By Lauren Brown, Literacy Coach + Lead Literacy Instructor for Redwood Schools

As a Special Education teacher, Literacy Coach, and most importantly the mom of a student with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD, I am a huge proponent of intensive, systematic, group intervention in literacy.  I have taken many classes and trainings and listened to countless podcasts and books that share how students close academic gaps with these types of interventions. I have also seen this happen with my own eyes. At Redwood Day School, I have witnessed teachers finding success in helping many students close academic and social-emotional gaps. After receiving our specialized intervention, students transition back to traditional school settings and their families update me on how well they are doing. Students are typically using Frostig’s Success Attributes, perhaps still receiving reading intervention as outlined in their IEP (Individualized Education Plan).  With all my experience as an educator, walking this journey as a parent myself brought on so many new details.  I’d love to share with you the value of all of the interventions that my son, Harrison, received, and how Redwood sets students up for success using assistive technology (AT).  

My son Harrison is in sixth grade. He went to Redwood Day School for 3 years. Honestly, we were not planning on sending him to an alternative setting to assist with his intervention plan, as he was making progress at his neighborhood school in the 2019-2020 school year with an IEP that included the Wilson Reading System® Intervention and Independent Functioning support. Then the pandemic hit. As we began the Zoom learning journey, I realized that Harrison was going to quickly fall very far behind his classmates. He began at Redwood Day School and we immediately knew that it was a good choice. Not only was Harrison getting his academic needs met, but his confidence began to grow as well. We had not even realized how depleted his confidence had become throughout discovering his dyslexia!

Harrison ended up being at Redwood Day for 3 school years, with 3 summers of connected intervention at Redwood Literacy. He made great strides in all academic areas, explored Frostig’s Success Attributes, worked with Erin Anderson (the Occupational Therapist at Redwood Schools), made friends, and found confidence. My husband and I  wanted Harrison to be finished with the first 10 steps of the Wilson Reading System® before we would consider the transition back to his neighborhood school. Additionally, it was important that Harrison transition with enough time at that school to create lasting friendships and acclimate to the school environment.  In sixth grade, all students in Chicago were transitioning from elementary school to middle school, which we thought would be a great time to support his social and functional transition as well. Upon receiving Harrisons ILP (Individualized Learning Plan) for the 2022-2023 school year, we realized that criteria would be met!

We worked with the Redwood Schools Transition Coordinator at the time, Dr. Kirsten Kohlmeyer, to ensure that Harrison had the tools and skills he needed for a smooth and successful transition. (If you have the opportunity to work with Dr. Kirsten or her team at Redwood, you should run and not walk.  Kirsten teaches educators how to explicitly teach AT and supports students in the process of determining which tools are best for them.) We scheduled an updated neuropsychology evaluation, requested an updated IEP with Chicago Public Schools, and began discussing the transition with Harrison. We attended school events to re-acclimate to the school environment and helped him schedule several hangouts with former classmates. Additionally, we connected with the receiving school principal to ensure they had a plan in place for the transition that would help make the process smooth.  

Finally, after much anticipation and preparation, the first day of school arrived and he was off! Of course, I thought of all of the things that I should have done and wished I’d prepared, but we had done a lot, and he was set up for success. The transition to his new school has been the most incredible experience. He learned so much at Redwood Day and we are so grateful for his teachers, principal, and the experience that he had. We immediately saw the knowledge that Harrison learned in how to advocate for himself taking effect in this new setting. He and his classmates were given the use of a Chromebook for assignments. We watched him advocate for tools that he has used throughout his time at Redwood Day. He asked that ALL of his textbooks be uploaded from Bookshare and for the use of the AT tools Snap and Read, Co:Writer, and Kami.  Is this cheating? Is this saying he is not successful? Definitely not. Harrison is advocating for himself and using tools he knows will allow him to use his robust vocabulary in writing. He can read the chapter book that was assigned without the laborious decoding process that it otherwise would require. He left Redwood reading close to grade level, however, he still has dyslexia.  

As a teacher myself, I wanted to ensure that we were doing our part in supporting his teachers and team at school.  In preparing for this, we scheduled a meeting with his incredible team on the Monday after the first week of school. We asked them how the transition was going and how we could further support Harrison. They shared that Harrison was finding success. He advocates for AT whenever possible. He knows he can do all of these things without AT, however, AT allows him to have more energy and space in his brain to do the more difficult work that he loves and is good at like large math equations and science experiments.  

Although Harrison’s IEP does not yet include AT as the CPS AT Evaluation is backlogged,  AT is included in accommodations for now, and hopefully, it will be added officially to his IEP soon. In the meantime, he can advocate for and access all of the tools that his teachers have access to, which is a lot. We are so grateful that AT exists, for the AT instruction Harrison received at Redwood, and that Harrison can find success in a mainstream classroom with support because he has access to tools that make learning easier for him.

I like to compare Harrison’s AT access to that of a student who has a broken leg at a school with 3 floors.  If a student broke their leg, they technically could access their 3rd floor classes using the stairs. However, that student would also miss most of their first period class, the process of climbing the stairs would be laborious, they’d skip extraneous tasks such as putting belongings in their locker, and by the time they got to the classroom, they would be ready for a nap. If they used the elevator to access the 3rd floor, they would get to the classroom before the first period class began, get to organize their things in their locker, and be as peppy as a middle schooler can be. Would we deny a student who has a broken leg the elevator? Probably not. AT is just that. A tool to support students in saving their energy for what matters most.

For the first week, I felt somewhat guilty that my child was using AT in so many ways after we had worked so hard on the Wilson Reading System® for years. Then it hit me on a Monday evening in October at about 8:10 pm. Harrison had spent a full day at school, then Redwood Literacy SPELL-Links™ small group in the afternoon, dinner, and was upstairs working on about 30 minutes of math homework. After he completed it and got ready for bed, I saw him head to our bed and pick up a graphic novel that I had planted in his room a few days back. He proceeded to read the entire novel in one sitting on a jam-packed Monday evening. I could not believe my ears when he summarized the book for me perfectly and told me that he was going to grab the sequel from the school library. Would Harrison have read that book for enjoyment after a day FULL of about 9 and a half hours of learning if he did not have access to AT during the school day? I can’t know the answer for sure. However, knowing my child, the answer is probably no. If you leave with one takeaway, I hope it is that AT is intended to assist students in accessing what they might not otherwise be able to access. This is not cheating. It is giving your child the ability to access information as their neurotypical peers access information.  

Today Harrison has finished his first novel in ELA, written a 2 page paper responding to the text, and advocated that peer editing should not happen for someone with dysgraphia. His teacher listened and his SPED teacher peer edits for him and his peers with ELA IEP goals (change maker!). He checks his grades in Aspen often to ensure he is not missing assignments and is getting straight A’s this quarter. We are so grateful for how Redwood set our son up for success with academic intervention, success attributes, and assistive technology.

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