or Start Remediating?

You've probably asked your child's teacher something to the effect of, "How is Ben doing with reading?"

And in response, the teacher may have told you what reading group he is in, showed you how many words Ben can read in a minute (per the "EasyCBM" here in Oregon), and maybe told you how he compares to other kids in the class.

But the truth is, you probably asked that question because you've read with your own child every night since he was born and already know how he struggles to sound out words, how he skips entire words or endings, how all comprehension is lost after the labor of figuring out sounds and stringing words together. You asked because you know something: your child is struggling with reading and maybe you don't know why, and don't have the experience to know if it's "normal" for the age or not. You may feel silly even asking the question. Don't.

Some kids will attract the teacher radar immediately with their very low reading scores -- but most struggling readers won't be among the very lowest performers in the class. Most struggling readers are average or highly intelligent and exhibit average to low-average reading ability and fly under the teacher's radar for interventions. And those "interventions" can come from someone untrained in reading interventions and be a waste of time anyway.

The school may tell you that it's normal for children not to start reading fluently until 3rd grade. The school may tell you that they'll keep Ben on a "watch list" and keep monitoring their words per minute (WPM) score every two weeks to see if he improves or not by the end of the year. The school may even tell you that he is doing just fine and not to worry. But you know your child the best -- do you see him struggling? Average to high intelligence coupled with below average reading outcomes can be a red flag for dyslexia or another reading disability -- or it can just be a red flag that the school is not implementing the type of reading instruction that your child responds to. Either way, we're not okay with it.

You may ask the school to test Ben for a reading or writing disability. They will most likely monitor him by way of reading fluency scores every two weeks to see if he improves -- this might go on for 2 months. Meanwhile, Ben is still struggling and still not receiving the reading instruction he needs to lessen his struggles. Maybe the end of the school year arrives. Maybe it's the holidays. There WILL be much time wasted before an IEP team convenes to discuss whether to even test Ben for a reading disability or not. If and when they do, it will take more time. Probably another month or two or three. And Ben loses yet more opportunity that could have just been used to give him the proper instruction methods in reading that would have helped him since the beginning of the year when you first wondered whether he needed extra help. If and when Ben does qualify for special instruction in reading from the school as per an IEP, most schools in Oregon don't have qualified reading specialists using the Orton-Gillingham model and may receive reading instruction from an classroom aid. Or a special education teacher not trained in Structured Literacy.

If you considered jumping the line for a private diagnosis with an educational psychologist, it's a good bet you've experienced a wait list there too (not to mention the thousands of dollars and many difficult hours that it takes to complete the testing). And you may get some answers, and maybe a diagnosis. But you will still need to go through the school's protocol to get specially designed instruction, which they can deny based on their own data anyway. Sound like fun? None of it's great, easy, or designed with the child in mind.

All this is to say...

Parents: Even if all the above BS does happen, don't despair too much -- act. What does your gut say when you sit and read with your child? When you look at their work from school? When they write? I would absolutely recommend pursuing school routes to remediation and professional diagnosis - without a doubt. However, don't hesitate to get your child Orton-Gillingham method private remediation as soon as you see those red flags. The early years are valuable for learning fundamentals for reading and with each passing year, it can become more challenging -- especially if the school has taught strategies counter to what it takes for a dyslexic to become a fluent reader. Bad habits will have to be unlearned and new ones developed. You don't need to wait for an official diagnosis, and you shouldn't wait for the school to properly remediate-- or you could be waiting for a train that never comes, or comes very late.