The other day my daughter was reading Charlotte's Web to me. She had to read for 20 minutes. She's in third grade.
It wasn't perfect reading, she is only in third grade after all, but honestly it was fantastic as far as I was concerned.
She will not go through life illiterate and that in and of itself is a huge reason to be joyful.
Although she had to do the actual work of learning to read it was all really a team effort.
Her father and I simply weren't going to settle for less than what she needed. Both sets of grandparents completely backed and supported our decision. It took 6 adults being committed to an idea, the idea of our dyslexic child being able to read.
It also helped that we have the good fortune of being near a school with a thirty plus year reputation of working with dyslexic children (which my family was already familiar with because of my brother).
Many times people tell me that they cant afford our school (believe me I understand, it's expensive). Other times people say they'll get tutoring or they piece together some other way to get their dyslexic child what they need. That is fine, that is okay, but I am so glad we have done what we have done.
To me it has been worth the sacrifice to make certain that she got what she needed when she needed it. Her school is not perfect because no school is perfect but it is the best we could do for her. I think that matters. I think it matters a lot.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Where are we headed? A possible future
What is interesting about this subject, the whole subject of dyslexia, reading, illiteracy and education is that there is a great upheaval in education right now. Moreso than usual.
The Third Grade Reading Guarantee in my state (Ohio) is essentially about the privatization of education.
In deciding to make changes the governor and his accomplices didn't count or think it seemed to matter that; Charter (aka: "Community") schools have a lousy educational track record and no one asked any trained professionals (aka teachers, pediatric neuropsychologists, etc. ) before they passed this 400 page nonsense into a law called Senate Bill 316.
What does this mean for dyslexia?
First off, we know that most children with dyslexia are not identified. Those few that are and have an IEP to (hopefully) protect them are invariably in a much stronger socio-economic position than children in impoverished areas where children regularly go without any needed intervention.
Second, take the statistic which shows that the Whole Language teaching method doesn't work for 40% of the population. Nearly every teacher who has come out of college in my state since 1987 has been taught Whole Language and fed the line that the Phonics method is a slower way to teach reading and an relic of the past. Most people in college are still in their formative years and this is a crucial time of being convinced as to which way is right and which is wrong.
This argument over which is a better way to teach reading is officially called the Reading Wars.
Where does this take us as far as Charter schools go?
Here is my thinking:
Public schools aren't doing all that fabulous at educating children with dyslexia but there are so many more factors to play against dyslexic children in the charter schools.
Starting with teachers with less training, making less money and having less overall job security.
Let me digress for a moment and say that Universities would be wise to realize that should teaching become a non-career their entire Colleges of Education will no doubt end up suffering. Should more teachers be paid Walmart wages, you can expect serious ambitious college students to NOT become teachers.
Also a charter school doesn't have to accept just any child the way a public school does. The charter school that doesn't educate third graders to read isn't going to be graded and closed the way it's written for the public schools to be closed if they are in "academic emergency".
If the path of turning much of out educational system is going to go private we will see that less and less funding, encouragement and support will go to our public schools.
This is not good overall for any child but especially not the dyslexic child.
Currently public school districts in wealthier areas are starting to implement things like the Wilson method. They are trying to get some Orton-Gillingham training. They are scared to death of continuing to be sued by ever more knowledgeable parents who are forming groups. They are changing because they have to.
Charter schools close at the drop of the hat, reorganize themselves, change their names and have all sorts of other ways to hide. They simply aren't going to be held to the accountability factor that public schools are.
I cant predict the future but I'm going to go out on a limb and say what I seem to be seeing in the works and how it may, on a personal level affect both my family and my community and not for the better.
We, as a society, are going to have to respond. We need a plan to counteract what has currently been set in store for us.
On a personal level and on a more widespread level, it's time to see some action start to take place. I have hope it will.
The Third Grade Reading Guarantee in my state (Ohio) is essentially about the privatization of education.
In deciding to make changes the governor and his accomplices didn't count or think it seemed to matter that; Charter (aka: "Community") schools have a lousy educational track record and no one asked any trained professionals (aka teachers, pediatric neuropsychologists, etc. ) before they passed this 400 page nonsense into a law called Senate Bill 316.
