I saw this on Facebook this morning and as usual Dr. Kelli Sandman-Hurley is 100% correct, teacher training is VERY important.

I am proud to say that I had a very good meeting yesterday with two wonderful people and I am hopeful that we will start getting some training on dyslexia in the schools very soon. Keep talking to your principals, tell them you would like teachers to be trained. It is what is most important!

People don't slip through the cracks. They sink. Slowly. While screaming for help to a world that pretends to be deaf.
                                                                                         @SSparklesDaily                                                                                 
I read that on Twitter yesterday and I have not been able to get it out of my mind. I am not sure what the person was referring to when she posted it but it certainly does fit our dyslexic children pretty accurately doesn't it?

Dyslexia can be accurately diagnosed as early as Kindergarten, if we know what to look for, this is why teacher training is so important. Children with dyslexia do tend to slip through the cracks until the earliest 3rd or 4th grade most times, and by that point kids self esteem is already tanking and kids that don't get caught till even later suffer from even more than just self esteem issues. Kids can really begin to hate school, and anything associated with school, and is that really what we want?

There are so many simple things teachers can do for children in the general education classroom that would make a world of difference for a student who struggles. Catching kids with dyslexia before they "slip through the cracks" would make a world of difference and prevent kids from even entering Special Education which a lot of times might not always be the best place for them. This would be a good transition to RTI which I have discussed at length but there is always more to discuss, and I will...soon.

So, how can we help our kids from slipping though the cracks? Teacher training is key. Talk to your child's teacher about what dyslexia is. There are a lot of misconceptions about dyslexia but there are also a lot of great places to go to get the correct information. My favorite video is one from Kelli Sandman-Hurley and it less than 5 minutes long. Share it with your child's teacher and be prepared to answer questions because you will be asked.