“There is a huge amount of denial that has to be overcome before anything changes. I experienced it myself. No one wants to admit to themselves that we aren’t helping our children.” Parent of a 5th grade FCPS student and RWSR client
The Next Chapter: How Barton Helped My Dyslexic Son Go Back to School
Although homeschooling was never in my plan, when I confronted the reality of how my son’s public school was failing its dyslexic students, I was clear that was going to be the best choice.
Garrett has never gone through a full neuropsychological evaluation. My main concern was why he was having so many difficulties with reading and spelling. Even though his teacher and the school said he was reading at grade level, frankly, I didn’t believe them. I also wasn’t willing to wait-and-see what happened. Research shows
Continue reading “The Next Chapter: How Barton Helped My Dyslexic Son Go Back to School”
Warning Signs of Dyslexia
It’s important to keep in mind that if your child attends a Fairfax County Public School, the Development Reading Assessment (DRA) is used to measure reading progress. A child may be “reading” at grade level and still show many of these warning signs (read more about my son’s example). Many teachers are not familiar with dyslexia and have not received training in identifying students with this different brain wiring.
Does your child have 3 or more of the following warning signs?
Setting up for remote tutoring
(Updated June 13, 2018) – Almost half of my tutoring clients make use of a hybrid tutoring approach: both in-person and remote tutoring in order to allow for more sessions while avoiding the pain of rush hour traffic.
Does Handwriting Instruction Still Matter?
One of the key attributes of the Barton Reading & Spelling System, and any reputable Orton-Gillingham program for dyslexia remediation, is that it simultaneously engages several of the five senses. Handwriting Without Tears uses a similar approach, for print and cursive instruction. Since many dyslexic students have poor handwriting and find writing by hand to be tedious, some parents may wonder, why bother with it at all?
Continue reading “Does Handwriting Instruction Still Matter?”
Why I pulled my dyslexic son out of Fairfax County Public Schools
Testimony to FCPS Advisory Committee for Students with Disabilities, given Wednesday May 13, 2015 at 7:30pm.
My name is Kimberly Downey and my narrative describes why I decided to remove my dyslexic son from the FCPS system at the end of 2nd grade and homeschool him.
Continue reading “Why I pulled my dyslexic son out of Fairfax County Public Schools”