Two out of ten children in the United States are struggling with a learning disability known as dyslexia. Dyslexia is a disability where the individual would have a hard time in processing words which includes difficulty in reading, spelling, and writing.
Dyslexia is not a lack of intelligence, not having a low IQ, but a difficulty in processing a group of letters according to NPR. Dyslexia Association mentioned that children with dyslexia would suffer from poor spelling, lack of fluency, reading slowly with several mistakes.
Dyslexia is being recognized as a learning disability in most schools in New Jersey, as per NJ Spotlight. The parents pleaded to require public schools to help a student with reading disorder, wherein they submitted three bills which included:
- Putting the definition of dyslexia in state regulations
- Requiring reading teachers to get training in learning disorders, including dyslexia
- Push for dyslexia screening among students
"The word is coming out in discussions, and people referring to it now, that is a step in the right direction," Liz Barnes, one of the founders of DD-NJ said. "It's a slow start, but a start."
Parents already submitted the bill in 2013 for children with dyslexia with their aim to raise awareness and get a proper education for individuals with the learning disability. Though they have been doing their best to expedite the process of having the bill enforced, it is still being studied at a slow pace.
Parents, school organizations and teachers need to be more aggressive in pushing for dyslexia assistance in terms of providing quality education. The education system is still pushing for more options in terms of helping children with dyslexia cope with the regular school requirements.
"People are saying the word dyslexia now," Alison Pankowski, a reading specialist in Montgomery said. "There are different comfort levels of putting it in IEPs ... and we're still having that discussion, but we are at least having that discussion."
