Dyslexia is a learning disorder which affects people in regards with their reading comprehension and how they interpret words, letters or other symbols. It could have an impact on people of all ages and from all walks of life according to British Dyslexia. It is a very common condition that affects how people process and interpret written information.
A person with dyslexia faces difficulty in decoding the words and lacks phonological awareness, verbal memory, and verbal processing speed. It is imperative to be able to recognize a dyslexic person at an early age. To be able to give support to learning and what possible strategies that could help them overcome their deficiency.
According to Journal Express, these are the discussion that occurred at the meeting of the Knoxville School Board.
The Northstar and West Elementary school teacher, Jennifer Lambirth gave a power point using Orton-Gillingham Strategies, in regards to how children with dyslexia could be able to overcome this problem.
Lambirth said the non-impaired use three parts of their brain when reading, and a person with dyslexia could only use one part of it. One out of five people has some form of dyslexia ranging from mild to profound which is the most severe diagnosis. She also said that dyslexia is a very common problem but still not identified in schools, which is crucial to get early detection to be able to solve this reading crisis.
Lambirth continued that students with dyslexia have a high IQ, but their reading never catches up instead it stays quiet.
A writing exercise is given to anyone who wants to participate. Using their non-dominate hand, participants were given three sentences. Mostly people who attended felt a sense of anxiety when they were unable to keep up. Lambirth said that this is also the same with a dyslexic person.
Slides were shown of kids in the Barton program, which is to help children with reading and writing disorders.
One of the students said that he used to hate reading, but now he likes to read.
Lambirth stated that the biggest accommodation for students with dyslexia is time. It is impossible for a student to break his reading disability in one day; it can take years to break it. She also said that it takes time and teachers should be given more information to help students with dyslexia. To be able to educate the teachers and get the best materials such as Barton's program.
Public comments were given before the presentation. Jennifer Johnston defended the Barton program. She said that it worked, and her two children that tested out of special education, directly resulting from the dyslexia program
Paula Sandmeier also commented that she was pleased with the process. She also said that the program is not available in the summer, requiring her to find a private tutor. She added that not everyone is financially capable of getting tutoring during the summer months. She feels that a summer program could be implemented to help low-income families to be able to afford it.
Knoxville School Board had an open discussion on the issue.
Larissa Van Donselaar, one of the board member, said that low is very behind on this topic with treating dyslexia. She also stated that they are not seeing the full potential of their students.
Superintendent Cassie Pearson said reading and learning problems could come from more than just dyslexia. To deal with the issue of dyslexia Person added that they don't want to be narrow in their strategies. Instead they need to be more encompassing.
Pearson said that long term solutions need to come up for the district. Parents need to know and be educated on the Baron program. She also added that this would be the first of a lot of information on this topic, and it would be discussed next year.
The Twin Cedars Golf agreement was approved after the discussion of dyslexia on the condition that it does not move the Knoxville School District to a different class. The Cedar Rapids CDS Special Ed Program was also approved.
