An estimated 15 percent of the U.S. population suffers from dyslexia (see this fact sheet for more information). Fortunately for KC-area homeschoolers, a number of local resources and support groups exist.
We’ve collected a few of them here, all recommended by our homeschool community. (Homeschoolers started some of them!)
Poss-Abilities Children’s Therapy Group
Jean Wetherilt, MPE’s special needs coordinator, owns the PossAbilities Children’s Therapy Group in Merriam and Lee’s Summit. The facility’s family-friendly environment comes with an outdoor therapy center, sensory integration and neurodevelopmental treatment equipment, and fine motor and handwriting center.
Services include individualized therapy sessions, developmental assessments, and training for parents and family members in home programming.
Midwest Neuroeducational Services
This center in Overland Park provides a range of services that include testing, therapy and tutoring for several disabilities and disorders, including dyslexia.
Members of the team include Dr. Sandi Isaacson, Ph.D., ABPdN, a Board-certified neuropsychologist, and Dr. Avner Stern, Ph.D. a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in psychoeducational and psychological assessment of dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning and neurodevelopmental problems.
Horizon Academy
Horizon Academy in Roeland Park is the only private, fully accredited school for students with learning disabilities in the Kansas City area. Some of its dyslexia resources include testing services and a tutoring center.
More information is on its website: http://horizon-academy.org/
LexiAbility
Pam Taylor, MS EdPsych, runs LexiAbility, a clinic in KCMO that offers a range of services: assessments, remediation, support groups, parent and teacher training, accommodations and homeschool consultations. Its dyslexia resources include a children’s enrichment program.
Educational Therapy Center
This center in Parkville provides tutoring and one-on-one instruction in reading, writing, spelling, fluency, and comprehension using the Orton-Gillingham Approach. It offers language skills assessments that become a baseline to guide tutoring services and sessions.
Trudy Odle, MS Ed., F/AOGPE
Trudy is an educational & dyslexia specialist and consultant. She is also an Orton-Gillingham therapist and trainer. To contact her, call (913) 735-0052 or email trudyodle4 [at] gmail dot com.
Curis Functional Health (formerly Rejuvenate)
This clinic in Lee’s Summit offers chiropractic care, mental health services, weight loss programs, and regenerative medicine programs.
It also provides dyslexia testing, which can be fully covered by insurance companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City. Testing can be expensive, so it definitely pays to check ahead of time with your insurance company!
Facebook support group
Wendy Hanson, one of our members, started a Facebook area support group for homeschoolers dealing with dyslexia. She started the group to find a community of parents with similar situations to hers.
“It is a Facebook group for people living in the KC area that are homeschooling children with dyslexia,” she writes. “Right now, we are just supporting each other through Facebook, but we would eventually like to get together in person.”
If you’re interested in joining the Facebook group, contact Wendy by email at wendy4ksuwildcats [at] gmail dot com.
We have updated this blog post, originally published in February 2016, for timeliness and detail.
See more information about special needs resources available for KC-area homeschoolers here!
I would add Vision Development Associates to this list. My family has used their services for over 15 years for diagnosis of vision processing problems and therapy for vision issues. Dyslexia was not a problem for any of our children, but I know they treat it. They are in south KC, near the KS border.
That’s great information. Thanks, Wes!