Many told me I was jumping the gun having a six year old tested for reading difficulties. I was told that many six year olds do not read. Homeschoolers and moms told me that it is not until about 8 or so that a cause for concern is merited. However, as I previously mentioned, my heart just knew this was not about waiting for a “click” moment. Something in the way she approached words told me a different story.
I will back up a minute because I want to share with you a little story about how I came to choose my daughter’s reading specialist. While, I was still under the impression that dyslexia was simple inverting letters and numbers, I went to the bookstore to buy more reading helps for my daughter. When I first suspected something more was wrong I felt I had to do something so I would buy more reading workbooks and reader books. As I was in the aisle looking at beginning reader books, a saleswoman mentioned the books I had in my hand were very good resources. I told her that I was seeking help for a struggling reader. She told me that her daughter was dyslexic. I asked her what caused her to seek out a diagnosis for her daughter. She explained to me that her brother was dyslexic and her daughter showed the same signs. When she told me the signs I stood there in shock because it described my daughter. I asked her where her daughters were tested and tutored. When I got home, I immediately called the center to schedule an appointment.
When I heard back from the reading specialist, I explained to her what I was seeing in my daughter. The reading specialist was very nice and happily talked to me on the phone for quite some time. I decided to make an appointment for a reading test. My daughter was happy to take the test because she had seen me take my older children for the standardized test before. When the test was finally over the reading specialist still had to score the results and schedule another appointment. However, she looked at me and said, “You were right to bring her in, you have good instincts.” At that moment I was happy I listened to my instincts so my daughter would not have one more frustrating day trying to learn how to read in a way she did not understand. Even better, when my other daughter asked if the test was hard; the response was that the test was “a little bit fun and a little bit hard.” She said the teacher never said she did anything wrong and said it was okay if she could not answer some of the questions. I was worried my daughter would feel defeated by the test. Instead, she walked out with no reason to feel anything but she took a test that was “a little bit fun and a little bit hard”. So, I am thrilled to have been lead to this reading specialist.