Listener Questions: What Rights Does My Dyslexic Kid Have in Private School?

Today on Dyslexia Journey, we're going to respond to some viewer questions. It got me diagnosed when I was in third grade, and it was the most relieving day of my life because I finally had like kind of a place to hang my hat and say, see, I told you, I'm not lazy, definitely not stupid. I just learned differently. Like, that's totally okay. With dyslexics, we were often, you know, just set up for failure because, you know, we were given books and tasks that really are not appropriate for the level that we were at.

So, how do you expect anyone to be open to learning when their entire relationship with reading, with learning, is physical pain? I wish I had understood when I was younger that the fact that my brain worked differently than people meant that I would be good at things in ways that other kids were not going to be good at. I just assumed I can't be dyslexic because letters don't jump up and down for me.

Dyslexia is not a disorder. It is not a disease. Once you sort of own it and embrace it, then you can have the power to deal with it. It's sort of empowering and also enriching to the whole community. To those who don't understand what dyslexia is, that it's not a negative. It's not a problem. It's, like we keep saying, superpower.

Hey, everyone. We're Nick and Sonja, and this is Dyslexia Journey. And we always like to solicit questions from you. And today, we're going to do one of those episodes where we respond to a couple of them. So, just to start off, we want to let you know how you can contact us if you have questions of your own. You can email us at parentingdyslexiajourney at gmail.com. That's probably the best way to reach us.

We read all our email, and then you can make sure we'll get it. You can put a comment. If you're watching this on YouTube, you can comment on the video on YouTube. And if you're listening to it, to the podcast, there's a link in the comment in the description of the podcast that says text us. So, you can click on that to send us a text, which we do get, and we read all of them.

The only problem with those is that it doesn't include your phone number, so we can't actually respond to you directly. Right. Okay. So, let's get into the questions for today. So, we have a longer one and then a short one, too. So, let's start with the longer one. So, here's the question that came in. Hello. My son is at a private high school. He has an IESP instead of an IEP. He has severe dyslexia.

The school is very inconsistent with the accommodations, and we are told that they do not have to provide the accommodations outlined in the IESP because they are a private school. If we don't like it, we can go to public school. But aren't these students protected under ADA? Are we forced to keep our kids in public school in order to make sure they get their accommodations? Thank you so much for your show.

I love it. So, thank you for sending that in so much, and sorry that you're dealing with this. We're going to take this, like, a few steps at a time because we want to go through some distinctions of what things are for people who may not know. So, thank you for that as well, and then we're going to hopefully address your question along the way as well. But first, a disclaimer. We are not attorneys.

Do not take anything we're saying as legal advice. This is, we're going to try to best represent our understanding of the situation. But, as always, for your own individual situation, you should reach out to an attorney or someone who understands the nuances of the law for specific advice about your situation. Right. Okay. So, let's start with what is the difference between an IEP and an IESP? Yeah. So, an IEP is an Individualized Educational Program.

And an IEP is an Individualized Education Services Program. So, that's, like, what they mean. And so, what, in terms of their actual, the words that are used for those acronyms, but what does that actually mean? Yeah. So, an IEP is generally put in place, so if we talk about the public school system here for a second, an IEP is generally what your student will have in the public schools if they are going to the public schools.

And an IESP is what they will have with the public school system if they are choosing, or if you are choosing not to send them to that public school system, if you're opting out of that. Right. So, in the case of the listener question, their child, or they have, quote, opted out of the local public school system, and the child is going to a private school. But they still have this IESP with the local public school system.

Or the option to create it, I guess we should say. You don't have it automatically, but you could approach the public school to create that with them. Right. Right. So, and just to clarify, the IEP is a legal document that is legal under the Individualized with Disabilities Education Act idea. Right. Right. But what this essentially means is that by going to a private school, technically, someone is opting out of the full protection of IDEA, or the IDEA.

I like to say IDEA, but I don't know if anyone else does that. And so we're going to get into more, though, because there's more than just that, because there's a couple different kinds of protection. So keep listening, but that's just the first thing. And just one other clarification is the term IEP is also thrown around loosely as an Individualized Instructional Plan. And so you might be going to a private school, and you might have a written document at that private school called an IEP.

Yeah, because I definitely, like, I think we had, they called it that, I think. I think, if I'm remembering correctly, I think it was just for ease of talking about it. They were just like, oh, we're going to call it the same thing as a public school. But the important thing there to note is that in terms of what's required, that actually is only required at a public school. Yeah, and so this is interesting, because on Dyslexia Journey, we often talk about the success that our daughter had going to a private school, going to several private schools, actually.