What does this mean for dyslexia?
First off, we know that most children with dyslexia are not identified. Those few that are and have an IEP to (hopefully) protect them are invariably in a much stronger socio-economic position than children in impoverished areas where children regularly go without any needed intervention.
Second, take the statistic which shows that the Whole Language teaching method doesn't work for 40% of the population. Nearly every teacher who has come out of college in my state since 1987 has been taught Whole Language and fed the line that the Phonics method is a slower way to teach reading and an relic of the past. Most people in college are still in their formative years and this is a crucial time of being convinced as to which way is right and which is wrong.
This argument over which is a better way to teach reading is officially called the Reading Wars.
Where does this take us as far as Charter schools go?
Here is my thinking:
Public schools aren't doing all that fabulous at educating children with dyslexia but there are so many more factors to play against dyslexic children in the charter schools.
Starting with teachers with less training, making less money and having less overall job security.
Let me digress for a moment and say that Universities would be wise to realize that should teaching become a non-career their entire Colleges of Education will no doubt end up suffering. Should more teachers be paid Walmart wages, you can expect serious ambitious college students to NOT become teachers.
Also a charter school doesn't have to accept just any child the way a public school does. The charter school that doesn't educate third graders to read isn't going to be graded and closed the way it's written for the public schools to be closed if they are in "academic emergency".
If the path of turning much of out educational system is going to go private we will see that less and less funding, encouragement and support will go to our public schools.
This is not good overall for any child but especially not the dyslexic child.
Currently public school districts in wealthier areas are starting to implement things like the Wilson method. They are trying to get some Orton-Gillingham training. They are scared to death of continuing to be sued by ever more knowledgeable parents who are forming groups. They are changing because they have to.
Charter schools close at the drop of the hat, reorganize themselves, change their names and have all sorts of other ways to hide. They simply aren't going to be held to the accountability factor that public schools are.
I cant predict the future but I'm going to go out on a limb and say what I seem to be seeing in the works and how it may, on a personal level affect both my family and my community and not for the better.
We, as a society, are going to have to respond. We need a plan to counteract what has currently been set in store for us.
On a personal level and on a more widespread level, it's time to see some action start to take place. I have hope it will.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Dyslexia information aka It can be hard to know who's trustworthy
So in forming the parent discussion group where we will talk about reading struggles I have to go about it rather quietly.
We are going to have the tutor come in and speak to the group and also the intervention specialist.
I need to do that even though I'm expecting to have to bite my lip until it bleeds because these are the already established authorities about reading in this school community.
I have to play the game.
Just a side note: I'm not terribly good at game playing. One would think that after all of these years (I'm no spring chicken) I would be good at game playing. I'm not. It's part of my natural weirdness that I've never been all that good at politics and game playing. Sigh.
Still, this subject is so important to me. I'm setting a small goal for myself, 3 kids. If I can help 3 families learn what they need to know to help 3 kids then, well, it was worth it.
I don't have any idea how many people will show up at this discussion group. Really, no idea. But I know a lady in a well regarded district who has tried to create a similar group and they had 300 people show. So who knows.
Statistically 20% of the population has dyslexia so at least 20% of the children in the Catholic school we are in are going to be or are already struggling readers. So call it market research, I think someone will come. We will see. My mom is praying for us and she is a great prayer. I have hope.
Now on to more thoughts.
Yesterday someone told me that they are having their child tested 3 times a year to make sure that the private school which specializes in dyslexia is doing a good job.
It wasn't the first time I've heard of this but let's suppose for a moment that, they aren't. That really the child isn't making as much progress as they could at our (one of 11 in the entire country) school. Where else is there to go?
I think accountability is a great idea but there really aren't any better options. I mean there just isn't anything else.
Perhaps I'm not as mistrusting of our school because my brother went there ages ago and he can read. They have refined the techniques since then and I have seen my daughter read.
It seems silly to pay an outside entity extra money to use their testing method (called Aimsweb) to watch my child. I understand why a public school person would want to do this but not where we are.
It's hard to know whom to trust. Another part of what makes this whole subject so crazy.
We are going to have the tutor come in and speak to the group and also the intervention specialist.
I need to do that even though I'm expecting to have to bite my lip until it bleeds because these are the already established authorities about reading in this school community.
I have to play the game.
Just a side note: I'm not terribly good at game playing. One would think that after all of these years (I'm no spring chicken) I would be good at game playing. I'm not. It's part of my natural weirdness that I've never been all that good at politics and game playing. Sigh.
Still, this subject is so important to me. I'm setting a small goal for myself, 3 kids. If I can help 3 families learn what they need to know to help 3 kids then, well, it was worth it.
I don't have any idea how many people will show up at this discussion group. Really, no idea. But I know a lady in a well regarded district who has tried to create a similar group and they had 300 people show. So who knows.
Statistically 20% of the population has dyslexia so at least 20% of the children in the Catholic school we are in are going to be or are already struggling readers. So call it market research, I think someone will come. We will see. My mom is praying for us and she is a great prayer. I have hope.
Now on to more thoughts.
Yesterday someone told me that they are having their child tested 3 times a year to make sure that the private school which specializes in dyslexia is doing a good job.
It wasn't the first time I've heard of this but let's suppose for a moment that, they aren't. That really the child isn't making as much progress as they could at our (one of 11 in the entire country) school. Where else is there to go?
I think accountability is a great idea but there really aren't any better options. I mean there just isn't anything else.
Perhaps I'm not as mistrusting of our school because my brother went there ages ago and he can read. They have refined the techniques since then and I have seen my daughter read.
It seems silly to pay an outside entity extra money to use their testing method (called Aimsweb) to watch my child. I understand why a public school person would want to do this but not where we are.
It's hard to know whom to trust. Another part of what makes this whole subject so crazy.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
3 Fish
I'm frying three fish right now. (That's probably an old Southern expression).
My smallest fish is our new Catholic school where my son is attending. Although the folks at that school sometimes say they have a learning-difference friendly school truthfully, I find them as steeped in a lack of knowledge about dyslexia as the first Catholic school we attended. If one has read this blog, they'll know how that turned out.
So I'm attempting, along with a more established family, to create a discussion group. We will be discussing reading difficulties. There will be occasional speakers and the hardest part for me will be biting my tongue at the extreme amount of misinformation I believe I will be hearing (including from our speakers).
Sigh. At least I have the hope that I'll be able to throw in a few helpful things.
It's like a different world there compared to my daughter's excellent dyslexia school. Also I should say that I'm pretty surprised the principal is even letting us start this group. An utter surprise.
Fish 2 is that I've made a pretty bold attack on the dyslexia FB page on two dyslexia related groups in my city, which I'm sure I've already mentioned, that claim to help children with reading problems but really are using the children as guinea pigs while they pursue their own organizational agendas.
While I lumped them into the same helpful-but-not-really category in my FB post truthfully one is worst than the other.
Yet, one of the things I'm most sick of about this whole subject is how taken advantage of families with dyslexic children can end up being.
Someone is always trying to sell something (most recently an App) someone is always claiming to do so much for our dyslexic community (when really they are just using these children and the children are not their first priority).
So I guess I let loose a sort of crazy woman rant in that FB post. However, it was pretty decent writing if I say so myself.
I ended up being called privately by someone I really like who asked me what 2 groups I was talking about. I told on myself. Hope that turns out okay.
My husband is worried that I'll get sued.
Maybe my biggest fault is that I sound like an expert when really I'm not one. Yet, I know from personal experience what works and doesn't work in getting my kid to read. I know which sources are trustworthy.
I also know that a cult-like "Don't question what we do here" attitude is a danger sign that not much is actually being done.
These two groups are not valid options for families who are really wanting their children to be able to read. Very sad.
Finally Fish 3 - I've been writing about it a lot lately. The third grade reading guarantee. Really it's the Lets-Take-Education-Down-A-Few-Notches guarantee. At least I've found some takers. Here is my last post. It's a recipe. I'm very proud of it.
