Jennifer, mother of the two girls that come over to play with our kids from across the street, came over yesterday and had a coffee.  Talks a lot, but friendly.  Husband is a carpenter, which is very handy, and she has lived all her life in Hopewell and knows just about everybody.
She is a teacher in the Middle School and one of the things that she said was rather surprising.  It seems that some kids moved into the states schools after a few years in the Cambridge School, and she commented that the school did not 'push kids hard enough'.  Therein lies a common lack of understanding as to what it is like to suffer from dyslexia.  Most of the kids who go to Cambridge School, like Joey, at the age of 8 or 9, having struggled in normal schools and suffering from all sorts of issues around self-esteem and confidence.  Not only does it take time to get them reading using specialised teaching, but they have to rebuild confidence, social skills etc etc.  This takes time.  And learning to read for a dyslexic is hard enough in itself. By the time they are 11-13, they should be ready to undertake more complex work and to be pushed and challenged.  A couple of years on and they are generally performing at the same level as other kids.  But transfer them too soon, and there can be problems.  It is sad that even a teacher underestimates the challenges faced by dyslexic kids.