There are plenty of big bills making news in the legislature but to the parents of dyslexic children, SB 48, which the House passed on Monday, might be the biggest of the session. SB 48 directs the Department of Education to develop policies to refer kids from kindergarten through 3rd grade suspected of having dyslexia or other similar disorders for screening. Estimates shows that approximately 1 in 5 students are affected by some form of dyslexia.
The bill also lays out several other measures for the Department of Education to assist dyslexic students.
Not only does it direct the department to develop referral policies but it also requires the department to enhance identification measures.
Teachers will also receive additional training and professional development opportunities to help identify, understand and work with dyslexic students.
The Department of Education will also create a dyslexia informational handbook no later than December 1 of this year. The Superintendent is also required to establish a three-year pilot program to evaluate the effectiveness of early reading assistance programs.
Dyslexia comes in a number of forms, it is often a “catch-all” term used by laypeople that applies to a number of different conditions: aphasia – the partial or total loss of the ability to communicate verbally or through written word, dyscalculia – the inability to understand the meaning of numbers, dysgraphia – difficulty in the retaining the muscle memory that most people automatically use in writing letters or numbers, and finally, dyslexia – neurological in origin, dyslexia is characterized by difficulty with accurate or fluent word recognition.
Dyslexia often results in poor spelling and decoding abilities, something that can severely inhibit students from the youngest of ages. Senator Zahra Karinshak (D-48 Duluth) was a co-sponsor of the bill and talked on the House floor about her own struggles with dyslexia as a child, at a time when there were few resources available.
“I stand before you a person of dyslexia. And the only reason I stand before you is through the work of my mother. Back when I was little, there were no resources at all for dyslexic children. I struggled immensely,” said Karinshak. “I could not read until about the 5th grade. It was extremely difficult and I cannot stress how much appreciation I have for my mother and I hope to pass that on to all of Georgia’s children to help move Georgia’s children forward.”
Karinshak noted that sufferers from dyslexia are frequently stuck in poverty and her efforts are aimed at helping to combat that cycle.
To learn much more about dyslexia and what else the bill will do for students suffering from it, see here:
