Fabienne Eliacin
 

As a parent of a child who has a Specific Learning Disability with double deficit of Dyslexia, ADHD Combined, Social Emotional, Anxiety, depression and Pragmatic communication disorder - I know and understanding how hard it can be for parents to juggle work and family, while dealing with the special education system.

 

The system is not working for us. As a parent, I have to pull up my sleeves and do the work to advocate for my child as well as educating myself.  CPLAN has given me the platform to bring my passion to life by sharing my wisdom with other parents and supporting them to any capacity that I can.  Affirmation and  listening to parents go a long way.

 

For the past few years,  I became more involve with CPLAN as a parent leader.  I held a few workshops for Dyslexia Awareness Month to help teachers, parents and students understand the learning disability when it comes to language specifically, Dyslexia and how we can get resources to help support our children.

 

Now, I can see we are making progress. In 2018, we had a bill pass that requires schools to pre-screen pre-K and Kindergaten students for any language of learning dissabilty specifically, dyslexia to identify them early in their educational career. This allows parents to start their advocacy sooner.  

 

As a parent, I understand the struggle and that is the reason I will continue to advocate and educate others to make sure no child is left behind. We are here to service all our children regardless of their race, social economic status, and gender. It takes a village to raise a child and we need to work together to make sure we support the child socially, intellectually, to be a happy human beings.  

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Since 2018, I have had the opportunity to coordinate the bridge lighting for Dyslexia Awareness Month as well as putting a display in the public library to inform families about Dyslexia.  This year, we had about 8 library participation and over 90 people attended the bridge lighting.  We had different activities for the children and a great networking with the parents.  

 

Under the umbrella of Decoding Dyslexia-MA I have the opportunity to attend workshops, lectures and even hosting small groups for parents to come together to review and understanding the IEPs,  where to get resources and share them with each other. CPLAN is giving me the chance to cheer in good times, scream my frustration when things don't work, while also providing a space to celebrate our victories - We are a family and we support each other no matter what.

 

Like Frederic Douglas said, "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free"

#saydyslexia