My smallest fish is our new Catholic school where my son is attending. Although the folks at that school sometimes say they have a learning-difference friendly school truthfully, I find them as steeped in a lack of knowledge about dyslexia as the first Catholic school we attended. If one has read this blog, they'll know how that turned out.
So I'm attempting, along with a more established family, to create a discussion group. We will be discussing reading difficulties. There will be occasional speakers and the hardest part for me will be biting my tongue at the extreme amount of misinformation I believe I will be hearing (including from our speakers).
Sigh. At least I have the hope that I'll be able to throw in a few helpful things.
It's like a different world there compared to my daughter's excellent dyslexia school. Also I should say that I'm pretty surprised the principal is even letting us start this group. An utter surprise.
Fish 2 is that I've made a pretty bold attack on the dyslexia FB page on two dyslexia related groups in my city, which I'm sure I've already mentioned, that claim to help children with reading problems but really are using the children as guinea pigs while they pursue their own organizational agendas.
While I lumped them into the same helpful-but-not-really category in my FB post truthfully one is worst than the other.
Yet, one of the things I'm most sick of about this whole subject is how taken advantage of families with dyslexic children can end up being.
Someone is always trying to sell something (most recently an App) someone is always claiming to do so much for our dyslexic community (when really they are just using these children and the children are not their first priority).
So I guess I let loose a sort of crazy woman rant in that FB post. However, it was pretty decent writing if I say so myself.
I ended up being called privately by someone I really like who asked me what 2 groups I was talking about. I told on myself. Hope that turns out okay.
My husband is worried that I'll get sued.
Maybe my biggest fault is that I sound like an expert when really I'm not one. Yet, I know from personal experience what works and doesn't work in getting my kid to read. I know which sources are trustworthy.
I also know that a cult-like "Don't question what we do here" attitude is a danger sign that not much is actually being done.
These two groups are not valid options for families who are really wanting their children to be able to read. Very sad.
Finally Fish 3 - I've been writing about it a lot lately. The third grade reading guarantee. Really it's the Lets-Take-Education-Down-A-Few-Notches guarantee. At least I've found some takers. Here is my last post. It's a recipe. I'm very proud of it.
.... a recipe:
Take one historically marginalized population
Take one historically marginalized population
Add one standardized test that kids from more privileged areas will not have as much trouble passing
Call the test a “Norm”
Target first all the teachers who only ever wanted to make a difference and chose to work in less affluent areas.
Put in very hot oven which grades teachers and schools on the way their students test on the "norm".
Invite your 1% top of the economy friends over who donate to your campaign and feel like they need another entrepreneurial opportunity and a slice of the tax money pie (which they will get since they’ll be paying their workers Walmart wages).
Add the nice little perk of dismantling the strongest union in the state (your political arch enemy).
Write it all down in a 400 page, difficult to read, maze-like document.
Get it passed into law as quickly as possible.
making certain no one from the OEA (teachers union) ever see the secret recipe until law is finalized.
making certain no one from the OEA (teachers union) ever see the secret recipe until law is finalized.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Some thoughts about injustice
Buried deep within hundreds of pages of things that really have no consequence, standard stuff for schools like how much milk to provide per student, someone stuck in (with the most legal of jargon they could dream up), some sneaky and manipulative concepts that would help achieve an end goal.
Part of it was almost game-like. A written maze. See page 4 if you want to know the definition of page 6. That sort of thing.
No one had to dream this up alone. Crafty friends on a national level helped and, as they drank their scotch and looked out their back window to the boat parked in the bay, they congratulated each other on the success of their idea.
It really is for the best they told each other.
Even if in the process all those words would hurt hundreds of thousands of people, including children.
But it was for the best, it had to be done. They would all think to themselves.
Most people, including reporters, could be counted on not to read the dry, tedious, boring and mostly smoke screen cover-up document (law). There was a cliff notes version and as long as it didn't point too much out that the originators didn't want to be seen, well that was enough for most people, including reporters.
Otherwise no one ever would have agreed to it. Or those who did would be just as underhanded.
What if it succeeded. All of it. Better than wildest dreams even.
What if only people that could be immediately discounted in one way or another questioned it.
