✦ RESOURCES FOR PARENTS ✦

Help Your Child Read & Succeed!

Become an advocate for your child's learning, ensuring they not only improve in reading but also build confidence and resilience. Embrace the role of your child's champion, guiding them through their educational journey with empathy, understanding, and the right resources. Click below for our dyslexia provider list, which includes names of diagnosticians and specialized tutors.

DYSLEXIA PROVIDER LIST

IS MY CHILD DYSLEXIC?

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS OF DYSLEXIA BY AGE

When assessing a young child for dyslexia and other learning disabilities, we use the acronym CLAP: Coordination, Language, Attention, Perception. These four categories provide valuable insight into a child's development even before they learn to read and write. It's important to note that demonstrating some of these characteristics does not indicate that a child has dyslexia. A professional evaluation will consider the whole picture in determining whether or not a child has a learning disability.

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Coordination:

Delays in gross and fine motor milestones such as crawling, walking, cutting, tying, and riding a bike.

LANGUAGE:

Delays in speech development and articulation
Difficulty with rhyming
Confuses similar sounding words
Challenges with letter names and sounds
Struggling to pronounce multi-syllabic words
Problems with word retrieval or naming

ATTENTION:

Difficulty with maintaining focus on tasks
Challenges with emotional and behavioral regulation
Impulsivity
Difficulty transitioning from one task to another

PERCEPTION:

Difficulty replicating patterns
Challenges with jigsaw puzzles
Struggles with understanding concepts of size, chronological order, and other sequences
Sensory processing challenges--sensory seeking or sensory avoidant behavior

KINDERGARDEN–8TH GRADE

Difficulty identifying sounds in a word
Difficulty decoding single words, especially nonsense words
Slow, labored reading that does not sound like speech
Failure to read at a grade-appropriate level
Spelling errors and inconsistencies
Avoiding and anxiety about reading and writing
Difficulty with math fact memorization, reading signs correctly, following multiple steps, and organizing math problems on a page
Negative self-concept

TEENAGERS

Difficulties with reading comprehension
Reading and writing tasks take longer than for typical peers
Avoiding reading and writing tasks
Difficulty summarizing stories or information
Challenges learning foreign languages
Struggling to manage time and organization
Difficulty with the language of math
Self-conscious about reading and writing skills
Often do not identify as "good students"

THE HELP YOUR CHILD NEEDS

GETTING AN EVALUATION

DIAGNOSIS

UNDERSTAND YOUR CHILD'S NEEDS

Pursue a comprehensive assessment with a qualified educational specialist in learning disabilities. In New Mexico, a neuropsychologist or educational diagnostician can identify dyslexia and other learning disabilities. This thorough evaluation will pave the way for tailored support and interventions and will identify your child's cognitive strengths, key steps in empowering your child’s educational journey.

PLANNING

MAKE YOUR ROADMAP TO SUCCESS

Collaborate with educators, specialists, and your child to create an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) that outlines specific accommodations, interventions, and goals. This personalized approach ensures your child receives the support necessary to thrive academically and personally, fostering a path of success and confidence. Seek out resources for effective dyslexia intervention. We provide a list of highly qualified individuals providing dyslexia therapy around our state. Click Here

DOCUMENTATION

STICK TO THE PLAN

Gather and organize all relevant documentation, including evaluation reports, diagnostic findings, and recommendations from professionals. This documentation will be invaluable in advocating for your child’s educational needs, securing appropriate accommodations, and planning for individualized interventions.

TIPS TO HELP YOUR CHILD SUCCEED AT HOME & IN THE CLASSROOM

Strategies for Support

AT HOME

Explore simple, effective techniques that enhance reading skills, boost confidence, and turn daily activities into opportunities for growth.

Creating a Reading Environment:

Designate a dedicated reading area in your home that’s well-lit and inviting. Model an interest in reading by engaging in a regular reading habit yourself. If your child is resistant to reading at home, don't fight with them about it. Allow them to read what they are interested in, including graphic novels or comic books.

Fun Writing Games and Apps:

Introduce fun writing activities and apps designed to improve spelling and writing skills.

Interactive Reading Activities:

Read out loud to your child, discussing the story, characters, and themes. Use audiobooks to allow your child to "ear read" books at their oral comprehension level. Learning Ally is a great resource for ear reading.

Phonics-Based & Visual Games:

Use phonics games, flashcards, and electronic tools to strengthen your child’s understanding of sound-letter relationships, a key area of difficulty for children with dyslexia.

