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Home › Articles › General › For the Children

For the Children

Advocating for Your Child with Learning Disabilities

By Kelly Burgess

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Bobby* is 9 years old and can barely read. He's already been held back once he's in second grade and should be in third. His mother, Sandy*, pointing out how well he did in math and other subjects where reading wasn't the primary focus, finally requested that he be tested for a learning disability, but his teacher kept putting it off. Finally, whenSandy gave up on the teacher and went to the principal, the teacher became very defensive. She insisted that the fault was Bobby's and that he had behavioral problems.Sandy was absolutely floored.

"I knew that she and Bobby had been having problems, but her obvious dislike of him at that meeting was almost scary," Sandy says. "I told the principal that much of his problem was that the reading was so over his head that he tended to act out when he was bored and frustrated with not understanding the material. His teacher actually said she thought he was just a brat. I left the meeting in tears, thinking about how difficult it must be for Bobby to be in that class day after day with a teacher like that."

Subsequently, the school psychologist was called in for a consultation. His testing determined that Bobby was a classic dyslexic. The school is still working to put adaptations in place for him to adjust to his learning style. However, he's also more than a year behind his peers and has quite a bit of catching up to do before he gets to a point where he doesn't struggle with material that should be easy for him at his level of development.

The Luck of the Draw
Because Bobby is the oldest child in his family and they're new to their rural Pennsylvania school district,Sandy had never heard of the teacher Bobby was assigned for second grade. After talking to other parents about her frustration in getting help for Bobby, she discovered that Bobby's teacher has a terrible reputation when it comes to working with students who need special educational services. Several parents told her they had actually written to the school when their children were going into second grade to request that they not be in her class. The problem is that she doesn't believe in learning disabilities. As far as she's concerned, if you can't do it, it's because you're not trying.

Rob Langston, author of For the Children: Redefining Success in School and Success in Life

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