After literally years of disquiet about DS13's lagging reading skills, I finally found a tester who has given me some answers. I had DS tested for dyslexia last summer and Tester 1 declared him in the clear. He had some strange, spiky results but his CTOPP phonological scores were "too high" for dyslexia. As it turns out, she was using the old CTOPP and GORT and DS' scores declined considerably with Tester 2's better instruments and newer norms.
Tester 1 completely ignored his original very low rapid naming speed. The CTOPP 2 contains more rapid naming subtests (as dyslexia research suggests that rapid retrieval and phonological processing are likely separate and both required to read) and DS' rapid naming composite score is in the 1st percentile. Yikes. His phonological processing was in the low average to low overall but his actual reading achievement on the WJ? Middle average. A classic stealth dyslexic.
Tester 2 has a bold laundry list of recommendations including allowing DS to take an online class over the summer to fulfill a required class. (My suggestion, actually.)
So I set a meeting with the school and came into it with my usual sense of foreboding, having heard the repeated ridiculous responses I am used to hearing about accommodations from other schools: "But we can't do that" (Why not? You're an effing private school. You can do anything you feel like doing. Do you think I am an idiot?) "But that wouldn't be fair to the other kids" (Really? And dyslexia, dysgraphia and auditory and visual processing and ADHD are "fair" for DS? Are you the fairness fairy? Where is our share?)
But this is what I got: "My only concern with this list is that she limits us to 50% extra time. We give kids who need it 100% extra time. Would she be willing to take the limit out?" What about the online class? "Of course we will do that. Just pick the class you want to replace. But if you are considering English, I think DS should be in Honors English here because he is so smart. We put all the very bright kids together in that class because the discussion is so much better for all of them that way."
When I expressed my profound gratitude and frank amazement at his responses, he seemed surprised. "Well, this is just the right thing to do." Indeed.
Of course, follow through is 90% of the deal, but willingness is the necessary precondition.
