If I Can Do It, Anyone Can, a Resource Book for Parents of Learning Disabled Children

By Sharon Lutz

This book is written for parents, teachers, administrators, psychologists, and those who have or know someone with a learning disability. My husband and I became heavily involved with the subject of learning disabilities although we were in denial for quite some time, not wanting to believe our children have disabilities. We have three sons and each has some sort of learning disability. We were not familiar with nor did we understand the mindset of society and the school systems that our sons ultimately would have to deal with throughout their lives.
We worked hard to learn as much as we could about the disabilities and received great help from physicians, psychologists, teachers, and other professionals in the business (i.e. speech therapists, occupational therapists) that cared. These people understood the laws and how to advocate for the parents, support groups like LDA (Learning Disabilities Association), and friends with similar situations.
We spent countless hours and many dollars getting our children educated. Many times we wanted to give up, thinking it was too hard to fight for an education for our children. There is prejudice and discrimination in the school systems, and there is still a stigma against those with learning disabilities. They are referred to as “that classroom” or “you special ed kids”.
It was worth the hard work and effort to help my children become the great adults that they are today. They are hard workers and well liked. They have learned to cope with their disabilities and are able to function in today’s world.
Our hope is that this book will provide some insight as to what concepts and processes worked for us and which ones didn’t. We hope you find something helpful within these pages. I am not suggesting our story is all encompassing, and nothing in this book should be thought of as legal advice. However, if only one other child can be helped by some of the information in this book, it will be well worth the experience it took to get here.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sharon Lutz
• Release date: Sep 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310839214

Sharon Lutz

Sharon Lutz has been a Certified Parent Advocate for children with learning disabilities for twenty years. She was a board member of the local LDA (Learning Disabilities Association) chapter and has participated and spoken for many of the local chapters. She has written several articles regarding learning disabilities that have been published on the http://wrightslaw.com blog and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree.She raised three sons with various degrees of learning disabilities, successfully navigating through the school systems.Her goal is to pass along strategies, lessons learned, and resources, to help others with their own children/students.I would love to hear your stories and I welcome any questions you may have, as well.

Book preview

If I Can Do It, Anyone Can

A resource book for parents of learning disabled children

Sharon Lutz

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Smashwords Edition

If I Can Do It, Anyone Can

Copyright © 2015 by Sharon Lutz

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Cover Design and Formatting: JRS Designs

http://JRSDesigns.yolasite.com

Smashwords License Notes

No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored, in any electronic system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise without written permission from the author. Brief quotations may be used in literary reviews.

Editing/Typesetting: Carla M. Dean of U Can Mark My Word

Editorial Services http://ucanmarkmyword.com

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: How It All Got Started

CHAPTER 2: Awaiting Results of Greg’s Multi-factored Evaluation

CHAPTER 3: Results of Greg’s Multi-factored Evaluation

CHAPTER 4: Implementing the IEP (Individual Education Plan)

CHAPTER 5: More Children

CHAPTER 6: Where Do We Go From Here?

CHAPTER 7: Transition and OHI IEP

CHAPTER 8: How Does It End?

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

APPENDIX D

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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INTRODUCTION

This book is written for parents, teachers, administrators, psychologists, and those who have or know someone with a learning disability. My husband and I became heavily involved with the subject of learning disabilities although we were in denial for quite some time, not wanting to believe our children have disabilities. We have three sons and each has some sort of learning disability. We were not familiar with nor did we understand the mindset of society and the school systems that our sons ultimately would have to deal with throughout their lives.

We worked hard to learn as much as we could about the disabilities and received great help from physicians, psychologists, teachers, and other professionals in the business (i.e. speech therapists, occupational therapists) that cared. These people understood the laws and how to advocate for the parents, support groups like LDA (Learning Disabilities Association), and friends with similar situations.

We spent countless hours and many dollars getting our children educated. Many times we wanted to give up, thinking it was too hard to fight for an education for our children. There is prejudice and discrimination in the school systems, and there is still a stigma against those with learning disabilities. They are referred to as that classroom or you special ed kids. I agree it is much better than when I was a child attending school, but the ignorance still exists.

It was worth the hard work and effort to help my children become the great adults that they are today. They are hard workers and well liked. They have learned to cope with their disabilities and are able to function in today’s world.

Our hope is that this book will provide some insight as to what concepts and processes worked for us and which ones didn’t. We hope you find something helpful within these pages. I am not suggesting our story is all encompassing, and nothing in this book should be thought of as legal advice. However, if only one other child can be helped by some of the information in this book, it will be well worth the experience it took to get here.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

CHAPTER 1:

How It All Got Started

There we were––Art, my husband of two years, and I––sitting on the uncomfortable kindergarten chairs located in the classroom of my five-year-old stepson’s young-looking teacher. She had contacted us to discuss our son, Greg, and we had no idea why we had been called to this meeting.

Greg is my husband’s child. When Greg was eight months old, his biological mother was brutally stabbed to death in their apartment during the day, and the killer used a knife from their kitchen as the weapon. My husband was at work during the time. They never found the attacker or figured out how he even got into the apartment.

When I met Greg, who was two and a half years old when I started dating my husband, I was not aware of what I was walking into. Greg seemed like a happy, normal child; however, I could not understand a word he said. My husband Art and Greg’s paternal grandmother had no problem understanding him, though. Greg was able to say