Paul's Story
As told by his mother, Lynda
I
have so much to say about DORE and how it has CHANGED not only my son's life
but our entire family's life.
As you know, children who need assistance require the support and time of the
entire family— sometimes at the expense of other children in the family. My son
Paul was diagnosed with dyslexia between first and second grade. He is now in
the 6th grade at Aprende Middle School in the Kyrene District Schools.
As far as I am concerned, it (DORE) is not expensive. Paul has had tutors, been
a student at The Reading Clinic (at a cost of $12,000 for the length of time we
went there), and had countless hours of homework and reading assistance each
night (through the school year and every summer) with me.
DORE will give your child an initial assessment and tell you if they think that
the Program will help. From there, they will give you a binder with detailed
exercises. You will return about every six weeks for an assessment and to
receive new exercises. Paul does not complain about doing this Program. We saw
a difference in him after only about two and a half months (which is sooner
then most.).
We just finished our 13th month. I recently said to my husband,"I don't want to
say it out loud, but I think Paul may be cured!" We had a very long summer
where we thought maybe we had come as far as we could with DORE. We were still
very happy because of all the things that changed with him but were sad that it
was not "fixing all his problems." So, you can only imagine my hesitancy in
believing what was happening. At our most recent appointment, my excitement was
confirmed by his assessment results.
I did talk to one of Paul's prior reading tutors who wanted to have her
granddaughter go through the Program. She has Down Syndrome, and the
grandmother wanted to try the Program to see if it helped. DORE would not let
her sign a waiver and participate. They feel very strongly about who the
program will help and stick to working with just those cases.
Because I know how different each child is, I can't say how the program will
help your child. I just know that if they say it will help I would start
tomorrow if I were in your shoes.My son is in 6th grade and was asked last year
to be interviewed on one of the news programs. I asked him if he wanted to do
it, and his response was "Yes, if I could help anyone else then I want to go
on." I reminded him that his friends might see him on the show. He was more
interested in helping someone than worried that his friends might find out that
he has dyslexia. Guess that tells you that he also sees and feels that
difference.
My attitude is that you have nothing to lose, and potentially everything to
gain.