Why We Moved States for a Dyslexia Program

Once accepted, Eli immediately started tutoring with a teacher at his new school for dyslexic students. This was beneficial in a few ways: A) it started remediation right away, and 2) it slowly acclimated him to his new school.

Step two was a must. Eli has never managed change well, and this was a big one.

Let me help paint this “does not handle change well” picture for you. Anytime we plan to do anything out of the norm, we start prepping Eli well in advance. My husband’s family lives about 90 minutes from us, so we don’t see them nearly as much as we should or want to. Regardless, when we do see them, we start discussing it with Eli weeks beforehand.

“We’re going to go see Pop. We’re going to do X while we’re there, we’ll stay for this long, and then we’ll head back home.”

He’ll typically ask some follow-up questions: When we’re there can we go fishing? Can we ride the side-by-side? Who will be there? Etc. On the day of, as soon as X is done and time is up—ELI OUT! No, really. This is when we start hearing, “Mom, we already did X and Y, and now it’s time to go home. I’m ready to go home. Mom. I’m ready to go home, Mom.”

So I knew that changing schools in general was going to be a challenge, but we were going to a new school without big brother, so I was very grateful for those weeks of tutoring to help him get comfortable there. Who am I kidding—he was never comfortable there, but the tutoring time certainly helped soften the blow.

At that point we were driving from Mississippi to Tennessee (~40 minutes one way) three times a week for after-school tutoring. It quickly became apparent that this was not sustainable. As a work-from-home mom, I couldn’t afford that much time away from my desk once school started in the fall. We had a tight timeline, but it was doable… right?! So we started the house hunt to move closer. BIG change number two.

As spring warmed into summer, Eli started his summer reading camp with other kids he’d be going to school with in the fall. He hated it. Every bit of it. We counted down the days of that four-week program like we count down to Christmas.

In the meantime, we were searching for a house amongst a sea of West Coasters who were taking advantage of COVID-era remote work and a cheaper cost of living. I am not exaggerating when I say we walked into one home for a scheduled tour, and in the middle of it, Husband spoke with the homeowner – who informed him they had already accepted a full cash offer $60K over asking. UMMMMM… come again? And this was not the first, or the last, time it happened.

We did eventually find a home through an acquaintance. It was about to hit the market, and they agreed to let us see it before they listed. It didn’t check all the boxes, but it checked quite a few – being less than a mile from both boys’ new schools being at the top of the list. We made an offer, it was accepted, and we moved in on July 4th.

Over the next month we unpacked and made our new house a home. We met neighbors, went to school orientation events, met the teachers, and bought school uniforms. We talked to Eli about his new school every day. We walked through what our days would look like now – what time we’d wake up, what we’d wear to school each day, what drop-off and pick-up would be like, etc.

The first day of school came and went, and slowly we could see our guy starting to enjoy going to school. For the first time, he was amongst peers who were just like him—having the same struggles. We started to see progress unlike any other time in Eli’s education. By the time we met with the teacher for his mid-year assessment review, Eli had closed the gap by more than a full academic year. When he started that fall as a second grader, Eli was reading at a pre-kindergarten level. By December he was reading at the level of an early first grader.

Holy sh**!! It’s working! He’s learning—and he’s doing it quickly!

I remember thinking back to something the Head of School told us the day we toured in March. He said, “Our business model is a little backwards for a private school. Our goal is to give these kiddos the tools they need to move back into the mainstream classroom as quickly as possible. Most kids are with us only two to three years, and we love that because we know that wherever they go to school, they have everything they need in their toolbox to be successful.”

Could Eli be one of those kids in the “most” category?

Well… Eli technically fell into that category since he transitioned out after three years, but unfortunately, it wasn’t because his toolbox was loaded down with all the shiny new tools.

Eli made huge strides, but we were nowhere near the finish line. In fact, the next part of his journey would bring challenges we never expected—and lessons I’m still learning today.

Susan