Superpower
When we landed back on Planet America, I felt like an alien in so many ways, especially as a parent. I had never lived in the US with school age children, so navigating the complexities of kid-life felt foreign. I quickly had to get up to speed on the competition of activity sign-ups, the scarcity of child care and to always ask if there are guns in the home before a playdate.
But where I really started from scratch was with my Chase River. Chase is wildly smart, so we knew something was up about a year ago when he just wasn’t able to read. We raised an eyebrow at it in Kindergarten and now in First Grade we saw the struggle was real.
As soon as Chase was enrolled at his school in MN (which I picked for their ranking/funding) I came in hot. I pulled the entire facility together for a meeting, asking for a dyslexia screening. I then learned that public schools don’t use that language and although they agreed to pull Chase out for 20 minutes a few times a week, after he scored incredibly low on a reading assessment, they said they needed a wait and see approach.
Waiting doesn’t work for me, so I knew I needed a different plan of action. This is how I tackled it:
Information Gathering - I met with neighbors who have dyslexic kids, scheduled calls with friends with kids on IEPs & 504s, joined countless Facebook Groups, listened to podcasts (Sold A Story is great), watched documentaries, and Googled like a women on a mission. I now know enough to be dangerous.
Neuropsychological Exam - I spent hours on the phone with insurance companies and neuropsych centers trying to get Chase an appointment. Some places had waits a year out. A whole year! Some weren’t accepting new patients. Some didn’t accept insurance. I pushed and pushed and found one that could take him, in two months. As suspected, his results came back saying he is exceptionally bright, incredibly articulate and dyslexic. I had a diagnosis to then bring back to the school. This helped push them forward to do the screening they need to do on their own, which now takes another month and a half. We finally have a meeting set up for mid-May to discuss an IEP. My goal is to get it in place before Chase starts second grade, so he can get the extra help and support he needs. Wish me luck!
Superpower - The dyslexia diagnosis also allowed us to have the language to explain to Chase what he was experiencing. He understood that he wasn’t able to read the way his peers did and this was causing anxiety. Ironically, he hated Love to Read Month at school and often brings home chapter books from the library to hide his embarrassment. Now all of a sudden we were able to flip the script and talk about dyslexia as a superpower. We knew we were doing a good job when Anders was jealous he didn’t have dyslexia too.
Tutor - Chase now meets with a tutor for 55 minutes on Zoom 2x a week, plus homework every night. This isn’t any old tutor but one that teachers Chase to read with an Orton Gillingham structured phonics approach, the only way he will learn how to read. It is building grit as it’s tough, but he understands it’s the only way forward.
Summer School - His dyslexia diagnosis allowed me to register him for Groves Learning Academy this summer, which is a school that teaches Chase the way he needed to be taught. It’s competitive to get it in, so I was relieved when we got accepted. My wallet on the other hand, is not as excited.
Counseling - With some pushing, Chase now meets with the school counselor. His anxiety around reading is real and he is getting the tools he needs to help manage his feelings. When he told me they had him draw pictures of what he was feeling and put them through the shredder - I thought I wish someone did that for me at age 6.
So this brings me to yesterday, where I pulled Chase out of school to gather at the Minnesota State Capitol for MN Literacy Day. As it turns out, 1 in 5 kids are dyslexic and nearly 50% of Minnesota students and just three in 10 Minnesota students of color can not read by the end of third grade and that is not ok. So we gathered to support the MN Read Act, which would change the way reading is taught in Minnesota schools - back to a structured phonics approach that makes sense for everyone.
Chase made a poster, attended a rally, saw Gov Walz speak and found our government representatives in their offices to explain to them in person why they should vote YES on the Read Act. He so articulately explained that ALL kids should have a chance to read, not just him who has privileged access to tutors, tests and special schools. He said that if all schools taught all kids to read the way he needs to be taught, the world would be a better place.
It was magical and proof that dyslexia really is a superpower.
