It was the start of kindergarten, Jonathon was very nervous. I was too. It was all day, I did not know if his fragile system could make it for that long. We had the uniforms, school supplies, all set.
I told the teacher before the first day that I was concerned about Jonathon and learning. A few weeks into school she told me she agreed psychological testing was needed, something needed addressed, she wasn’t sure what.
So I completed some surveys asking my observation of Jonathon. I fudged the test, I know I did. Any questions that I thought might be along autistic lines, I answered in the “never” category. I couldn’t bear to think Jonathon was in that category.
God must have known what we needed when. The teacher also urged me that Jonathon needed speech therapy asap, she could not understand him. During the speech evaluations, I found out about a therapist who was conducting seminars in libraries for children who learn differently.
I went to one of the seminars. I didn’t think Jonathon fit into any of their diagnoses. I saw Jonathon as complex, not with any of these “symptoms.” The conductor of the seminars ended up being Jonathon’s first speech therapist. She may have helped him more than anyone!
During this time period, Jonathon tested, at the speech center, that he had processing delays and an expressive language delay with articulation delays. Then with the psychological testing, they diagnosed him Dyslexic.
Jeff and I decided I would home school Jonathon and get him the help he needed. This made the psychologist irate. They wanted us to enroll Jonathon in an expensive school which is the school he is now attending, God is so good!
It was during this new season for us that more surprises awaited…
Knowing Jonathon had Dyslexia was a surprise. The book that helped me understand his learning difference the best was Overcoming Dyslexia for Dummies. It had great learning games to play with him and also had some wonderful suggestions in presenting new materials to children.
Positiveiam 