Letter: Special ed students need support

I appreciated the letter that said that students with reading disabilities are not having tests read to them, even though test reading is an accommodation called for in their individualized education programs ["Fairer tests for special ed," May 24].

My son, who could be the poster child for this situation, will graduate from the Three Village school district this month. He can appropriately interact with people, and he is a great hands-on visual learner. But after years of working privately with both Wilson and Orton certified reading teachers, he remains wickedly deficient in being able to read, spell or write paragraphs.

I have had quite a journey with my son, and if he had had the standardized tests read to him, his scores would have been higher. It took years to accept that his scores did not reflect what he could have answered if he had been read the tests.

Additionally, his education program allows him a scribe. If standardized testing requires a written response, allowing a dictated answer would also improve test scores.

There are students with severe reading disabilities, and no matter what is attempted, it may come to the point where this is as good as it gets, and the special education teachers were probably not negligent in their efforts.

My son, with accommodations from the learning-disabilities department of the college he will soon enter, is so proud to be attending culinary school in the fall.

Sandra Phillips, East Setauket