Telling students with learning differences to just “try harder” can cause a lot of confusion and harm. Learners want to succeed and children want to learn to read, but not all approaches work for all kids. In this episode, a past Noble Academy parent shares how frustration moved her to look for a school with a reading program ( the Wilson Reading SystemⓇ) that could help her son. Today his favorite college class is English. (Noble Academy is one of only three WilsonⓇ Accredited Partners, and the only WilsonⓇ Accredited Partner - Best Practice Site in the Southeast region.)
I have a question for anyone listening right now who wears glasses, and my question is this: Why do you need them? I mean, are you really trying hard enough to see?
OK, obviously that is not a serious question. It would be absurd. And it isn’t a perfect metaphor for today’s story, but I just want to illustrate that kids with dyslexia, dyscalculia, and other learning differences try plenty hard, and it makes me frustrated when anyone accuses them of not trying hard enough, instead of just providing the necessary support.
So let’s say you have worn your glasses for two months or longer. Why do you still need them? Again, not a perfect metaphor for the story we are about to hear, but my point is that when an intervention helps a learner, you don’t just yank it away like they should never need it again.
Christi:
My name is Christie. My husband and I enrolled our son in Noble Academy when he was in the fifth grade and he stayed at Noble all the way through 12th grade. So he actually graduated from Noble last year.
When our son was in the third grade, we started to notice that he was struggling with encoding and decoding unfamiliar words. When we brought this to the attention of his teacher at the school that he was at, they did do some intervention with him. It lasted six weeks and he did show improvement. And so because he showed improvement, we were told that the intervention would cease.
I was excited when the school decided to do interventions with our son. because I thought that was going to be a struggle, but they said, "Oh, well, we can put him in a group and we'll work on some skills." but then I didn't realize that if he showed any progress that that intervention would be withdrawn and he would no longer receive it. That was extremely frustrating to me because I knew that the challenges that he had with decoding and encoding were not going to go away. in 6 weeks and did not go away. In fact, I, you know, from my research, you know, I had learned that the struggles become increasingly more challenging as you get into those higher grades because more and more of the words that you see in your subjects in, you know, social studies, science, even in your reading, they become less you know, of those memory words that you've seen all the time in your first - they're not site words.
So he was still struggling after the 6 weeks intervention. So I started to do some research on how to help students who had decoding and encoding challenges and I found information about Orton Gillingham programs. And being a previous elementary school teacher, I decided to purchase the Barton reading system and do that with our son at home. And so I did that with him during the summer and then when he entered fourth grade we could only do it when he would come home after school and this was a huge challenge for him. So he really struggled with going to school, being in an academic setting all day, and then coming home and doing basically another reading lesson, and plus his homework. So when I approached the school about using an Orton Gillingham program they informed me that the school did not use Orton Gillingham at that school. and it was not an option. And they felt like my son was having encoding and decoding issues just because of the effort that he was putting into spelling and sounding out words that he was unfamiliar with.
So about the middle of fourth grade I had him evaluated privately and the evaluation showed that he was really low in encoding and decoding which just confirmed our beliefs that he had a learning difference in reading comprehension and written expression. So when I shared this with the school they reiterated that they felt that my son was having those issues just because he wasn't putting forth enough effort and not because he actually had a learning difference. So that when that was basically a signal to us that we needed to look elsewhere.
So we went and we toured, and he went and he toured, and uh, we liked it, he liked it, and so we enrolled him
When we got to Noble You know, I knew that they used the Orton Gillingham approach. I knew that they had the smaller class sizes, but to me, you know, because of my experience at the school, I was a little concerned that it wouldn't be what he needed in the long run for that duration. You know, that this intervention is going to be used until, you know, our son no longer shows that he, you know, does not need these strategies for encoding and decoding words and he will be able to apply them you know in any subject and so what we found was no matter what our concern was at noble it was always an individualized approach for our son it was never well this is not what our school doesn't do this you know or we don't have the resources or we don't it was always okay what what are your concerns for your son what do you think he needs in order to be successful whether it's academically or socially and how can we apply that at school?
I think it happened pretty early when I realized that you know this is the place my son needs to be. At the beginning of the year – and this occurs every year that your child is at Noble – at the beginning of the year the teacher sends out an email or questionnaire form asking the parents, okay, what are your child's strengths? What are their challenges? What would you like to see us address during the school year? It was very personalized. And so, and then you meet with the teacher to talk about the things that you put in the email or on the questionnaire paper. So, it's not just, you know, it looks nice or it sounds nice, but you actually meet and you discuss these things that you've written down, those strengths, those challenges that your concerns, whether they're academic or social or independent skills. and that becomes a goal in your child's education plan. And so I knew right then from the start that my concerns are taken seriously and the needs of my child are taken seriously at Noble.