Understanding IEPs:

Familiarize yourself with your child's Individualized Education Program (IEP).

This legally binding document outlines specific accommodations and interventions and establishes a common language and framework for communicating with educational professionals.

Take the time to ask questions and understand the difference between intervention and accommodation so that you can ensure that your child receives both.

Intervention is specific instruction designed to foster growth in foundational literacy skills. Intervention helps students grow in their literacy skills and increase their ability to read at grade level.

Accommodations are supports provided to allow students with dyslexia to access grade level material and experience success in the general education classroom.

Specialized Support:

Dyslexia therapy is critical to build foundational literacy skills.

If your school does not provide a reading specialist who has advanced training in dyslexia intervention, consider supplemental education through tutors specializing in dyslexia.

Look for credentials such as CALP or CALT, which ensure expertise. Click here for a list of certified dyslexia specialists in New Mexico.

Specialized schools and summer programs provide students with dyslexia the intensive intervention that helps them reach their academic potential. These organizations also often offer teacher professional development so that all teachers are equipped with the knowledge and tools to help students wtih dyslexia thrive.

In New Mexico, May Center for Learning provides an independent school and summer programs in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. For more information about May Center, click here.

AT SCHOOL

Collaborate with educators to create a supportive learning environment, ensuring your child receives the intervention and accommodations they need to thrive academically.

LEARN MORE

FAQs For Parents

In New Mexico, Layer I Elementary Classroom Teachers should have completed a training course such as LETRS aligned with IDA’s Knowledge and Practice Standards, including but not limited to IDA certification.
Educators providing dyslexia intervention should have completed a national certification program such as CALP or CALT training through the Academic Language Teaching Association (click here for link), Orton Gillingham certification, Wilson training, or another IMSLEC certified training program. SWIDA provides educator scholarships to attend this kind of advanced certification program. Click here for more information about SWIDA's educator scholarship program.

ALL SWIDA Providers on our Provider List (click here for link) will have provided the following:

Documentation of levels of training completed within the training course.
Clinical supervision requirements
Year and location of the training course and contact information for references from the director, institute, academy, or clinic.
Involvement in on-going, related professional development.

Please note that most independent dyslexia therapists have a waiting list for about 6 months to a year.

Inquire about national certification
Request references from professionals, parents, and former students, if appropriate.
Check-out IDA’s FACT SHEET: Evaluating Educational Professionals

References from other parents, with similar children, often help clarify this concern.
Professionals may vary in their expertise by age level; some prefer to work with older students only, others prefer young primary level students. Some are trained to work with students with multiple challenges (i.e., ADHD, autism); others with just dyslexia.

It depends on how frequently services are provided. With students who are moderately to severely dyslexic, individualized services should be provided 4-5 times per week, with three as a minimum. Sessions should be between 45-75 minutes. The goal of any instruction is that students’ reading and spelling skills close the gap between their skills and their cognitive/language level. This could take two to three years, but can vary considerably depending on the severity of the dyslexia, the student’s age, scheduling, and the existence of other challenges.

There are no quick fixes. Dyslexia therapy actually develops new neural pathways in the brain. This takes time and a lot of repetition. Students may also need time to develop a rapport and trust with their therapist, but once they realize there is a system to reading and spelling – that it’s not all chaos – they usually appreciate the rewards of their hard work.

Instructors should provide parents with an initial psycho-educational evaluation written report detailing their child’s intellectual potential, current levels of achievement in academic areas including reading and spelling, a phonological awareness screening, and speech and language assessments as applicable. This thorough evaluation will identify dyslexia and other learning disabilities and make recommendations for next steps.

Instructors should provide on-going progress reports, either orally or written, detailing what short-term goals have been met and/or developed for the near future. Once a year, the instructor should assess the student and provide an annual report (often needed for an IEP) with details on test scores, progress in reading and spelling, and general achievement goals.

REMEMBER: Regardless of whether the instructor works in private practice or within a school system, accountability is important as is communication with parents and teachers.

IMPROVE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

FURTHER RESOURCES FOR PARENTS

Below you will find some of favorite external resources for learning about dyslexia.

We’d love to hear from you

Whether you're eager to discover more about our endeavors in supporting the dyslexia community or interested in collaborating with us we're here and ready to connect. We welcome your inquiries and look forward to engaging with you.

Location

PO Box 14190 Albuquerque, NM 87191

Phone

1-505-255-8234

Email

swida@southwestida.org