What do you do when you hear that a public elementary school in your district is going to become, “The district’s first “innovative school”… turning it into a literacy model school? Well, if you’re the mom of a child who has been misunderstood through his entire school career due to his dyslexia, you cheer, tear up a little and maybe do a little dance. Why such a strong reaction? Because I understand that this may mean that a child who is a struggling reader will be taught in a way that will help him succeed. What it means to me is, that if this school is successful, the model may resonate with more school leaders and a child who starts at this elementary school, has the possibility of not being misunderstood because they are dyslexic, because there is the possibility that this literacy model may spread. I could have only dreamed of an elementary school where teachers were required to be trained in Orton-Gillingham, multi-sensory teaching methods when my now 17 year old son was in elementary school and neither his school nor we understood his struggles with reading, writing, and spelling.
Since dyslexia legislation was introduced (HB 420 & SB 439) last March several things have happened. North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction has released two documents about dyslexia, Report on Dyslexia and Dyslexia Topic Brief and now Cook Elementary will start this Literacy Model School in August 2016. So, while the dyslexia legislation that was introduced didn’t move in the legislature, I can only imagine that it sparked the conversation that helped lead to these recent events. Rep. Conrad, a primary sponsor of HB 420 in the W-S Journal article, Family's advocacy for son leads to dyslexia bill said, "The bill seems to have generated a lot of interest among the members." These are legislators from all over North Carolina who helped start this conversation. I certainly don’t know if the NC Legislature is the reason for these recent happenings but I do know they deserve a big thanks from my family for answering our call for help for dyslexic students like our son, Payne.
Primary Sponsors of HB 420:House Representatives: Conrad; Lambeth Primary Sponsor of SB 439: Senator: Paul A. Lowe, Jr
Meeting with Rep. Lambeth & Conrad:
I hope (yes, I have a lot of hope) you read this post understanding that I’m just the mom of a dyslexic child who has been put through the ringer in public schools because he has been misunderstood. I have no ax to grind with the public school system, I only want to see it improve it's knowledge and understanding of children who struggle to read, like my son. I also realize that he is more than his dyslexia, but it does affect him when he goes into schools that have little understanding of why he learns and processes information the way he does.
Sponsors of House Bill No. 420:
Sponsors of Senate Bill No. 439: