LEARNING DISABILITIES:

I am very grateful that there are programs
like ParentsCAN to help us know our rights as parents,
and for the support that my Family Advocate
has given us.

            My daughter “Julie” is in the 9th grade at a local high school.  When she was in 4th grade I noticed she had a lot of difficulty learning.  Whenever she did her homework she would constantly ask how to do this or that.  When report cards were sent home, my other children would proudly show me their grades.  Julie would purposely wait until her brothers were busy doing something else, to show me her report card.

            Seventh grade was a very difficult year for us both.  During that year I kept trying to find help for Julie in doing her homework because it was extremely difficult for her to do it on her own.  Eighth grade was just about the same, with the exception that Julie’s teachers now expected her to be more responsible.  According to their notes, my daughter didn’t try hard enough to finish her assignments.

            At this point I decided to ask for an evaluation of my daughter’s academic skills.  It was determined that Julie had a learning disability due to a problem in processing information.  An IEP was developed.  I was told her IEP would follow her all the way to the University.  I felt relieved and had new hope.

            When Julie transitioned from 8th to 9th grade, I thought everything would be ok.  But when we received the report cards, the low grades were there again.  When I asked the school the reason, I found out that they were not even aware that my daughter needed Special Ed.  I felt we were back at the beginning.

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It was then that someone suggested I call ParentsCAN for help.  I was truly desperate because I had to attend another IEP meeting ... I did not want to again face people who I did not understand, in part because of the language and in part because of the terminology they used.  I feared that after the meeting I would have to go home feeling that I had not accomplished anything.

            When I spoke to the Family Advocate, she really listened to me.  I felt she understood and supported me.  She encouraged me to think about my priorities for Julie and what she needed most.  I learned that I could give input at the meeting to share my concerns.  At the meeting she sat next to me and I was included in the decision-making process.  I became aware that even I could change the content of the IEP on behalf of my daughter! 

            I am very grateful that there are programs like ParentsCAN to help us know our rights as parents, and for the support that my Family Advocate has given us.