Where to begin, I’m overwhelmed. My son will be eleven in June. He just had formal testing for dyslexia and was rated “Profound.”
I had him evaluated by the school in 1st grade. Others who saw the reports said he needed help, but the school just continued to ignore it and do RTI, which didn't help--, it wasn't Orton-Gillingham based. He continued to have more and more problems. In 3rd grade we got an IEP for my son but it was bogus-- no SMART goals and no setting him up to close the gap. I pulled him out of public school in 4th grade because the school was not helping.
I am working with him, tutoring him in Barton Reading and Spelling. He is currently in Level 4, Lesson 2. He gets at least three hours per week. I aim for six, but it's a lot with health concerns of mine, working, and trying to keep up with other school stuff of his.
I am contemplating temporarily relocating if I can find a program that can help him with more intensive interventions. He needs his material on audio and it's really important that his educational and personal needs are met.
I am in over my head! Do you know of programs that would help us? (He's at a 6th grade level for some stuff, 5th grade for most, and under a 2nd grade eye reading level) He is smart! If you know of any places, I'd love to hear about them!
He is so important to me! Thank you!
I am so sorry that all of this is such a struggle. I know how hard it can be. I am in Ann Arbor, but really not able to make a specific recommendation for you. There are some reputable private school around the country, but these can be cost prohibitive. We have an extensive list of private schools here [1], but of course, those can be cost-prohibitive. The only school on the east side of Michigan that specializes in students with dyslexia/learning disabilities is Eton Academy. It has a good reputation. Tuition is around $20K (or maybe more).
I have found that even within a school district, one school could be great at meeting a kiddo’s needs and another, not so much. And then, within a building, one teacher may be trained in teaching the tenets of structured literacy [2] and the next teacher have no training.
You can go to this list [3] to find tutors -- click on the state.
I wish I could be more helpful. I think it will require conversations with wherever you decide to go. We have a lot of information on DyslexiaHelp to guide you. First order of business is to make a list of your questions and then you can start posing those to the various school and professionals.
Please let me know if I can answer other questions.
Don't give up! Successful dyslexics frequently talk about having one person in their lives who believed in them -- and for many, it was mom!