Hope is a Funny Thing....

Our little fundraising campaign is at $300! that might not seem like such a big deal to you, but it gives me hope that we can achieve our goal!  Just that little thread of hope makes me want to keep pushing, telling our story and trying to raise awareness about dyslexia.

It is my, sincere, hope that Zack's legacy will be more than just "making it" and graduating from The Gow School. I really hope that our experience with Gow will lead to changes in the public school system.

Knowing that 80% of "LD" labeled kids in public schools have dyslexia really makes me scratch my head. Even more astonishing is that (most) public schools use programs that are unproven, in terms of their benefit to dyslexic students- especially when there are several specific programs that really WOULD benefit them. At a time when school districts are laying teachers off, due to budget cuts, it seems, statistically, intelligent to implement a program that would benefit 80% of your LD students, as well as 100% of your gen ed students. Unfortunately, districts and school boards seem hell-bent on continuing down their, already-established, paths, using programs that are already paid for- even if they don't show themselves to be particularly helpful.

So, once we get Zack's education squared away, I will be on a mission to educate districts about the reality of their student populations and the benefit that ALL students will gain from using an Orton-Gillingham based program. Such programs, used early on in the introduction to phonics, etc. might reduce the need for the "one size fits most" programs that are unsuccessfully implemented in later years when that window of opportunity has narrowed.

As much as we love The Gow School (www.gow.org) and, believe me, we do, NO ONE should have to pay private boarding school tuition for an LD that impacts so much of the public school population. I hope that our experience will show public schools that adopting an o-g based curriculum is in the best interest of students and families in their community!

View Zack's video here:  $5 Can Help Our Young Einstein