The first sign may be that your bright child is having trouble reading, or organizing school assignments, or concentrating on homework. Your child may be frustrated with school, and you may find yourself frustrated with what looks like a lack of effort. And a teacher may also notice that something is amiss.  If you suspect that your child has a learning disability, and you’ve ruled out distractions like bad chemistry with the teacher or a social issue, your best recourse is to have the child tested.  The cost of getting a thorough assessment by a trained professional can be steep, often as much as $5,000. But that financial burden is not necessarily yours to bear: under federal law your local school district is obligated to assess your child free of charge, even if he or she attends a private school. That said, if you go through the process with a school district, it might take a bit more effort than hiring a professional. Below, we discuss both options.  First, though, some context. By some estimates, about one in seven Americans has a learning disability, a neurological disorder that can make a basic task like reading, writing or organizing information more difficult than usual. Disabilities cannot be cured, but if identified early they can often be ameliorated. Parents, teachers and specialists can help children develop strategies for dealing with them.  The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, enacted in 1975 and updated frequently since, is meant to ensure that all children receive an “appropriate” education. The law, generally known by its acronym, IDEA, states that local schools are obliged to help identify children who may have learning disabilities and then have them assessed, with the parents’ consent.  But what the law promises and what the schools can realistically provide are sometimes at odds.  “The law was created with the idea that parents and schools would collaborate on their child’s education,” says Neal Rosenberg, an education lawyer in Manhattan who worked for the New York City Board of Education when the law was first drafted. “But the relationship can sometimes turn adversarial.”  In this column, I will discuss how to determine whether your child has a learning disability and help you navigate the local school system’s obligations in that assessment. In next week’s column, my colleague Walecia Konrad will explain how to help learning-disabled children get the education they need.  GETTING STARTED If your child is having difficulty in school, don’t delay in arranging a meeting with your child’s teacher and the school principal.  At this meeting, explain your concerns about your child’s uneven academic performance. Perhaps your child is bright, but is reading below grade level. Or he reads fluently but is a poor speller. (Eighty percent of people with learning disabilities have problems with reading.) The school may first want to gather more data about your child’s performance and even try adjusting the classroom instruction before formally assessing him or her.  At this point, it is crucial to know your legal rights. Every state has a Parent Training and Information center that is financed by IDEA. Contact your state’s center to learn your school’s responsibilities and your child’s rights under the law.  To find the center in your state, go to the Technical Assistance Alliance for Parent Centers Web site. Wrightslaw.com, a Web site focused on special-education law and advocacy, is another good resource.  SPURRING ACTION A common complaint among parents is that the school is not moving swiftly enough to address their children’s problems or is reluctant to provide testing at all. Given the budget challenges for most schools, that reluctance is understandable. Besides the cost of testing, a finding that your child requires specialized instruction can lead to additional expenses.  But this is your child you’re talking about. If the school seems to be dragging its feet, make a written request to the school’s director of special education saying that you would like a comprehensive assessment. And provide reasonable evidence to support your request.  That’s the advice of Kyle Karen, a parent with a learning-disabled child who also volunteers as her school’s parent-teacher liaison for special education in Shelter Island, N.Y.
Parents who are aware of the available resources have a better chance of getting help for a learning-disabled child.