MORGANTOWN – The Dominion Post began exploring the issues associated with the learning disability known as dyslexia in October, which was Dyslexia Awareness Month.
One of the issues we uncovered was that parents of children with dyslexia believe the public schools aren’t helping their kids. We said, “There’s no solo department or how-to manual of teaching, specific to dyslexia. West Virginia’s 55 public school districts are on their own. Monongalia County Schools recognizes it as a stand-alone disorder, but the local district, like everyone else, has to contract out for teaching methods.”
Today we look at the tug-of-war between the families and the schools from another pair of highly intertwined angles: screening and teacher education.
State code 18-20-10 says, “The state board is responsible for the following:
Ensuring that all students receive the necessary and appropriate screenings, evaluations and early assessments for specific learning disabilities, including dyslexia and dyscalculia [a math-related disability];
Ensuring that any Individualized Education Program regarding specific learning disabilities, including dyslexia or dyscalculia, which is developed or implemented, is consistent with the provisions of this section; and
Providing ongoing information and education to parents regarding specific learning disabilities, including dyslexia and dyscalculia, and the services available to students with such disabilities.
We’ve spoken several times with people associated with the Morgantown-based Bonnie Bailey Dyslexia Awareness Foundation. They assert that screening for dyslexia should be done individually, at the kindergarten level at the very least/
But that’s not happening, or teachers believe they’re screening but don’t know how to interpret the results. As one said, “We think teachers are great. … It comes down to teachers need to be educated.”
Schools should offer excuses or fall back on excuses or procedural red tape, they said. A kid shouldn’t be channeled into a special group, or be medicated for ADHD or have a screening put off until age 9. “A kid not reading means you give them no future.” An individual screening takes only 10 minutes.”
We spoke to two professors at WVU’s College of Applied Human Sciences to get some perspectives.
Jayne Brandel is chair and associate professor in the School of Medicine Department of Human Performance — Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her office trains speech-language pathologists and is a Rite Care clinic that provides assistance to families in need to assist with costs for assessment and treatment for evaluations and treatment of reading and writing disorders.
Dyslexia is one of three types of reading disorders, she said. Humans naturally have oral language skills, but not reading. Reading emerges from oral language skills. Speech-language pathologists work on the language comprehension piece and the sound system and how the oral sound system relates to looking at and decoding the letters.
They use oral language as the foundation to teach language and reading instead of teaching reading as an isolated skill. “With our knowledge in this area we’re able to evaluate the child holistically and provide treatments.”
Screening can be done early as preschool especially on phonological awareness skills, she said.
“Making sure teachers have that information and the collaboration between the speech-language pathologist is essential. The teachers have the knowledge of the curriculum and have the knowledge of how to do whole class instruction.” Speech-language pathologists have the knowledge of language and the phonological system. “If they collaborate well together it creates a great environment for the students.”
But what’s done and offered for the students, she said varies district by district and even building by building.”
Allison Dagen is assistant provost for Graduate Academic Affairs and professor of literacy education in the college, where she has taught since 2002 and served as coordinator of the master’s in literacy education program.
Just before our interview, she had been at a literacy conference in Denver, where dyslexia was the big topic and attendees learned how much requirements for discovering and teaching kids with the disability vary among the states.
Arkansas requires specific training, she said, while other states have less strict requirements but acknowledge the reality of dyslexia.
Part of the problem in West Virginia, she said, is lack of consensus of screening and teaching methods, even on the definition of dyslexia. The International Literacy Association and the International Dyslexia Association, for instance, have different views and approaches.
And amid all the disagreement, “at the end of the day there’s these kids sitting here who just can’t get it.”
State code says what it says. “That’s good, but then what?”
The ILA, the professional organization for reading specialists, says there’s no universal screening method, no one best research practice on instruction or how many kids have it. The ILA focuses on teachers knowing how to instruct kids who have severe reading difficulties whether or not they’re dyslexic.
“If I’m a parent of a dyslexic kid, all I want to is – I don’t care which camp is fighting with which camp, what the definition is – just help my kid.”
There is some agreement: dyslexia is neuro-biological, it can be hereditary, there is a a range of severity, and it’s not tied to intelligence, vision or being left handed. “What they know is it’s a problem of phonological processing.”
At early ages, she said, everybody should be screened for that, down at the pre-K and kindergarten levels. “We know that the early identification allows us to do a lot more.”
Dagen talked about three tiers regarding reading education. Tier 1 is regular education, for all students. Children with difficulties can be elevated to Tier 2 or, if they have more severe difficulties, Tier 3.
“We are preparing our undergraduates to understand how to teach early literacy foundations of high-quality instruction – phonological skills, writing, vocabulary/oral language, comprehension, etc – for all students (Tier 1). We also teach them to recognize signs of students who struggle, knowing the earlier and more intensive the invention the better.
“For our graduates in the Reading Specialist program, we have a strong focus on early literacy foundation instruction and explicit coursework on how to address the needs of students who need intensive high-dosage intervention (Tier 2 and 3) to address their reading difficulties with or without a dyslexia diagnosis.”
But those teachers then go to different counties, different states, and what they can do depends on the local requirements, she said.
Most dyslexia identification comes from school psychologists or medical professionals, Dagen said. “It’s still not something we’re dealing with in K-12 schools.” For the kids that don’t get screened and fall through the cracks early, later interventions work but are less effective if they wait until third grade.
Teachers who leave WVU’s program, she said, and are teaching kindergarten and first grade know the signs to watch for. “Are they at a school that has a process to advance the kids up the tiers?” What screener do they have? What instruction do they do? “That’s where we get stuck in K-12 in general.”
WVU-taught reading specialists, she said, learn that they might be standing in front of a classroom where one student may have dyslexia and one may not and they’re going to look exactly alike. “You better know really good instruction to address both their needs,” or where to go if you don’t.
For elementary-level teacher traineers, Dagen said, WVU requires 12 credits in literacy, double most states. Reading specialists take another 30 credits.
Asked what she would do to address the problem if she had a magic wand, she suggested two things: more resources and funding to identify and help struggling readers, and a reading specialist in every school.
For teachers looking for a basic overview of dyslexia and screening and educating students with dyslexia, the Bonnie Bailey Dyslexia Awareness Foundation provided a link to this resource, an easy-to-read handbook, only 16 pages, called “Dyslexia in the Classroom, What Every Teacher Needs to Know” https://structuredlit.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/DITC-Handbook.pdf.
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