And we, I think, have generally come across as favorable of private schools. And I think now that we've done a little more research based on this listener question, and also this came up in our conversation with an attorney that we posted a few months ago with attorney Laura Hennigan, she talked a little bit about this potential downside of private schools. And I think, you know, in retrospect, I might have been a little biased in favor of private schools, because we had good experiences.

They were willing to work with us, and there was no problem with them honoring our daughter's learning differences. But that's clearly not always the case. Right, so it's going to vary with the private school. So let's just turn this into another question here. So do private schools have to follow the IESP then? So that would be, remember, that's the one that you could create still with your public school district, even though you're going to a private school.

So, but then does your public, does the private school that you're going to need to then incorporate that as well? So apparently, based on our research, and again, we're not attorneys, but our understanding is that the answer is no. Private schools are not bound by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in the same way that public schools are. And so this is one big potential downside of private schools for kids with learning differences.

Though, again, we would encourage you to really, you know, look into it in a lot of depth, because there can be some great ones as well. So, yeah. So just to say that another way, the private school is not legally obligated to implement the IESP unless they have a contractual or policy commitment to do so. So meaning, like, what that really just means is, like, they may have that as part of their own charter, like, and how they handle things.

But it's not, like, legal in our country that they need to do that. Right. But there are federal laws. The Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA. Yeah. Everyone has to follow that. Right. That's a federal civil rights law. Yeah. Including the Section 504 protections aren't, I guess, part of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Or is it? I can't remember. Now I'm blanking myself. But anyway, the point is, these are what do pertain to private schools also.

Right. Yes. So this is very critical, because it doesn't mean that they're, like, off the hook completely. It means that they can't discriminate. Oh, it looks like, oh, sorry. We had it right here. The Section 504 is from the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. And the Americans with Disabilities Act is a distinct thing. And so what this means is that private schools are not allowed to discriminate based on disability. Right. So they can't.

So we can think of ways that could happen otherwise, but it does involve accommodations, too. So they basically can't refuse what are considered reasonable accommodations to allow equal access. Right. So that's also true. So think wheelchair ramps, right? Mm-hmm. Like, private schools are still required to provide access to people with reduced mobility. Mm-hmm. So similarly, they're required to provide access to people with learning differences. Mm-hmm. Right. So then, of course, it becomes this nebulous issue of what is access exactly and what's going to count and what's going to get covered.

There's also, I should say, this part where it says that it wouldn't fundamentally, they're supposed to be doing this, providing the access, as long as doing so. It wouldn't fundamentally alter the nature of the program or cause an undue burden. So there's a little wiggle room for the school. So basically, they're less prescriptive anyway than the IDEA. The IDEA and the 504 are less prescriptive than the IDEA. And so it doesn't mean that there's a 504 plan requirement, even though you may have heard of having a 504 plan.

But there technically isn't a requirement to create a plan. It just often happens. And then overall, I think the main problem is that the enforcement can be weaker, right? So even though this is true, I think the, you know, it might, it would require a lot more effort on the parents' part. It could require legal action. Though, as we'll get on to the next question, what is our advice here? What could parents, you know, do, like, if they want to get support here?

Yeah, so one option, which is not a great option necessarily, but one option that we just sort of, I feel obligated to say, is that you can put your child always in public school. Like, even if you've opted out, you are always allowed to have your child return to public school, and they're required to find a space for that child, even if it's in the middle of the year. Right, and I mean, of course, it's going to be very individual with understanding how it works at any given school, because schools can be really individual in terms of, you know, how well they're implementing things, and are they, do they, you know, need to, but I would say most schools are very aware of this.

Like, it's not like they're not aware of it at all. I would say more in general, it's usually, usually more of a matter of, like, just that are they taking the time to do it, to implement it, they're so busy, that kind of thing, more. But that doesn't necessarily mean not to go to the private school either, so. Right. So obviously the biggest thing is to try to figure out if there's a private school that would fit the best.

Right. And, you know, be more willing to do these things anyway. Yeah, if you're willing to change schools, or if you haven't started your child at a school yet. But the next. I was just going to say, there's some, like, it's really important when you're considering a school for your child with learning differences, or with dyslexia specifically. It's really important to ask the school and be very precise about what you're asking for ahead of time, and ideally to get it in writing.

