by Tara Shafer posted in Parenting

I'm filled with gratitude for teachers who specialize in learning differences. That is what my heart is full of today.
I just put my kids in ski school during a howler of a northeast blizzard. My middle son ? the one who shares my brain more so than the other kids (except he is smarter) ? embraced the snowy mountain with abandon. His ability to take on a challenge is evidence of the impact that teachers who understand dyslexia have on their students. He is not afraid of things anymore.
Let me back up. I try not to write much about my children specifically. I want to help them to guard their own experience. So I will just say that my son and I are alike in many ways. I vividly remember the stress and worry about school as a dyslexic child. The encroaching despair I felt when I entered a classroom. When one just intuits that understanding the worksheets will be impossible. You gather yourself. You learn to detach from a sense of caring or ownership about success or failure. These kids testify to a government panel about dyslexia. Finding their voice.
I watched my son ? who is gifted with dyslexia ? try to keep up in a classroom where he was not receiving the services he needed. I watched my funny, creative, deep-thinking baby begin to display signs of deep stress. He had stomach aches. He was not hungry. He lost a good deal of weight. Parents whose children are not thriving in the classroom watch the light go out. It is nothing less t...