I’m feeling emboldened tonight so let me make this clear…
I am a dyslexia advocate. My state, and more importantly my district, do not understand dyslexia, don’t have a clue how to teach reading, and they do not care that they neither understand nor have the capacity to understand.
I am a dyslexia advocate not just because my child is dyslexic but once I saw the injustice to our children within education I was disgusted by that injustice and inequity.
Yes, disgusted.
I used to believe education truly cared about educating our children. I have learned that while teachers are altruistic and well meaning, the establishment and all those with their deep hooks in the idea of what education should be, have not corrupted it, but dismantled it to the point where it is unrecognizable.
Our children are not being educated. They just aren’t. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so devastating. Education is therefore left to us, the parents, and in a world where more and more is demanded of each of us each every single second, the responsibility to provide what we thought schools were providing is overwhelming, yet here we are. This falls to each and every one of us who has a child regardless of any other factor. While some will say that’s the responsibility of being a parent, I then challenge why we have schools at all. We pay for them, they are supposed to serve our communities, so why is that exactly the burden of the parent? It’s one or the other, not both in a disproportionate measure on the side of the parents, yet it is.
I am a dyslexia advocate because the more I learn, the more I am compelled to share and educate others.
I am a dyslexia advocate because the injustice against our society as a whole is criminal. Socially and economically, this is the dismantling of a country. If that was the objective, congratulations, you’re doing an amazing job of achieving your end goal.
But I am a dyslexia advocate because the right of free speech means I get to look at you and disagree with you and work for change, and I will not give up until we win.
Maybe you’re emboldened by recent events, but the fact of the matter is, you’re wrong and you are FAILING all of our children each and every day. Your ineptness is without a doubt the most laughably tragic yet monumentally stupid failure I’ve ever witnessed. For once, while I normally say failure is something positive to learn from, your failure to learn just proves the depth of your ignorance. I can also say your failure only emboldens us as you continue to learn nothing and taunt parents like playground bullies.
So keep on with the pom poms and fan fare and pretense that you actually care about our dyslexic children. Go ahead. Truly. I enjoy watching the massive stupidity. Also, keep smiling at me and condescendingly calling me “Mom” and “Mrs. Roberts” like you actually respect me. The condescension is fun because you really don’t even grasp how condescending I am to you. After all, I like it when sheep play with lions. It’s fun.
Oh, and one more thing, I dare you, DARE YOU, to retaliate against my child. Truly. Please be that stupid. Well, I already know you are that stupid, but I just want to see you go that far. I will enjoy raining hell with a gleeful satisfaction that only toddlers understand.
And I also beg you, please underestimate me, please think I’m bluffing, please; I’m salivating at the idea that you will because there’s not a single person inside your district that I’m afraid of. Not a single one. This Texas girl was raised to fight back against bullies, and I’ve always got my sh** kickers on.
Because whether you like it or not, whether you want to admit it or not, this is a #DyslexiaRevolution and you’ve already lost, you just don’t know it yet, and that just makes it all the more entertaining.
A Mom's Journey - My Dyslexic Life 
My favorite post! I homeschool. I don’t like it, but I will not allow the schools in my district to damage my son any more than they did in the 11 WEEKS they had him. Posting grades in the classroom for all children to see. The literacy “specialist” hired to satisfy a two year old State Law that she had not read and that she violated, resulting in my son’s delayed dyslexia identification twice. It was finally identified in a private evaluation paid for by me . The same literacy “specialist” that refused to read instructions to him when he was unable to read them himself, causing him extreme anxiety that we are still dealing with three years later. The district that identified only 1% of its 12,000 students in 2019 – 2020 as having characteristics of dyslexia in its State mandated twice per year dyslexia screening, though 20% of American students are dyslexic. The district that provided dyslexia intervention for only 2% of its students that same school year. The district that is under Federal control for fiscal irresponsibility. The district that spent $16 million in legal fees in one month alone, yet does not have enough money to properly educate my child or other children with learning disabilities, or those without, for that matter. The district that contracts with a special education consultant that was fired from the State for violating IDEA, that is directly responsible for students being denied FAPE year after year after year, and living well doing so.
I am a dyslexia advocate to help parents navigate around the bullshit, for it is piled deep and wide. The ignorance, the corruption, and the refusal to change the education system to a focus on pedagogy grounded in science has resulted in curriculum that fails to teach the foundational skills that all children need, overwhelming the Response to Intervention programs, and draining the special education funding. The students with true learning disabilities, not curriculum casualties, don’t stand a chance at true intervention. If any money remains, the appropriate intervention, as defined in IDEA as that which is science-based, meaning peer-reviewed research, is ignored while fluff is chosen and illiteracy rates are ignored. Our children with learning disabilities are deemed unworthy of an education. Special education money not spent in my state can be rolled over into the general fund for staff bonuses and other uses. The lights on the stadium are somehow always more important than education. There is absolutely NO reason why there should ever by money left in the Special Education budget. Why?
IDEA Child Find: Schools are required to locate, identify and evaluate all children with disabilities from birth through age 21. The Child Find mandate applies to all children who reside within a State, including children who attend private schools and public schools, highly mobile children, migrant children, homeless children, and children who are wards of the state. (20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(3))
This includes all children who are suspected of having a disability, including children who receive passing grades and are “advancing from grade to grade.” (34 CFR 300.111(c)) The law does not require children to be “labeled” or classified by their disability. (20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(3)(B); 34 CFR 300.111(d)).
That’s why!
And that’s why I’ll continue being a dyslexia advocate with you, Ashley, and why there is a #DyslexiaRevolution, and why our voices will ring out on thedyslexiainitive.org, and why we’ll continue to be the proud readers of all things dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, IDEA, ADA, high stakes testing, and evaluations, and research, and why we’ll be at IEP meetings for parents of children that are not ours. Someone has to fight for the kids. Schools are not. BUT WE ARE AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE!
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Ummm…I feel like you are living my life in another State. Holy sh**!! I am not a writer but damn you got my thoughts on paper.
I am homeschooling now. but I can’t walk away from advocating for what’s right. I will not give up! Maybe they can sleep with themselves at night consciously knowing they are selling innocent children out but I can’t. I will not sit silent while they harm more children like they harmed my own. Parents need to wake up, unite, and treat their child’s education like a business. File those damn State complaints.
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