The English language, by most standards, is challenging to learn. Spelling, in particular, is weird. Did you know that only English-speaking countries have “spelling bees?” Why, you ask? Because in other languages, spelling is more predictable. But spelling is about writing; language is about speaking. English features grammatical rules that are often broken, an alphabet that can confuse people who are used to a character-based system, and spelling and pronunciation irregularities that confuse even native speakers. So how do the little ones learn to speak?

Teachers often say your child will outgrow some of their issues with reading, writing, or arithmetic.  School administrators will require testing every five years to validate the need for accommodations.  In reality, students learn to compensate for their dyslexia, but they never outgrow it.  I call it the invisible disability.  It may seem that your child is performing well in school at the beginning of the year resulting in the "need" for accommodations being overlooked.  Maybe extra time on tests is seen as unnecessary or considered an advantage for that student.  If your child has issues in first grade, they will continue through college and into adulthood.

Now that children are returning to school, I think back to the stress of starting the new year for our family. Everyone is excited, but the teachers are not always familiar with their new students. They may have received notes from the prior year’s teacher, but not in our case. We moved around the country when the boys were little. Our boys had a different school (and the teacher) almost every year from 3 years old pre-school until sixth grade. These were critical years to learn to read. But teachers want their students to flourish and support those who work hard to achieve success. It wasn’t until our oldest son was in fourth grade that he started failing at school. Teachers thought he was lazy, but he was actually dyslexic and gifted too.