Kaitlin, my teenage daughter agreed to sit down and answer a few questions about what her experience has been while watching all the troubles her older brother has had to endure while trying to traverse the public school landscape where dyslexia is misunderstood. If you’re reading this right now and are thinking, what is this woman talking about, dyslexia is addressed through SLD in the IDEA. True, but if it was addressed and understood as it should be I would not have written some 25 posts on this issue, my family has ten years of experiences to share. Just trying to educate those that choose to listen: lawmakers, policy makers, school administrators and staff, but I especially want to reach parents so that they can understand dyslexia earlier than my family did. Just scroll through the rest of my posts for our experiences. So, today is Kate’s turn to help educate from her viewpoint.
Me: What’s it been like to watch Payne going through public school?
Kate: It’s annoying.
Me: Can you elaborate?
Kate: Because they can’t just follow his IEP like they should and you have to keep going in and fighting for his IEP when you shouldn't have to because they should already be doing it.
Me: How do you think public schools handle dyslexia?
Kate: Terribly
Me: What do you mean?
Kate: They’re supposed to follow Payne’s IEP and a lot of times they don’t.
Me: What do you think public schools could do better to work with students like your brother?
Kate: Have teachers trained so they know how to deal with dyslexic kids.
Me: From your viewpoint, based on watching Payne’s experiences, do you think of dyslexia as a gift?
Kate: Kind of and kind of not.
Me: Why?
Kate: Because he’s good at other things like photography and he’s really smart with computers and cars.
Me: You’re only 15 and you’ve sat through many meetings with the legislators we talked to about dyslexia legislation. Do you think dyslexia legislation is necessary?
Kate: Yes.
Me: Why?
Kate: Because anything can help, like trying and getting laws passed.
Me: How do you think the laws would help?
Kate: People have to follow a law so if there’s testing to see if they're dyslexic than they’d have to help them.
Me: Do you think his experiences in school have affected him positively or negatively?
Kate: Negatively.
Me: Why?
Kate: He wasn’t able to enjoy school.
Me: You are very protective of Payne and I remember when you wrote that poem about him, which was in the shape of glasses, which was beautiful by the way. Why do you think you are so protective of him and other students like him?
Kate: Because people act like there is something wrong with them, but there’s nothing wrong with them, they just have trouble reading, writing and spelling and it’s stupid to make fun of someone like that.
Me: Before we had audio books for Payne, you would help me read his school work to him if there was a lot. Did you enjoy doing that?
Kate: Yes, because I got to help him and I enjoy reading.
Me: Although we’ve tried to explain to you why all the time we spend trying to advocate for change for dyslexic students like your brother, is necessary, how has all the time we’ve spent working on this affected you?
Kate: I’m not sure.
Me: Do you think it’s affected you positively or negatively?
Kate: Positively, because it’s given me a different outlook on life.
Me: How?
Kate: I understand things more, like how to handle people.
Thanks Kate!
Me: What’s it been like to watch Payne going through public school?
Kate: It’s annoying.
Me: Can you elaborate?
Kate: Because they can’t just follow his IEP like they should and you have to keep going in and fighting for his IEP when you shouldn't have to because they should already be doing it.
Me: How do you think public schools handle dyslexia?
Kate: Terribly
Me: What do you mean?
Kate: They’re supposed to follow Payne’s IEP and a lot of times they don’t.
Me: What do you think public schools could do better to work with students like your brother?
Kate: Have teachers trained so they know how to deal with dyslexic kids.
Me: From your viewpoint, based on watching Payne’s experiences, do you think of dyslexia as a gift?
Kate: Kind of and kind of not.
Me: Why?
Kate: Because he’s good at other things like photography and he’s really smart with computers and cars.
Me: You’re only 15 and you’ve sat through many meetings with the legislators we talked to about dyslexia legislation. Do you think dyslexia legislation is necessary?
Kate: Yes.
Me: Why?
Kate: Because anything can help, like trying and getting laws passed.
Me: How do you think the laws would help?
Kate: People have to follow a law so if there’s testing to see if they're dyslexic than they’d have to help them.
Me: Do you think his experiences in school have affected him positively or negatively?
Kate: Negatively.
Me: Why?
Kate: He wasn’t able to enjoy school.
Me: You are very protective of Payne and I remember when you wrote that poem about him, which was in the shape of glasses, which was beautiful by the way. Why do you think you are so protective of him and other students like him?
Kate: Because people act like there is something wrong with them, but there’s nothing wrong with them, they just have trouble reading, writing and spelling and it’s stupid to make fun of someone like that.
Me: Before we had audio books for Payne, you would help me read his school work to him if there was a lot. Did you enjoy doing that?
Kate: Yes, because I got to help him and I enjoy reading.
Me: Although we’ve tried to explain to you why all the time we spend trying to advocate for change for dyslexic students like your brother, is necessary, how has all the time we’ve spent working on this affected you?
Kate: I’m not sure.
Me: Do you think it’s affected you positively or negatively?
Kate: Positively, because it’s given me a different outlook on life.
Me: How?
Kate: I understand things more, like how to handle people.
Thanks Kate!