October is Dyslexia Awareness Month!
As a nonprofit that runs a literacy intervention program for first graders, we’ve been thinking a lot about dyslexia this month. For those newer to the term, “dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called reading disability, dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language.” (Mayo Clinic)
According to the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity, dyslexia affects 20% of the population and represents about 80-90% of all those with learning disabilities. This means that there are many first graders with dyslexia across NYC schools, and they need support accessing literacy curriculum that fits their needs in order to achieve academic success.
We’ll talk with you more about dyslexia and Reading Rescue this school year. In the meantime, we chatted with our friend State Assemblymember Robert (Bobby) Carroll about his own relationship with dyslexia. Assemblymember Carroll’s district is in south Brooklyn, where he was born and raised. He fights hard for individuals with phonological deficits in the halls of the state capitol in Albany and here in New York City.
1) What was it like learning to read with dyslexia?
In Kindergarten and 1st Grade, I had trouble memorizing the alphabet, spelling the most basic words, and reading. I had a wonderful teacher, who saw me struggling and did not think that I would magically catch up. She told my parents she thought I had dyslexia and my parents had the means to get me a neuro-physiological evaluation that diagnosed me with dyslexia. Midway through the 2nd grade, I left my local public school and went to The Gateway School; a school focused on teaching students with dyslexia. At Gateway, I was exposed to Orton-Gillingham instruction, which is a structured, sequential, multi-sensory phonics based approach to teaching a child how to read and write. This approach engaged me on many levels and each day's lesson was built upon the previous day. This structured approach ensured I became a fluent and fluid reader and allowed me to go to Xaverian High School, Binghamton University, and New York Law School.
2) Why do you believe that early identification of students with dyslexia is important? Why early intervention?
Without my first grade teacher suspecting I had dyslexia and then my parents having the means to have me evaluated, I would have never received the services or education I needed. Early detection and screening is critical to get children with dyslexia the instruction they need. The earlier dyslexia is identified, the easier it is to remediate. Children should not have to be lucky, wealthy, or wait to fail to find out that they have dyslexia. That is why every kindergartner, 1st Grader, and 2nd Grader should be screened using a screener that is evidence-based that uses proven psychometrics for validity, and is efficient, low cost, and readily available. It's only recently that these types of screeners exist and they should be used in every school. This will not diagnose a child as having dyslexia; but it will give teachers, parents, and administrators an insight into who is and is not at risk and who needs multi-sensory sequential phonics instruction.
3) What work is happening on the state level to ensure that students with dyslexia are getting what they need in school?
Currently, I have a number of bills that would mandate curriculum interventions, universal screening, and implement other best practices that would help ensure every child is reading. Every person with dyslexia can become a fluid and fluent reader and it is our school and state's job to ensure that happens. Recently, I have been working with New York City Department of Education to create a pilot program to screen children for dyslexia, and I am hopeful that will be implemented shortly.