Input from A Parent:
My name is Bernice and I’m here today to tell you about how the Valley of Chicago Learning Center has helped my family.
My youngest son between the ages of 6-10 years old was diagnosed with autism, asperger, depression, attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, persuasive developmental disorder, psychosis and dyslexia.
My son hardly talked until he was 5 years old. He wouldn't look at you in the eye, he held his head down, and he was anti-social and would often bang his head against the wall multiple times to where he would almost knock himself unconscious. He had angry tantrums and talked of suicide often since the age of 6. He had no self confidence and was just a sad, angry boy all the time. It was a school system that had diagnosed my son with autism in the first grade. And through lots and lots of testing, medications, counseling sessions, classes, it was finally concluded through a specialist that worked with autistic children that my son did not have autism but had dyslexia and persuasive developmental disorder. He was also taking medications for depression at this time.
I fought for years with the school system to give my son the help that he needed but didn't get anywhere. I had educated myself to know that a child with dyslexia needs a teacher that teaches kids how to read through multi-sensory reading systems. The district had no such person, and refused to pay to send him to a school that did.
It wasn't until after taking law classes on how to get what you need from an IEP meeting, that I was finally after 2 years, able to get the district to pay for a test to settle why my son had only moved one reading grade level in 3 years.
After the testing, it was concluded once again that my son had a very severe form of dyslexia. Wow… back to the drawing board! I knew this over 2 years ago… But it gets even better… At this same meeting the director of special education and the school’s superintendent sat down at an IEP meeting with me and stated that "I must accept the fact that my son will never learn how to read!" I was flabbergasted!
I will never forget that day. Because that's the day I knew that I would have to be the one to get the help my son needed and that the School System would be of no help to me whatsoever.
Can you imagine? People running our schools, telling a parent to just give up on their kid?
And you know the sad part of it is? Some parents might BELIEVE THEM! The fact is these people are in charge of our children's learning?
WOW… The things I've learned since then:
1. A child with dyslexia CAN learn how to read! And the schools know this!
2. 20 percent of the population is affected by some level of
dyslexia and many go their entire lives without being diagnosed! And it's hereditary!
3. That the Orton Gillingham systems of teaching children here at the Learning Center does teach kids with dyslexia how to read, and the same system can be used with kids that don't have dyslexia and ALL kids can learn how to read in the same class.
4. People with Dyslexia are gifted and smart! These kids are smarter than most other kids in their class! These kids think "outside the box" because their brains work differently than the rest of us. Perfect examples of people that have dyslexia are: Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Alexander Gram Bell, Henry Ford, John F. Kennedy, Steven Spielburg George Patton, Picasso, George Bums, John Lennon, Thomas Jefferson and the list continues....
5. Kids with dyslexia feel out of place and stupid at school. They are made fun of and feel like failures. Because of this the children’s SELF-CONFIDENCE is taken from them.
6. Depression runs high and self esteem runs low for these kids. Can you imagine a kid growing up feeling stupid and having no self-confidence? What kind of chance do these kids have as adults without getting the help that they need?
The fact is studies show that most people with dyslexia
NEVER, as adults, live up to their potential. These are smart kids that are just slipping through the cracks of the current school system. And they all deserve this help!
My son is the perfect example. He would never even try to read. He had convinced himself he was a stupid kid and had zero self esteem. Then something changed, my son started reading out loud. Signs on trucks, signs in business windows, speed limit signs and one night he even read a fortune cookie while we were out to dinner! My son can look you in the eye and have a conversation with you. He has made friends at school, and does well in school. He does not talk of suicide at all anymore and he is currently off all his medications for depression. Wow.. He just acts like a regular kid now. People that have only known my son for a few years would never know he's had such problems. Friends that have known my son since he's been born can't believe the progress he has made. In just a few years the Valley of Chicago Learning Center has literally changed his life and our family’s life all together. For families, it is such a day to day struggle that has such an unimaginable toll on everyone you can't even imagine.
Now, unfortunately there are so many other families out
there with kids just slipping through the cracks. These kids will
be, without a doubt, affected for the rest of their lives.
When my son started here years ago, there was a 3 year waiting list to get into this program. Now, they are beginning to close locations down and there is talk of closing this one. So many children and their families will be affected forever because they will not receive the help that they needed.
That help would include the special people here that put their whole heart and soul into giving to these children. Believe me these kids know it, they thrive on it! They feel smart and special here; they get their SELF CONFIDENCE BACK!
So, please, spread the word, do whatever it is in your power to help keep this Center open. I can't even imagine what our lives would be like if we didn't come to this center. These dedicated people are changing the world, one child at a time. They need to be able to continue.
Thank you for your time...