M.K.
My 2e child was suspected of being dyslexic in preschool. Of course, I knew more than the teacher and NOBODY can diagnose dyslexia in preschool - it's just not possible.
In Kindergarten I was called in by the teacher within a few weeks of school to talk about my daughter. She explained to me that my daughter, although exceptionally bright and artistic, totally avoided the math and reading stations in the room. She would watch others working in those areas (sometimes over their shoulders) but she refused to enter the areas, and when asked to sit down with the teacher and work on numbers or letters she got very uncomfortable and would suggest another activity that she could do for her. The Kindergarten Teacher had visited with the Preschool Teacher (private school) about this, and the Preschool Teacher shared her concerns about my daughter possibly being Dyslexic. Oh, and by the way the Kindergarten Teacher informed me that although it was generally accepted that this type of disability could not be diagnosed so young the Preschool Teacher was a mother of 6 - 5 of whom were Dyslexic! So off I went to the Preschool Teacher to find out what I needed to do for my young daughter.
Off to special testing we set, and my daughter was scored at a Genius IQ with Profound Dyslexia (they could not yet determine the type of Dyslexia - she was so young).
We tried Title 1, which was brought into our school through the Public School District. However, it was a terrible experience for my daughter. Title 1 time for students was taken from their "specials time" - Art, Music, and P.E. These were the very classes my daughter actually excelled in and received most of her "school self esteem" from! It was a nightmare to get her un-enrolled in Title 1, I thought Social Services was going to come after me. She hated the Title 1 Teacher, who didn't care for her either. My daughter was so miserable, that she made the time in the room difficult for the teacher too.
I paid for a private Specialist to work with my daughter, then paid for that person to work with one of our school teachers to train her how to work with my daughter. It was awesome! We followed up with a visit to the Specialist every 6 weeks to be sure we were on track and then she followed up with mentoring/teaching the teacher, and my daughter and the teacher (who also ended up being my daughter's 1st & 2nd Grade Teacher) tutored her 2-3 times a week through the 4th grade. It was very expensive, I was a single Mom too. But it was so worth the while.
Once we got to the 5th grade she really didn't need tutoring. Although the benefits of IEPs were explained to both of us - she refused to go that route. She said she would consider it if at some point her grades suffered (I've always had high grade expectations of my children). She worked very hard - twice as hard as her friends - but she had learned to read and look at math in ways that worked for her through all the tutoring and with lots of effort and extra time she maintained As and Bs.
The only obstacle that she struggled with was timed tests. The pressure of time makes her very anxious - especially since she has to read things over so many times before trying to solve the issue/answer the question. She thinks in images. She still refused the process for an IEP - to offset her timed-test scores, she excelled in classroom work and extra credit.
The ACT was my biggest concern, because without the IEP there would be no special compensation for time on these - and they are such tricky questions! She did pretty well though, she took them a couple of times her Jr. year, and then again 3 times her Sr. year. I tried pushing for the IEP but she resisted and scored better with each attempt - finally ending up at 29. That's a decent score and with her 4.5 GPA and all her extra curricular activities and awards her college applications looked pretty impressive.
She graduates in just 6 weeks. She is National Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, STUCO Secretary, a Wrestling Team Manager, Cotillion, and active in so many other things! She is heading off to Art School in August. She is trying to decide where to go from her 4 current offers for 1/2 off each of her 4-years tuition at 4 different prestigious Art Colleges. She is a determined, intelligent, well rounded young woman - I'm not sure that I could be more proud!