Right. So then it would become, hopefully, and again, I'm not a lawyer, but hopefully that would become contractual. Right. And, you know, if you're at a private school that you really want to stay at, who's being difficult about it, one option would be to try to bring up the ADA, though, and the 504, you know, and see if bringing them up and trying to, you know, take it further in that direction could help.

Right. It's just more, it's more work for you to have to do that, but that's one option as well. And then the other, another option is through this IESP. So remember, that is the one that you get with the public schools, even if your child is in private schools, you can actually still get services from the public schools. You can request services. Right. I don't know if you'll always get them. So, for example.

When the listener mentioned actually having that, so I don't know to what extent that's been implemented or anything that's happening with that, but we're just speaking generally here. Yeah. Yeah. So, for example, if your child is in a private school, and actually I was just talking to someone who did this, their child was in a private school, they were flagged as being possibly dyslexic. The public school then performed and paid for it because they were performing it themselves, the dyslexia assessment and identification.

Right. So, so it's worth remembering to do that and work as much as you can with the public school to get what services you can there as well, you know. And I mean, all of it is this journey though, right? So it's like, it sort of depends on the time, you know, time and like a lot of talking to different people, bureaucracy, like all of these kinds of things that are involved.

But I definitely like would keep seeking services. I mean, I guess that's the overarching thing is that, you know, here's the truth of exactly what the laws say and how, you know, where there's more legal room for schools not to implement it and or to implement it. But, but just to keep trying and like to try all these different things. And try different, different things. So maybe the school is not, maybe the private school is not being good about honoring the IEP or whatever you ask for.

Maybe ask for a different way. Ask the private school for a section 504 plan. See if they'll agree to do that with you. Right. And just bring up, you know, bringing up what is covered under that. Yeah. And, and mention that, like you're, that you're trying to make sure your student has equal access, right? Right. So you're invoking that law in particular more so. And, it might be helpful to get, an advocate, or if you have the financial resources and attorney, like I don't, I don't like to recommend that necessarily because I think schools will possibly perceive that as a hostile action and, and so on.

And so, I mean, but you have to do what's best for your child. Right. Exactly. It's going to depend a lot on the situation. Yeah. So getting back to the specific listener, what could this parent do now? Yeah. I mean, that's the most important thing. The most immediate stuff you can take is to document everything. so emails, notes from meetings, notes from any, incidents that happen in school with your child. and, if you can get notes from the teacher or the administrators, which they may or may not be willing to share.

Right. And then, like we said, then it would be to meet with the school more invoking 504 or the ADA and see if you can come up with a plan with the private school that way. as we mentioned, possibly consulting with a special education advocate or attorney, especially with one who has experience specifically with the ADA and private school situation. So it could be helpful if that person is knowledgeable in these particular kinds of situations because they are nuanced.

and then, you know, if it comes to this, you could file a complaint with the U S department of education's office for civil rights. So what you would be trying to document there is disability discrimination. And then I know what you're going to say, but unfortunately in the current political climate, that's unlikely to go anywhere. Simply because they don't have there. I don't think that there's any resources towards it, like in the office right now.

I mean, that doesn't mean you couldn't file it. I don't know at what point it would be addressed, but, all right. So that is it for this. Thank you so much for sending that question. I think it was so helpful for so many people and we wish you and your family and your son really well on this journey. Our second question and final question for today is actually a really short one.

this came in recently. the question is, hi, what is the book she talks about slash recommends at the end? I believe this is referring to our recent interview with Karen Hunter, who is a parent of dyslexic children, who also went back to school, and got a master's degree in education. Right. And so anyway, that book that she held up briefly there is called Demystifying Disability, what to know, what to say, and how to be an ally.

And it's by Emily Ladeau. So again, the main points there, it's called Demystifying Disability. And the author is Emily Ladeau, L-A-D-A-U. And we'll put that in the show notes. So thanks for asking that as well. Cause it, what she really recommended it, but it was very quick that she showed that. Yeah. And also if you were just listening to the podcast, I don't know if she said the title out loud. Well, she said the title, but she didn't say the author.

She didn't say the author. And she, yeah. And I think she called it Demystifying Dyslexia and then said, I mean, so anyway, so it's not this, it's actually not Demystifying Dyslexia. It's Demystifying Disability. Got it. Yeah. All right. Thank you for those questions. And yeah, anyone else who wants to send us more, we would love to have them.