School administrators across Northwest Arkansas have asked legislators to clarify a law requiring early identification and services for children with symptoms of dyslexia.
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, sponsored the state's dyslexia law, Act 1294, in 2013. She has met with educators and advocates for children with dyslexia and recently received a draft copy of legislation she plans to file to respond to their concerns.
"Most of it is leaning toward making sure we have language that is clear," Elliott said.
Confusion exists across the state because the law requires school districts to have dyslexia interventionists on staff by next school year but doesn't define who can be one, said Vicki King, the Arkansas Department of Education's dyslexia specialist.
The law also states that parents have the right to seek an independent diagnosis of dyslexia for their children, that school districts should consider the evaluation and provide students with interventions from a dyslexia therapist, King said.
Dyslexia is not a vision problem, but is a word-level reading problem that often results from a deficit in how the brain processes sounds in language, King said.
Districts are in the first year of implementing the dyslexia law. For this school year, Act 1294 emphasizes the continuation of routine screenings and added indicators to the screenings to identify learning problems commonly associated with dyslexia, King said. The screenings do not provide a formal diagnosis of dyslexia but help teachers identify children who may need different types of instruction in reading, such as having more time for completing assignments, King said.
"You make adjustments," she said. "You look to see if if could be a bigger problem."
If students aren't progressing and interventions indicate the possibility of dyslexia, the law states students should be evaluated for markers of dyslexia, according to Act 1294. If students show markers of dyslexia, they must receive therapeutic services, King said. Most districts in the past identified reading problems, but did not seek to determine if dyslexia was the cause, she said.
Legal language
The law defines dyslexia therapists as individuals who are trained in state-approved dyslexia therapy programs and states that therapy should be delivered by a dyslexia therapist. It also states therapeutic services may be provided by a tutor who is a trained interventionist but does not detail when districts can use a trained tutor, interventionist or therapist, King said.
Elliott said the law uses the terms of dyslexia therapist and interventionist interchangeably in some places. Trained teachers or teacher's aides would be able to fulfill some of duties required of interventionists described in the law, but in other situations, a credentialed dyslexia therapist would be necessary.
A dyslexia therapist would be a salaried position, said Marcia Sanders, assistant director of the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative in Farmington. Becoming a therapist takes two years of training and costs about $5,500.
"No one has any issues with the need to provide for all of our children, especially those with dyslexia," Sanders said. "There are some issues in the law in the way that it was written."
Siloam Springs School District has a formal process for screening and provides increasingly intensive interventions for students who struggle in reading, said Connie Matchell, Siloam Springs curriculum director.
"I'm not sure the process we have had in the past before this law really needed to be fixed," Matchell said. "It has made us a little bit more aware overall."
The increased attention on dyslexia led the district to have a couple of instructional specialists participate in training in Little Rock on Orton-Gillingham methods that are commonly used for working with children with dyslexia, Matchell said. The district will incorporate those approaches in the regular reading instruction for kindergarten through second grade, she said.
Siloam Springs is monitoring developments with the dyslexia law, Matchell said. Additional therapists will cost money, she said.
Districts' issues
The cost of a dyslexia therapist also is a concern for Bentonville, said Tamara Gibson, executive director of instruction for Bentonville elementary and middle school students. She has heard conflicting reports on the responsibilities of the dyslexia therapist. She has questions about whether the therapist evaluates and provides programs for children for dyslexia or whether the therapist supervises and trains other teachers to provide dyslexia programs.
"I don't have a feel for how many kids might qualify for dyslexia therapy services," Gibson said. "We know that's something we're going to have to figure out."
In Bentonville, the first level of interventions for struggling readers begins with regular instruction and progresses with additional assistance intended to keep children on grade level. If those efforts don't work, teams consider referring students to specialists or for further evaluation for services.
"We are not unclear about how to get children help," Gibson said. "Children with learning disabilities in reading are getting wonderful support in reading. With the dyslexia law, they are wanting to make sure we don't let kids fall through the cracks. We feel like we have systems in place to catch kids when they are struggling."
Springdale School District is developing a job description for a dyslexia specialist in preparation for having that person in place by July 1, said Megan Witonski, an assistant superintendent for the district. The district is basing the job description on the duties of dyslexia therapists employed by school districts in other states.
She is looking forward to receiving more clarification from the Legislature, she said.
"We offer assessments, and we off therapy now for any child," Witonski said. "The thing that will really change for us is having that position."
Brenda Bernet can be reached by email at [email protected].
NW News on 01/25/2015