How I Learned Not to Be “That Mom” — a Mother’s Experience Advocating for Her Child with a Learning Disability

Amy Valentine is the director of the Foundation for Blended and Online Learning (now Future of School), and she previously served as executive director of three virtual schools in Colorado. In early 2016, Valentine’s son was diagnosed with dysgraphia, a learning disability similar to dyslexia.

This is a difficult situation for a school, especially pre-diagnosis. As Valentine explains, “Post-diagnosis, though, there is support available for students who struggle to overcome a learning disability, from individual education plans to resource teachers and and technology assists. For my son, however, these tools did not materialize.”

As a former teacher and administrator herself, Valentine knows it takes effort to work with a child with a learning disability. She  realized that her son’s school was not adjusting the way they taught or interacted with him, despite the policy and legislation that said they must.

Read more about Valentine’s experience in her article, “How I learned not to be ‘that mom’ — while keeping up the good fight for my son with a learning disability” (Chalkbeat.org) in which she recounts how she worked with her son’s school to meet his needs.

Source: Chalkbeat |How I learned not to be ‘that mom’ — while keeping up the good fight for my son with a learning disability, https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2017/04/25/how-i-learned-not-to-be-that-mom-while-keeping-up-the-good-fight-for-my-son-with-a-learning-disability | copyright 2018 EducationNews.org

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