"My son is a 12 year old in a Utah Public school and he is dyslexia and dysgraphic. Over 20% of the population is dyslexic and of those maybe only 5% get assistance from the school system for their learning difference. Dyslexia causes issues with reading and spelling which can affect every subject in school. I discovered he was dyslexic towards the end of 1st grade but his teacher had him labeled as “failing” and a “problem student”. He felt like he was dumb because he was told he was lazy. He isn’t lazy – he is actually gifted if you look at his IQ – but he was failing in school. It took until the end of 3rd grade (that’s 2 years) of fighting to get him an  IEP (individual education plan) so that he could have proper accommodations for his learning difference to succeed in school. It was during this time that I found him an outside tutor – which is very costly once you factor in time off work to take him to tutoring plus paying the tutor.  My son has learned a lot and found some very successful dyslexics to look up to and he knows he thinks differently and can do and envision things that other kids his age (or even adults) can’t but he will always struggle in school. However, without my ability to be able to manage to afford outside tutoring, he would be failing school instead of just having some struggles. Tutoring is something that every struggling reader, regardless of why they are struggling, should have access to." Jodie Turner- Decoding Dyslexia Utah Board Member