If outgoing State Sen. Fran Millar has his way, Georgia will no longer be among the eight states that have no education policies addressing dyslexia, the learning disability.
Even if Millar, a Dunwoody Republican, can find a sponsor for the legislation he’d like in the upcoming legislative session, some political watchers say it faces an uphill battle.
Others are more optimistic.
"There's been lots of support from both parties. There are lots of people ready and willing to carry the banner," said Heather Bergman Robertson, legislative chair for Decoding Dyslexia, a grassroots advocacy group.
Supporters say the bill is critical because dyslexia slows learning by disrupting reading ability and comprehension. It is the most common reading disability, affecting 5 to 10 percent of the population, according to University of Michigan research. And reading proficiency is critical to future success.
As chairman or member of several education and health-related committees, Millar created the State Senate Study Committee on Dyslexia in March. The goal was to help dyslexic students in Georgia get early identification and remediation. "It's important for the students to get that early diagnosis," said Samantha Durrance, a policy analyst with the Southern Regional Education Board. "The earlier, the better. In 2017, only 34 percent of students (in Georgia) were reading at the basic level."
Some federal funding is already available. President Barrack Obama signed the Research Excellence and Advancements for Dyslexia Act (the READ Act) in 2016, requiring the National Science Foundation to devote a minimum of $250 million for dyslexia research, teacher training and development of effective instructional methods.
Dyslexia is one of the federally designated disabilities for which schools must provide special services, but it’s up to the states to decide on policies to identify and intervene with students. So, many states have adopted their own laws, definitions and screening programs. Georgia has not.
Only two of the 16 states the SREB represents — Georgia and Delaware — have no dyslexia-focused legislation. Two others, West Virginia and Mississippi, have some policies, but none for teacher training. Oklahoma and West Virginia have no processes for identifying the disorder.
“There has been a lot of new legislation in the last three to four years,” said Durrance, “But our research shows that putting these policies in place can reduce the number of children at risk for continued reading difficulties to 5 percent.”
The Senate study committee has recommended:
- A dyslexia and language disorders course of study in the University System of Georgia;
- State funding to screen kindergarten students and out-of-state transfer students in second grade and younger for primary reading and language skills;
- A dyslexia handbook and teacher training program; and
- A dyslexia endorsement for teachers and staff that would qualify them to screen students and train and support others.
Barbara Neisch said the recommendations sounded like music to her ears. Her 9-year-old son, David, has long had trouble reading but she said it was hard to get educators to recognize it.
“He’s such a good kid and really loves school,” she said. “He was smart enough to memorize some words, but he really wasn’t understanding what he read.”
Kindergarten report cards showed David was reading at grade level but she knew he struggled. The teachers insisted his problem was focus and would fade as he matured.
Neisch was a volunteer at his first-grade school and saw that he was having a tough time. The Neisches moved him to private school for the second semester and paid to have him tested for learning disabilities. “They wouldn’t call it dyslexia at first. They said he had a specific learning disability,” said Neisch. But when evaluators finally equated the disability to dyslexia, Neisch said she was frightened.
“It’s a scary label. We didn’t want him to feel bad about himself,” she said. “We had to explain to him that it had nothing to do with intelligence.”
The private school’s smaller class size with more individualized attention helped. And David began seeing a tutor trained in the Orton-Gillingham method, perhaps the most-recommended program for teaching dyslexics to read.
The Neisches thought David was missing the socialization of a larger school, so they put him back in Gwinnett County Public Schools. His reading is progressing.
“If this has taught me anything, it’s go with your gut,” said Neisch. “Every year that your child doesn’t get the right instruction, it takes two years to catch up.”
That’s why she says a bill like the one proposed by Millar’s committee is so important: Not everyone has the time, money and energy it took to just get her son diagnosed.
“It shouldn’t be this hard,” she said.
Millar, an influential lawmaker, will no longer be in the Senate, but Matt Brass, R-Newnan, and Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, have vowed to fight for the measure.
Millar said he believes it has a chance to pass because it’s critical to the state to get more students reading on grade level by third grade.
Third grade, said Stephen Pruitt, SREB president, “is when students make the leap from learning to read to reading to learn.” And, “Education is the key to getting out of poverty.”
Political analyst Bill Crane said school-safety proposals have a better chance of becoming law than a dyslexia package. “Millar has a history of niche legislation and it will need him working it to get to get this bill passed,” he said.
The state has already allocated $16 million for school safety and may well put more into it. Millar estimates dyslexia screening will cost about $8 per child, which will come to $1 million.
“It doesn’t have to be either or,” said Millar. “With a $25 billion budget, the state can fund both.”
No matter what happens in the 2019 session, dyslexia advocates say any exposure is a plus.
“Lots of people compare this issue to autism. Before it was brought to the forefront, there wasn’t a lot of knowledge about it,” said Robertson, of the Decoding Dyslexia group. “Dyslexia can have a similar outcome. The Department of Education is willing to do what needs to be done. They just need authority from the General Assembly.”
Why it matters
Reading is the cornerstone for education. Dyslexia, perhaps the most common reading disorder keeps people from being effective readers. That affects every aspect of learning which subsequently can lead to behavioral issues, and, later in life, unemployment.
Nationally, only 34 percent of 4th graders scored at or above Proficient on the 2013 NAEP test.
Legislation providing screening, early intervention and teacher training can have an impact on student success and quality of life.
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