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This boy found a path to<br />
reading with help from<br />
Legal Aid.<br />
Client names and other details have been changed for reasons of privacy<br />
Reading wasn’t easy for 5th grader "Zeke." While his<br />
classmates were choosing chapter books for quiet<br />
reading time, he was choosing picture books, hoping<br />
none of his friends would notice. Zeke’s teacher knew he<br />
was struggling and put him into a small reading group,<br />
but that wasn't working. Zeke’s mother was concerned.<br />
Zeke’s older sister hadn’t had the same kind of problems<br />
when she learned to read.<br />
When Zeke’s mother told the pediatrician at Gardner<br />
Packard Children’s Health Center (Gardner) about<br />
Zeke’s reading struggles, the doctor referred her to the<br />
Peninsula Family Advocacy Program (FAP), a medicallegal<br />
partnership between Legal Aid, Gardner, Lucile<br />
Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, and other clinics in<br />
the county. FAP provides free legal services to children,<br />
pregnant women and their families to help address the<br />
social determinants of health, including education issues.<br />
The FAP attorney immediately began to advocate with the school district on behalf of Zeke’s<br />
mother. In the past, Zeke's mother had asked Zeke's school for a special education assessment,<br />
to see if he had a learning disability, but the school had declined. As a result of the attorney's<br />
advocacy, the school finally agreed to the assessment.<br />
After a thorough assessment, it was determined that Zeke had a learning disability and was<br />
only reading at a 2nd grade level. The FAP team recommended an outside reading intervention<br />
program that specializes in working with children who have reading disabilities. FAP was optimistic<br />
that Zeke, who was a hard worker and eager to improve his reading, would thrive with this type of<br />
reading intervention. After negotiations were complete, Zeke began his program as soon as school<br />
concluded for the year. Now, Zeke’s mother reports that her son has made tremendous strides in<br />
his summer intensive program and is excited to be closer to be reading just like his peers at middle<br />
school this fall.
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