On this weeks podcast, Maria shares a deeply personal story about her journey of discovering her daughter's learning differences and disabilities, including dyslexia, convergence insufficiency, and bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. She emphasizes the importance of listening to intuition, advocating for your child, and seeking proper testing and evaluation from qualified professionals.

Maria's journey began when her daughter was in a private Montessori school, where the emphasis was on child-led learning and hands-on activities. However, she noticed that her daughter was struggling with reading and writing despite excelling in math and other subjects. Maria's intuition told her that something was not right, but the teachers dismissed her concerns, attributing her daughter's struggles to being "not ready yet."

It wasn't until Maria's persistence and advocacy that her daughter received the proper evaluation and diagnosis. She discovered that her daughter was twice-exceptional, which means that she was both highly gifted and had exceptionalities like dyslexia. Maria also learned that her daughter had bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, which was not picked up in the initial hearing test at school.

Through her journey, Maria emphasizes the importance of intuition as a guiding force in parenting and advocating for your child. She encourages parents to trust their instincts, even when they are dismissed by teachers and administrators. She also highlights the flaws in the school system, where teachers are not trained to pick up on learning differences and disabilities unless they receive advanced training and certification.

Maria stresses the importance of proper testing and evaluation from qualified professionals to identify learning differences or disabilities. She shares how evaluation under the IDEA Act is the right of every child, and how parents can advocate for their child and navigate the school system to get the support they need. She also encourages parents to seek proper testing and evaluation from qualified professionals and to be careful about who they ask for advice or assessments.

Overall, Maria's journey highlights the challenges that parents face when navigating the school system and advocating for their child's needs. Her story underscores the importance of listening to intuition, advocating for your child, and seeking proper testing and evaluation from qualified professionals. She hopes that her story will help other families who are struggling and provide a path forward for parents who are navigating the school system.

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