What is Dyslexia?
According to the International Dyslexia Association, "Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia refers to a cluster of symptoms, which result in people having difficulties with specific language skills, particularly reading. Students with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing, and pronouncing words."
Laws and initiatives in many states require evidence-based interventions following a structured literacy approach and grounded in the science of reading. Best practices for an effective dyslexia intervention model include early identification and teacher training to address the needs of dyslexic students and struggling readers.
How do our programs help?
Our evidence-based and unique approach develops the underlying sensory-cognitive processes of phonemic awareness, symbol imagery, and concept imagery. Through multisensory instruction, our programs integrate these critical foundational skills. Our programs are highly effective for students with dyslexia and struggling readers because instruction is intensive, explicit, systematic, diagnostic, and cumulative.
Uniquely, our programs address the imagery-language connection for reading, often a critical missing component for struggling readers. For example, many students may have already received targeted intervention in phonemic awareness and phonics skills but do not adequately address orthographic processing, fluency, and comprehension. They learn lots of rules for decoding and spelling and can sound out words with improved phonological awareness. However, the process is slow, and they have difficulty with reaching levels of word reading automaticity.
For many students, deficits in these underlying sensory-cognitive skills can be remediated, allowing them to become independent, proficient readers. And our approach, when used developmentally for students with characteristics of dyslexia, may prevent future reading difficulty.
Dyslexia Laws in the USA (courtesy of the International Dyslexia Association)
A majority of states have passed or proposed new laws to raise awareness about dyslexia. This awareness comes through increased screening, intervention programs, and teacher training. While not every state has passed dyslexia-focused legislation, there's a movement in nearly every state to legislate the educational approach to tackling dyslexia. Here's a state-by-state look at dyslexia and initiatives.
