I think it's totally normal to feel overwhelmed, especially in the moment of panic following hearing such news.

I think you can handle it though. You learned with D16 that the schools are at best lazy, and they probably get a lot of parents to just go away by making the parents feel guilty or uncomfortable. Don't let their bad behaviour waste your time and energy. Before you meet with the school, decide what question(s) you want them to address. And just keep repeating yourself until you have an agreed plan to help your daughter.

You have until the end of the year at least to look at your budget and see if there's any way to free up some money for D8's tutor. You can also look into ways you can do some of what the tutor would be doing so she might not need as much time with the tutor. There are a LOT of online resources, even mommy-bloggers going through similar situations will give you ideas and insight.

Trust your gut. You've always been right about the big things.

I felt this way when my little boy was diagnosed with autism. Worst case scenarios flooded my brain and I spent days crying about how hard his life might be. Once you get past this initial shock, you will do what you need to do. The school system should never make you feel crazy. You have a diagnosis and they have to work with you and your daughter. Get in there as soon as you can and get the Iep ball rolling. It can take awhile because they have a lot of paperwork and meetings to do and the special Ed teachers get a lot thrown at them. I have my son working with a grad student at a local college, which had helped with costs. A professional was charging us 140 an hour and the grad student is 20.

Good luck to you! Keep pushing for help for your daughter.

Hi Amber,

I see you are in SC. In northern states there is a fabulous resource for kids with dyslexia, which is free to the parents ( the tutoring is free, the wait lists are long though). Look here and may be call them to ask if they can recommend something similar in your state?

http://childrensdyslexiacenters.org/ContactUs.aspx

In my state teachers who are working towards certification in Orton-Gillingham tutor dyslexic kids after school free of chrage thus getting much needed experience and providing a valuable service. If you have an advocate he/she may know of other resources. Get your daughter an IEP but also look outside of school, or band together with other parents of dyslexic children and demand the your school district hire an Orton-certified teacher. That'll teach them to tell parents they have Muncchausen by proxy! How disgusting - but unfortunately true.

There is a good school in Atlanta for LD kdis....cannot think of its name now. May be they will also know where in SC you could find a similar school. Go to your state DOE website and look for state-approved schools for kids with LDs.
Call your Dept. of Ed Office of Special Ed programs and ask to speak to their LD guru if they have one. Ask what services they provide/recommend. Be persistent - these are your tax dollars at work. In my state you can get very good advice from the DOE - the problems begin when it comes to implementation at the local level.

PM me and i might have other ideas. I work in this field. Good luck!

My daughter is dyslexic, she was diagnosed at around age 8. We lived in upstate NY at that time and the school district was wonderful. They worked with her, took her out of class for one on one time. We always wanted to move back to CA and we did when she was in 5th grade. Moved to a very nice beach town in Southern California, did a lot of homework looking into schools, talked to principals, even talked to the 5th grade teachers, who assured us that she understood dyslexia, even said she had a daughter that was mentally challenged, so we put our daughter in that school. It was a waste of a school year, she spent her entire time with the aide in the classroom. finally we got her a private tutor, the school even agreed that she could go to the tutor during school hours because they knew they were not helping her. So we had to pay for what we got free in NY. We moved back to NY after that year because of the help we got in NY from the School District. It was very hard for my daughter and us. She hated school, would cry for days before she went back to school after the summer, she was always afraid that the teacher would ask her to read aloud even though it was stated in her IEP that she never be asked to do so, but she was afraid the teacher would do it anyway. When she was going into HS we moved back to CA, we did a lot of research, even more than before this time and found a small HS in a beach city that had a great program. She had study hall every day, and the teacher in study hall helped her with her homework, study, take tests, etc. She could take all her tests in the 'special education' room if she wanted, have the questions read to her, etc. She never used that so much, but they were very helpful. She was not cut out for college even though most colleges have the same programs available. she became a dog groomer and is happy and making pretty good money and has a career. The word 'special education' is a hard word to digest at first when they tell you this is the label your child will have, but when you can get over that stigma, then you can get her some real help. Good luck and stay strong and check out everything is available to you and your daughter, there are a lot of resources. If you have any personal questions, IM me.

Bookmarked this page. I don't have time right now to give you a thought-out post. My son also has been DX with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, slow-prefrontal lobe processing, ADHD ... alphabet soup of learning challenges and delays.

You are not alone. Congratulations on advocating for you daughter and yes, it's okay to feel overwhelmed at times. It gets better, I promise. More later to you