Excitement is all around. Please join The Reading League Minnesota’s inaugural board and Andrea Setmeyer, National Chapter Coordinator of The Reading League, to hear about the upcoming launch of The Reading League MN. Registrar at https://bit.ly/TRLMNinfo; this is a live event and will not be recorded. If you can’t attend and would like more information, please email Deb Dwyer [email protected] or Sarah Carlson-Wallrath [email protected].
Learn more about this opportunity for additional Summer reading education at the link below!
2017 Dyslexia Day
Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Time: 9:30 – 2:00 pm
Place: Minnesota State Capitol Rotunda
Details –Click here
Parent and Educator Resource Guide to Section 504 in Public Elementary
and Secondary School pamphlet was just published by the US Department of
Education, Office of Civil Rights. It’s available at the following link
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/504-resource-guide-201612.pdf
Below is a great letter written by JM Lawrence of Grapevine, TX to help a parent respond to an email from a teacher about her child’s behavior during a language art activity. The teacher indicated that she knew the child had difficulty with reading and spelling. The child also said, “this is only easy for people who can read”. Some of the laws she references are specific to TX, but it’s a great letter that I thought needed to be shared. Thank JM!
Dear _______, _______, _______
I am sorry to hear from your email that X continues to struggle with reading and spelling, which causes her to act out. Her disability, dyslexia, is at the root of the issue and it is time to protect her access to the education offered her peers. Emotionally, you can see that X would rather “look” angry and defiant than “stupid” to her classmates. She is NOT choosing this behavior, it is her protection mechanism that has developed in your building, in response to teachers and administrators choosing to delay appropriate instruction to teach her to read using methods scientifically developed for students with the characteristics of Dyslexia. While our district is not choosing to participate in the Pilot for Act 69 Early Dyslexia Screening and Intervention, it does not mean that our school does not have the obligation to do the right thing and assess my daughter for Dyslexia and provide Free Appropriate Public Education including reading instruction that meets her needs.
John King’, US Secretary of the Department of Education, used these words in his testimony before a Senate committee, “But, the IEP team would be expected to address the screening for Dyslexia as a part of the assessment of the needs of a student who is struggling.“ This is Secretary of education acknowledging that IEP assessment teams should reasonably be administering testing instruments that can be used to identify Dyslexia? As the voice of the federal department of education, he is voicing support of for my daughter who struggles to read, being identified, for her disability and then being “taught to read.”
I am requesting that the district follow federal disability guidelines and provide my daughter with “Dyslexia” testing because her characteristics are those of a student with Dyslexia, whether or not she qualifies for Special Education, our school has the federal responsibility to help her learn to read. If the school does not have a person that is qualified to identify Dyslexia, then I am requesting an Independent Educational Evaluation of my daughter with a credentialed Dyslexia provider.
Please respond to this request in writing within the next 5 business days. Until the district chooses to follow the law and provide X an appropriate education for a child who can be identified by section 504 ADA laws, when an assignment requires her to read and write, at grade level, please send her on an errand to a place where she can be helped through the assignment.
I look forward to hearing that you have received this correspondence and how you will be addressing my daughter’s needs for FAPE.
Sincerely,
If you’re working on taxes and you’ve paid a tutor to help your child learn to read, you might be eligible for the MN Reading Credit. This credit is currently available only for the 2014 tax year. The following is directly from the Department of Revenue form:
Who is Eligible?
You may be able to receive a refundable credit for non-reimbursed expenses you paid to assist your qualifying child with meeting state-required academic standards. To be eligible for this credit, you must meet the following criteria:
The following is a link to the form,
http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/Forms_and_Instructions/m1read_14.pdf
Always looking forward from a little different perspective.
With school just around the corner, it’s time to reread your children’s IEP or 504. Could a 504 with appropriate accommodations make for a more successful year? The following is from NCLD.org by Laura Kaloe, NCLD Public Policy Director
Is a 504 Plan Right for My Child? |
The IDEA law requires that your child must meet two prongs of the law in order to be served by special education:
This legal requirement essentially says that some kids with LD or AD/HD may not meet the state or district requirementsof the second prong. While the student may have a disability, it may not be impacting their learning in ways that qualify them for special education services. These students however, because they have an LD or AD/HD, may meet the requirement to have a 504 plan if their disability “substantially limits them in performing one or more major life activity.”
| Effective January 2009, eligibility for protection under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act became broader. Some students who did not qualify in the past may now qualify for Section 504 plans. Students with Section 504 plans may now qualify for additional supports, services, auxiliary aids, and/or accommodations in public schools.disabilities.For the rest of the article visit ncld.org and search 504 plans. |
Please join me in signing this petition for Congress to level the playing field for dyslexics in education. The petition was created by the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity.
Dear Deb ,
Thanks for signing our petition, “United States Congress: Legalize Dyslexia: Grant Accommodations to Dyslexic Students..”
Winning this campaign is now in your hands. We need to reach out to as many friends as we can to grow this campaign and win.
Thanks for your support,
Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity
| Take the next step: Ask your friends to sign | |
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| Don’t just be a signer — be an organizer. Turn your signature into hundreds more by asking your friends to sign. Then they’ll ask their friends. That’s how we win. |