Until after the fact that is.
After the bulldozer came out. After the legal fights which didn't result in much. What then?
Part of it was almost game-like. A written maze. See page 4 if you want to know the definition of page 6. That sort of thing.
No one had to dream this up alone. Crafty friends on a national level helped and, as they drank their scotch and looked out their back window to the boat parked in the bay, they congratulated each other on the success of their idea.
It really is for the best they told each other.
Even if in the process all those words would hurt hundreds of thousands of people, including children.
But it was for the best, it had to be done. They would all think to themselves.
Most people, including reporters, could be counted on not to read the dry, tedious, boring and mostly smoke screen cover-up document (law). There was a cliff notes version and as long as it didn't point too much out that the originators didn't want to be seen, well that was enough for most people, including reporters.
Otherwise no one ever would have agreed to it. Or those who did would be just as underhanded.
What if it succeeded. All of it. Better than wildest dreams even.
What if only people that could be immediately discounted in one way or another questioned it.
Until after the fact that is.
After the bulldozer came out. After the legal fights which didn't result in much. What then?
Monday, September 2, 2013
At last, someone who understands
At last I have spoken with a public school teacher who knows more than me about the way the Third Grade Reading Guarantee has been set up to make more than just third graders fail.
Let me take a relaxing pause here.
Sadly, she and her colleagues currently feel rather defeated (What, before the games have even begun?)
Yet, I feel a renewed sense of hope.
Yesterday, I went to the funeral of a family friend. It was one of the best services of it's kind I had ever been to. The person who died had a loving community and many valued our friend, not because she was perfect but because she lived in such a way where she had gotten to the root of what was important in life. We will all miss her.
We sang a hymn, Abide with Me, at that service. The words that are stuck in my head are,
"Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me."
I feel a sense of calm.
I could point out here that should this ridiculous law continue on it's course with the passing of time the Big Universities which currently educate plenty of public schoolteachers could see a drop in enrollment in Education should there be fewer worthwhile public school jobs for their graduates. I wonder if their lobbyists that spend all sorts of time getting in the way of Orton Gillingham and other training methods could spend a touch of time on this subject?
I could also point out that the FL public school teachers union is now filing a lawsuit, I cant imagine that around the country the unions arent watching what each other are doing to cope with the seriousness of this attack on their workers.
I could point out that the AFL-CIO completely understands what is going on and has this published on their website: http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/education
So, I guess this brings me to my final point. The law itself is set up to pick on the people who actually deserve our highest regard.
People who have chosen to work with the most impoverished, underprivileged and needy school districts.
Teachers who work in districts where they aren't puffed up with pride merely saying the name of the district they are a part of.
Teachers who have foregone the niceties of a district that come with well off parents willing to do anything, give anything and support the education of their children.
I call these teachers- frontline teachers.
They deserve every medal, every honor and all the community support they can get. And yet, they are being attacked now both by the world they have tried to make a difference in as well as from behind, by the very folks who should be singing their praises.
So here we are back to money and classism. We can pretty much add racism to the mix too since the majority of the population in an urban school district would fall into the minority category.
I'm going to go pray now. This is not a defeatist position folks but rather the position of someone who understands how to humbly ask for guidance and help.
After that I'm going to re-read Psalm 34:17-22. It's a frequent passage I think of in terms of all the children and families suffering from the lack of understanding about their dyslexia.
I wonder what bible verses mean and power hungry lawmakers read?
Let me take a relaxing pause here.
Sadly, she and her colleagues currently feel rather defeated (What, before the games have even begun?)
Yet, I feel a renewed sense of hope.
Yesterday, I went to the funeral of a family friend. It was one of the best services of it's kind I had ever been to. The person who died had a loving community and many valued our friend, not because she was perfect but because she lived in such a way where she had gotten to the root of what was important in life. We will all miss her.
We sang a hymn, Abide with Me, at that service. The words that are stuck in my head are,
"Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me."
I feel a sense of calm.
