Your child is struggling in school. Does he need an evaluation? Why is an evaluation important? Testing gives us data, helps us to know what areas of need to focus on, and then target those areas effectively. 
Parents have the right to ask their child's public school for an evaluation and by law, the school must provide one free of charge. But there are steps that must be followed.

STEP ONE: Parents must make a request for testing in writing. Talking to your child's teacher, the principal or the front office about your concerns, or just verbally asking for an evaluation is not enough. Parents need to put the request in writing and personally deliver it to the school personnel (usually the school counselor) who should respond to it. According to Vita Nemirovsky of Homeworks Educational Consulting, it is important to include specific requests in the letter on exactly what you would like your child to be evaluated for. A sample letter requesting evaluation will help parents write an effective letter.

STEP TWO:  Within 10 days, the school will offer a Permission to Evaluate (PTE) form that needs to be signed by the parents. At this point, a 60 day “countdown” starts, where the school has that much time to perform the requested evaluations. One thing to note: the time during summer vacation does not count towards the 60 days. Despite the fact that it may be late in the year, it can still be good to start the process in the spring. According to Nemirovsky, that will help set things up for an early fall evaluation.

IF THE SCHOOL SAYS NO: A school may also respond to a parents’ written request with a Notice of Recommended Educational Placement, or NOREP form. This form indicates that the school has reviewed the child’s situation and determined that he already has an appropriate placement. Parents can dispute this and still request testing. In the majority of the cases, the schools will comply with the parents.

STEP THREE: Once testing results are in, the school will meet with the parents, share results and make recommendations. If parents are not satisfied with the results of testing, they also have the option of requesting an independent evaluation, which the school is required to pay for.

The lengthy time frame can be a problem for some parents, who want to get a diagnosis, and begin to get help for their child sooner. These parents may elect to pay for and get an independent evaluation.

Next: Reasons to consider an independent evaluation 

You have concerns about your child's reading progress, and you are about to meet with the teacher. Use this checklist to prepare for the meeting and bring it with you so that you gather the specific information that will help you get the best picture of how your child is really doing.

Suggested Teacher Meeting Checklist
Source: Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz, M.D.

1. Make a written list of your concerns. 
2. Set up a specific time to speak to your child's teacher; don't catch her on the run.
3. Find out how your child is progressing in reading; you want specifics, not generalities or euphemisms.
4. Pin down exactly how her reading progress is being measured.
5. Ask what reading group he is in and what level reader that group represents.
6. Ask how she compares to others in her class and grade.
7. Ask what the expectations are for him by year's end.
8. In very specific terms, ask what help she is receiving: a) the type of program b) size of group c) minutes per day.
9. If you can, visit the class and observe your child along with his classmates during a reading lesson.

Using a checklist such as this one will make your meeting much more productive and informative. Teachers are invaluable in terms of being able to give you specific information of where your child is at, in relation to her grade-level peers, This will allow you to further decide whether or not you should pursue a formal evaluation.


Next: I think my child needs to be evaluated. Now what?

You have concerns about your child's reading progress. You've noted that she has some of the signs of dyslexia. According to experts, if reading is not progressing, these signs should not be ignored. 
What should you do now? 
Schedule a meeting with the school. Sally Shaywitz, M.D., Co-Director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, urges parents to schedule a meeting with their child's teacher without delay. In her book, Overcoming Dyslexia, the occurrence of a number of problems over a period of time, a persistent pattern, represents a likelihood of dyslexia.
Don't fall victim to wishful thinking. Shaywitz warns, "It is wishful thinking to believe there will be a sudden, magical improvement." Schools and parents often want to take a  "wait and see" approach. (Why don't we wait until after the holidays? Let's see how she's doing at the end of the year.) "Remember," says Shaywitz, "scientific data show that reading problems are persistent: they do not represent a lag in development."
Make a written list of your observations and concerns. Shaywitz advises writing down the concerns, as a help for both parent and teacher. "Parents are often so nervous when speaking to their child's teacher, that they forget why they were worried." A list, Shaywitz says, will help both the parent and be appreciated by the teacher. Along with that list, Shaywitz offers a meeting checklist that parents can use to help get as much detailed information as possible.
Next: The school meeting checklist.

