I am a pediatric PA. I have a 7 year old patient who was diagnosed with a visual perception disorder by the OT at school. Neuropsychological testing resulted in a diagnosis of learning disorder NOS with a high risk for development of dyslexia. At a recent visit with me, she wrote out the numbers from 1 to 20 and she consistently wrote the numbers 7 and 9 backwards. Her parents would like to know just how dyslexic she is. Is there a test to quantify the severity? They are in the process of setting up an IEP for her. Is there anything else that be helpful? As with most things, cost is an issue.

I have a 6 year old that I adopted as a foster child. No one will consider that she could be dyslexic, I have fought as hard as I can. We even had a hearing with the school district and lost. I had her tested from when she was going into early intervention she was 18 months in 2010. We are moving to Virginia in November. I don't know anything about how they deal with special education. How can I help her?

We are trying to have our son tested for dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia but most facilities start with the WISC and the WJ. I don't see him being measured accurately because of the way these tests are administered and his specific learning differences. I was looking at the battery of tests that you use on determining dyslexia and didn't see any IQ type tests, but perhaps I overlooked it. Is there a reason you don't include the WISC in your battery? I did see the WJ, but only for a reading portion. Do you know of any institution or individual psychologist who administers the battery of tests that you recommend in the state of Colorado?

I am the guardian of my 7 year old granddaughter. I believe she has dyslexia and have expressed my concern to her teacher and special education director. The school suggested I have her eyes tested. I did and there were no issues found. The school had the occupational therapist do a test of her ability to follow objects with her eyes and concluded she has some issues with it. They want me to find someone to take her to for eye therapy. The problem is because I only have guardianship of her the only insurance she has is Medicaid. Because I already took her for an eye exam she can’t have another one. I need help in finding someone to help her that accepts Medicaid.

Hello, my son is entering his senior year in high school. He received a low score on his ACT exam on his second official try. We will continue to work with him and to have him retake the test over the next year. How does a student with a 3.2 GPA and a 17 overall score for the ACT exam ever fulfill the dream of attending a school like U of M?

Matthew Schneps is both an astrophysicist, holding a Ph.D. in physics, and dyslexic.

My son is six years old and has nearly every item on your identification checklist. He significantly struggled through preschool and kindergarten with the schools identifying a reading problem. He received the additional intensive reading assistance through school last year but so far it has not helped much at all. Do you have recommendations on next steps for finding the needed professionals? Does U-M provide evaluations or treatment services? Also, he has had his vision tested three times since birth to six years, each time with no identified issues.

The MIND Research Institute, an Irvine, California based nonprofit, has developed an exciting tool for classrooms called ST Math.

Our 14-year-old son has been assessed as being dyslexic, dysgraphic, and dyscalculic along with being above average in intelligence but having some memory issues and some borderline attention issues. After having had him assessed by both a hospital and a school district the question is: Can dyslexic reading challenges be fully or mostly overcome, or will there always be some challenge associated with dyslexia? Is it worth continuing to try to teach and help our son understand the basics of reading or should we switch to a focus on accommodations to get by and actually learn content?

I have a 10-year-old daughter who is having extreme difficulty with writing. I am struggling with what to do to get her evaluated. She has already gone to a psycho-educational clinic at Syracuse University. The only thing they really found was anxiety. She really only seems to struggle with writing, spelling, segmenting, and blending words. Not as much with reading. Although comprehension is low and fluency could be better.