I could point out here that should this ridiculous law continue on it's course with the passing of time the Big Universities which currently educate plenty of public schoolteachers could see a drop in enrollment in Education should there be fewer worthwhile public school jobs for their graduates. I wonder if their lobbyists that spend all sorts of time getting in the way of Orton Gillingham and other training methods could spend a touch of time on this subject?
I could also point out that the FL public school teachers union is now filing a lawsuit, I cant imagine that around the country the unions arent watching what each other are doing to cope with the seriousness of this attack on their workers.
I could point out that the AFL-CIO completely understands what is going on and has this published on their website: http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/education
So, I guess this brings me to my final point. The law itself is set up to pick on the people who actually deserve our highest regard.
People who have chosen to work with the most impoverished, underprivileged and needy school districts.
Teachers who work in districts where they aren't puffed up with pride merely saying the name of the district they are a part of.
Teachers who have foregone the niceties of a district that come with well off parents willing to do anything, give anything and support the education of their children.
I call these teachers- frontline teachers.
They deserve every medal, every honor and all the community support they can get. And yet, they are being attacked now both by the world they have tried to make a difference in as well as from behind, by the very folks who should be singing their praises.
So here we are back to money and classism. We can pretty much add racism to the mix too since the majority of the population in an urban school district would fall into the minority category.
I'm going to go pray now. This is not a defeatist position folks but rather the position of someone who understands how to humbly ask for guidance and help.
After that I'm going to re-read Psalm 34:17-22. It's a frequent passage I think of in terms of all the children and families suffering from the lack of understanding about their dyslexia.
I wonder what bible verses mean and power hungry lawmakers read?
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Once again Third Grade Reading Guarantee
Why is it so hard for (some) folks to see that the Third Grade Reading Guarantee is really about shutting down as much of the teachers union as possible?
Let's look at Florida. Unless you live there you probably haven't seen this article documenting how the union is suing the state for the absolute nonsensical way it's evaluating teachers:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2013/04/16/teachers-union-files-federal-lawsuit-challenging-florida-teacher-evaluations/
In FL the law is called "The Student Success Act" (Senate Bill 736). There are probably differences in the way all 14 states which have all these similar laws are targeting public school teachers but I'll tell you the truth, right this moment I don't have time to look through them all and make a comparative study.
Still, I'm on the scent right now and besides trying to help my own children and others in our community where it comes to dyslexia, I'm all over this.
Just so you know how dreadful the whole "grading" teachers concept is and how it's failed to work in the business model, check out this interesting article from Slate which tells how top performers at Microsoft responded to a similar business model by an "every-worker-for-themselves" self defensive position. http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/08/23/stack_ranking_steve_ballmer_s_employee_evaluation_system_and_microsoft_s.html
Now do you really think a bunch of politicians don't know that it didn't work at Microsoft. They had no idea what a lame, ugly, wrong concept this was. I think they knew exactly how to cripple the teachers morale and work over the system. Anytime someone (or a group) want power but they aren't in the majority they have to use sneaky methods like this to achieve their goal.
Let's look at Florida. Unless you live there you probably haven't seen this article documenting how the union is suing the state for the absolute nonsensical way it's evaluating teachers:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2013/04/16/teachers-union-files-federal-lawsuit-challenging-florida-teacher-evaluations/
In FL the law is called "The Student Success Act" (Senate Bill 736). There are probably differences in the way all 14 states which have all these similar laws are targeting public school teachers but I'll tell you the truth, right this moment I don't have time to look through them all and make a comparative study.
Still, I'm on the scent right now and besides trying to help my own children and others in our community where it comes to dyslexia, I'm all over this.
Just so you know how dreadful the whole "grading" teachers concept is and how it's failed to work in the business model, check out this interesting article from Slate which tells how top performers at Microsoft responded to a similar business model by an "every-worker-for-themselves" self defensive position. http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/08/23/stack_ranking_steve_ballmer_s_employee_evaluation_system_and_microsoft_s.html
Now do you really think a bunch of politicians don't know that it didn't work at Microsoft. They had no idea what a lame, ugly, wrong concept this was. I think they knew exactly how to cripple the teachers morale and work over the system. Anytime someone (or a group) want power but they aren't in the majority they have to use sneaky methods like this to achieve their goal.
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