Your child is having unexpected difficulty with reading, and struggling with school. He seems to have hit a "wall" in third grade, or he hasn't learned to read simple words in first grade and it's the end of the year. Despite the teacher's reassurance not to worry and that, "he'll grow out of it," you are concerned that it might be something more. How can a parent begin to find out if this is the case? The following blog series will offer step-by-step advice on what parents can do to find out what is going on with your child and what you can do to help them.
 Step 1: Research dyslexia and learn as much as you can before you decide what to do next. 
Before diving into talking with the school, or calling the phone number of someone you've found on the web, take the time to do some research and learn what you can. Then, you will be better prepared and know what to ask when you begin to talk with others. Here are a few suggestions:

• Do an informal evaluation yourself by comparing your child's characteristics to a well-designed checklist. This Signs of Dyslexia Checklist is a quick but very accurate assessment of whether or not your child might have a problem.
• Another excellent resource for learning more is this video: Could it be Dyslexia? There are also many other resources at the parent-friendly Bright Solutions for Dyslexia site. 

If your research seems to support your suspicion that your child's struggles with reading are more than just a "passing phase," it's time to gather more information, this time from your child's teacher or school.

Next: How to get specific information from the school on exactly how well your child is reading.

The following explanation was inspired by a quote someone shared with me that came from Milwaukee, WI Psychologist Dr. Stephen Dykstra.  Dr. Dykstra compared the Orton-Gillingham approach to learning to read to physical therapy in terms of treating the reading area of the brain.  I found his comparison helpful and so I reworked it slightly and added some other information, to create this explanation for families, on how and why the Orton-Gillingham approach is used for those with dyslexia, or extra difficulty in learning to read and spell.

When someone has extra difficulty with reading and spelling, despite normal intelligence, research has shown that there is an underlying difference in the left hemisphere of the brain, related to the ability to read written language quickly and easily  This area causes difficulty with processing sound and connecting it to letters and print. 

Think of this spot as a “reading muscle.”  If you had an injury or disability of some kind that impaired a muscle, you’d go to physical therapy.  You’d have to do exercises just for that muscle.  How does that look when you start therapy? You start with tiny little weights, and with practice build your muscle’s strength and ability to do more.  It might seem boring.  It might hurt.  It likely would not be fun.  But would it be important? 

In the same way, you will start with smaller pieces of sound, and train your brain to connect those sounds quickly to the correct written symbols. You will use all of your senses and do many “repetitions” in order to improve.  It is important to cover and fill in all the gaps, where you’ve learned to memorize and guess and to re-teach your brain to really read the symbols instead. 

As you see yourself getting stronger, you will understand the importance of doing what you do to “re-train” the brain to read accurately and correctly.  You will build a solid base so that your reading will become unstuck and you will be able to read at a much higher level than before. 

It takes commitment and determination, but it’s important and it needs to be done.  This is the reasoning behind the approach to reading and spelling that you will be doing here.

Simply put, dyslexia means "difficulty with written language." It is a term used to describe people who have a greater struggle with learning to read or write. We have all heard the term dyslexia, and often are aware of famous people past and present who have publicly shared that they have this particular struggle. If this simple definition is not detailed enough for your purposes, see an official definition at Dyslexia Defined.

But beyond the definition, there is a peculiar issue with the word dyslexia when a parent thinks her child may have it, and she approaches the child's school for help. That parent discovers that the majority of schools do not use the term dyslexia, and do not test for dyslexia.

Schools do recognize and use terms like "learning disability," "reading disability," or "specific learning disability." These are broader terms, but dyslexia would fall under one of these categories. 

There is no question that dyslexia does exist, even if the term isn't common in some schools. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded over 40 years of research on the subject and continues to research the best practices for helping affected individuals learn to read. The International Dyslexia Association reports that research shows that "as many as 15-20% of the population as a whole, have some degree of dyslexia."

So, in these blogs, I freely interchange the words such as "dyslexia," and "reading disability." While there are other learning disabilities, when I use this term, I am referring to dyslexia, or what some might call a reading disability, unless otherwise noted. If you prefer one or the other, feel free to think in those terms when the words are used. If a child has not been diagnosed, I will use the terms "suspected (dyslexia or reading) disability", or just plain, "struggling reader."