Determine If It's Dyslexia: Q and A with Dr. Zelman

Renee: Thank you for your question. This issue is personal to me because my late mother and uncle had it, and both my daughter and I have mild. Back when I was in school, educators had little knowledge of dyslexia, and I had to work harder and longer throughout my educational career.

Today, we know that dyslexia is a neurological condition where a person of average or higher intelligence has significant difficulty with reading and spelling because of language-processing limitations.

Before you talk with your child’s teachers, you could consult with a medical physician or neurologist for testing, but that’s only if you want to make sure there are no other health or neurological factors affecting your child’s reading progress.

Most often, teachers identify dyslexia. They will assess your daughter to determine the severity of her reading delay as well as the specific reading difficulties she is showing.This testing process also helps determine what type of interventions and help may be most effective.

You said someone told you there is no such category as dyslexia. Sometimes, there is confusion about how dyslexia is addressed in schools because it falls into a broader category called Specific Learning Disability under federal special education. This includes any child who is having learning problems with math, written language and oral language. If your daughter does have dyslexia, she probably falls into the category of specific learning disability.

As your first step, I recommend that you ask to meet with your daughter’s teacher and principal to talk about your daughter’s specific reading difficulties and what is being done to help her. If she is struggling, your daughter could be referred for additional testing by the school district to determine whether she requires special-education services and what those services should be. As a parent, you also can ask for this testing. Once completed, a team composed of school staff and your family meets to review the information and determines if your daughter requires special-education services. If so, this team helps create an individualized education program (IEP), including annual goals, the type and amount of services provided and how those services will be delivered. This plan is updated at least annually.