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Contributed by Lori Markland, Director of Communications, Outreach and Development, MDTAP

Right around this time of year, parents and teachers across the country meet for the first time as they begin to map out their students’ academic paths during parent-teacher conferences. This year, in my house, these meetings were met with mixed emotions. While my older child is excelling in her third grade classes, it was immediately made clear that my kindergartener is not. With struggles that include inability to consistently identify letters and numbers, to anxiety and forgetfulness, I left that meeting ready to do what many parents do – practice, practice, practice with her at home. And research online late at night.

And although we don’t know yet whether she has an identifiable learning disability, it is clear my child is struggling. And I need to help her. And help other parents who are walking a similar path. In my efforts to do so, I found Understood, a website dedicated to providing resources for children with learning and attention issues. It includes a plethora of information including school and learning resources, parent coaching based on the child’s individual needs, Twitter chats with experts on a variety of topics, simulation videos to give parents a sense of what their child might be experiencing, assistive technology recommendations, a parent and expert community to live chat, and WAY more.

As a nice aside, the site also includes a Spanish option and text-to-speech built in for anyone who may need it.

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