Group hopes fi lm helps parents of dyslexic kids

Seven years ago, parents with dyslexic children united in Upper Arlington, demanded change from their school district and won.

In 2011, the Ohio Department of Education decided that the 19 parents who signed a complaint against Upper Arlington schools were right: The district wasn’t diagnosing children with dyslexia and it wasn’t serving them.

Word of that victory has spread, even to other states. Frustrated and desperate parents seek out the group, Upper Arlington Kids Identified Dyslexic, or UAKID, for advice on how to help their children.

“I can’t handle all these calls,” said UAKID founder Brett Tingley. “We’re trying to

help all these school districts have the same amazing results, but we just can’t do it one by one.”

Now, they’re producing a documentary to guide parents and school districts. They also hope to start an online community where parents and experts exchange advice and encouragement.

UAKID has raised nearly 80 percent of its $50,000 goal on Kickstarter.com for the film. The campaign deadline is Dec. 19. If it doesn’t hit the goal, it won’t get any money.

Filmmaker Kelli Trinoskey already has shot some footage, including a trailer that’s posted on the fundraising page and at uakid.org. She interviewed Cameron and Nancy James, parents who sued the Upper Arlington schools in the 1990s over the treatment of their son’s dyslexia. The suit went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before being settled. Their attorney, Peter Wright, is a national expert on specialeducation law.

Tingley and Trinoskey estimate that the group ultimately needs about $100,000.

They’re applying for a $20,000 grant from Ohio Humanities, a private nonprofit group that supports the humanities, to help pay for the post-production work, and should hear by spring whether they’ve won it. They’re also looking for foundation money that supports literacy and education.

Once the project is rolling, it will take about six to nine months to shoot and three to six months to edit, they estimate.

Trinoskey’s twin daughters both have learning disabilities, and she said her family moved from Bexley to Upper Arlington two years ago when they weren’t getting the diagnosis or the services they required.

“You expect your schools to truly have a bead on this and to tell you the right information,” Trinoskey said. “It’s bewildering, and you have to grieve the process, like, oh my gosh, I entrusted my kid to the system and we were severely let down.”

Tingley said Bexley parents

are organizing now, but Trinoskey’s children didn’t have time to wait.

“The earlier you get the kids, the easier it is to re-carve their brains,” Tingley said. “So you have to make a choice and you have to get them help.”

BEST, or Bexley Education Stronger Together, formed this past spring to improve conditions for all special-education students. The group involves 60 families and aims to maintain a positive relationship with district administrators, said co-chairwoman Shana Levin.

Similar groups also have sprung up in Olentangy and Hilliard schools.

Back in 2010, Tingley and other parents asked Upper Arlington schools to serve their children with a readingintervention program proven to work for dyslexics. Officials were not receptive.

“We were actually forced to file the complaint. Nobody wanted to,” Tingley said. They couldn’t just move because other districts then weren’t any better.

In 2012, a year after the state’s finding, Kevin Gorman started as director of student services at Upper Arlington schools.

“The second day of my job, I met with UAKID. They are very passionate,” Gorman said. “They gave me a list of their expectations, and they all truly made sense. They wanted what was best for their children.”

Upper Arlington now tests every kindergartner’s ability to identify and manipulate the sounds that make up words. Then, students through third grade work on a program called Fundations, which is multisensory and emphasizes phonics.

Gorman said fewer kids are diagnosed with reading disabilities: The schools catch trouble and intervene before the problem requires a diagnosis and special education plan.

Now he gets calls, just like Tingley does, from districts and parents.