I was overwhelmed really by how much the staff at Noble from, you know, everyone whether it was a teacher or administration, was sincerely concerned about our son's success and how to make sure that he was successful. I had never ever experienced that at any other school that I had been with with either of my sons. So, to have two neurodiverse children, and to have all those negative experiences and then to go somewhere where someone is like, oh, you know, “What are your concerns? Let's address them. Let's make him successful no matter what it takes.” It makes a world of difference in the life of your child and the life of your family. You know it gives you hope and it makes life a lot more bearable really.
So, At the time in fourth grade, we lived in Winston Salem and we were already commuting to bring our oldest son to a school in Greensboro and we didn't want to move because we weren't sure whether or not, you know, Noble would be a good fit for our son. But after his first year at Noble in the fifth grade and at the end of it, we strongly believed that he was where he needed to be in order to meet his academic and social needs.
So, we decided to pick up and move closer to the school to Noble and to Greensboro for our other son as well. And we don't, you know, regret that move at all. Um, it was worth it. It was hard because, you know, we had family in Winston and we also moved further away from my husband's work. But in the end, it was definitely worth it.
So once he started doing after school activities we realized that we definitely had made the right decision moving closer to Noble because he was pretty much there you know from the beginning of the day until the evening.
And it, you know, and a lot of times people will say, "Oh, I can't believe you did that." or whatever. And at the time, you're not really thinking about all the sacrifices you're making. At the time, I'll always focused on, "Okay, what does my child need at this time, you know, at this point in time?" And looking at the options and saying, "Okay, this could possibly meet his needs. This could possibly meet his needs. This is definitely not meeting his needs." You know, so I always focus on what are the needs and how can we meet them as best that we can, because the sacrifices are going to come along with that, but I just always focus on okay, let's meet the needs as best that we can, as well as we can. And as long as you're putting forth effort to meet those needs, you're doing the best that you can as a parent for that child.
Gayle:
Like Christi, I have experienced the frustration of my son’s teacher saying he just wasn’t trying hard enough, when in fact I knew he was giving it 100%. I know what it is like to feel frustrated that the teacher could not see my son’s learning difference for what it was, and provide the right accommodations. Even now that my son is grown and in college, I remember how painful it was. So I asked Christi if, like me, she ever wishes she could go back to those elementary school teachers and tell them how everything turned out.
Christi:
I wish that I could go back actually not just for my son but for all the students who came up after him that were perceived the same way – perceived that, you know, oh well, they're just not putting forth the effort to do this encoding and decoding. I would go back and I would show them – actually, you know, the data that Noble had, you know, and I had from the testing, you know, this is where he was, you know, when he left the school, you know, this is his actual ability levels and academic level. And then the approach was used with him, you know, for I believe he did it for 3 years. And you know, this is what it looks like afterwards. Like: it did make a difference in his ability academically. And, you know, just to say, look what he was able to do. Not only did he improve his reading and written expression, but that carried over into other areas like social studies and science. where those things weren't so overwhelming. All those vocabulary words, you know, that are totally new and different, weren't so daunting and overwhelming for him that he was able to still learn those concepts without having his learning difference be a barrier for him.
So, right now, our son is enrolled at UNCW. He's a freshman there and he is doing well. He just finished his first semester and he enjoys it. Actually his best grade was in English. So, it's crazy to think that, you know, looking back, if you would have told me that in fifth grade, would have told you you were crazy. And he actually enjoyed the class. And so it just amazes me. I feel very lucky that we found Noble and found a good fit for him for his needs. and to see where he's at today. and know that he not only has the tools, but more importantly that he has the confidence in his ability to do college level work and be successful at it.
So now we have moved back to Winston Salem. As soon as our son finished and graduated high school, we moved back to Winston Salem. to be closer to family and both of the boys are done with school now. But our son, it's so funny because he still spends a lot of his time in Greensboro even though he's graduated. He still goes back to Noble events, whether it's a homecoming game or just hanging out with friends that he made at Noble, those lifelong friends. And so it's funny that you know we have moved away but he spends most of his social time there still but it's a great thing. We are very happy for him.
Gayle:
Thank you so much, Christi, for sharing your son’s journey on The Blue and Gold Chat.