I have a personal connection to reading the articles about Dyslexia. My sister was never formally diagnosed with an LD but struggled throughout her entire educational career. She was a student that developed very good coping skills in school and made it all the way to grade 4 until her teachers recognized it. Because she was a quiet, polite student that never caused any problems she slipped under the radar. Instead of moving onto grade 5 my parents made the decision to retain her and get her the support she needed. She continued to struggle throughout her years in school and made it through without any support from the school system. As an adult she loves to read and now that she has discovered ebooks she can't put them down. In Sally Shaywitz article she talks about the highly prevalent rates. In high school 27% of of seniors are reading below the most basic levels. This makes me question whether these numbers are growing or is it that we are able to diagnose or recognize better now a days?
Fast forward 25 years from when my sister's teacher recognized her struggling and we have my niece that has been diagnosed with dyslexia. Again she was quiet, pleasant and a teacher pleaser. Her teachers did notice some of her struggles but couldn't justify enough for testing because of the need at her school. She did not demonstrate the disruptive behaviour issues that goes along with male students with LDs. "Since boys are generally more active and impulsive, they are more likely to be identified through traditional school-identification procedures, whereas girls-who are generally quiet and who may struggle to read-often go unnoticed." My niece was very lucky because she had people in her life that worked very closely with her at home and finically they were able to get her the testing she requires. She sees a tutor regularly and is getting the help she needs.
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