Hi, I’m Casey.

So… who am I and how did I get here? The quick answer to that is, in 2014, I was a parent that found themselves in a place without answers. Our family had two choices – quit and hope for the best, or move forward and fumble our way through a tangled mess. 

We. Moved. Forward.  

[insert hysterical laugh here, because if you know - you know!]

Hindsight is always 20/20, however the signs of a language-based learning difference for two of my children were always present. The problem was, I didn’t know what those signs looked like and our teachers, school administration, and AEA staff didn’t have any idea what to look for either. Now, before you have any feelings about that, please know we’ve encountered some very kind educators. However, when you are a concerned parent and you find out that Google didn’t let you down, but the school district did for years? Yeah, it stings. 

I can’t push all of the blame onto my local school district and AEA. I graduated from the University of Iowa with Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education, and a reading endorsement. Guess what? I love being a Hawkeye, but Google gave me information about dyslexia that has been available since 1877. In college, learning disabilities were taught from one chapter in one college course. 

In 2014, I had a 2nd grader and an 8th grader. I decided I would no longer ignore that gut feeling I had, and began to push for answers. Over the course of about 12-months I had countless meetings with teachers, administrators, and the AEA. Each time, I was told that my children were “fine”. Actually, the words they used were more along the lines of -

“…even if your child has dyslexia, we won’t change what we do for her at school.”

“…don’t label your child, then she will never push herself to succeed.”

I was heartbroken, but more than that I was mad. No, I was furious. 

I asked everyone I could think of that might know something about dyslexia. And… I worked in a high school as support staff, so I felt incredibly fortunate. Guess what?

Not one person I asked knew how to help. I asked English teachers, [not] English teachers, the literacy specialist, guidance counselors, the principal… 

Not one person could even refer me to anyone that could help. The AEA psychologist suggested that I look in the yellow pages. I'm not kidding.

It was my best friend’s, husband’s, coworker’s, wife. Somehow my best friend remembered an offhand conversation about a wife that did some tutoring. 

That day, the world changed for my family. 

Ten years is a long time. There have been a few amazing improvements and there are still things that should never be status quo. Someday, maybe I’ll type a little more about our story. 

Right now, in January 2024, there are three proposed bills that are/will be discussed in the Iowa legislature. This might seem like a strange things to bring up in a "get to know you" blog post, and yet the timing is kind of perfect. Things are slowly changing. Your experience does not have to be my experience. That's amazing! 

• SSB 3069 suggests that language arts instruction shall use a science of reading aligned approach, with evidence-based early reading instruction that follows a scope and sequence, and is direct, systematic and explicit. This one brought actual tears to my eyes. (I know, weird!) It was like after being told for years that your passion is commendable (but we’re still not going to consider anything you say) my 2-year old self is screaming, "I told you so! We know how to improve literacy for all kids in Iowa... let's just DO it!"

• SF 2004 and HF 2030 (senate version and house version) These bills establish a scholarship/tuition grant fund for teachers who want to get the dyslexia specialist endorsement. The dyslexia endorsement is fairly new, and another great example of change. No parent should ever hear, “I’ve been teaching for XX years, and I’ve never had a student with dyslexia.” - it’s not possible folks!

• HSB 542 is the 120+ page bill about possible changes to the AEA, recently proposed by Gov. Reynolds. This one is complicated for me. It pulls at my heartstrings, for I know there is good in the AEA, however the PTSD of the past is real. I stand with the Decoding Dyslexia Iowa statement on this one.