Cape schools prepare for dyslexia screenings

State requirements for schools to screen for dyslexia are changing with the new school year, and the Cape Girardeau School District is getting ready.

Mandy Keys, assistant superintendent for special services, said she, deputy superintendent over elementary schools Christa Turner and director of school improvement Rae Ann Alpers collaborated to create the plan.

Keys stressed the school district is already using tools to screen for dyslexia � the main difference parents and students will see is the process once signs of dyslexia are identified.

Parents will be invited into the discussion for student goals, how to work on them, and the amount of time to spend � within certain parameters, Keys said.

�We already had a screener in place,� Keys said, so that will not change.

Students would be tested three times a year, and now, per standards set by the Missouri Department of Early and Secondary Education, or DESE, the district will determine which students fall in the bottom 15 percent of scores on the screener.

�Those will be the ones who will receive an at-risk-for-dyslexia plan or intervention plan � that�s what we�re calling it in our district,� Keys said.

DESE doesn�t specify in the new requirements how districts arrive at their numbers. Keys said those requirements might have caused undue expense to the districts.

Cape Girardeau public schools use the i-Ready adaptive diagnotistic assessment, Keys said, and that will continue.

At the beginning of the school year, parents will receive a letter explaining the new requirements, what the screenings will look like and what the protocol will look like if a student qualifies for extra help.

It�s important to remember other districts� approaches may look slightly different, Keys said, but this is a statewide effort � every district will need to address dyslexia.

The district will not be diagnosing students with dyslexia, Keys added.

�All we�re doing is identifying a list of characteristics that a student at risk for dyslexia would have,� she said.

And, Keys said, although she is over special services, the statewide initiative is regular-education based.

The screener covers different areas for students in kindergarten through third grade, Keys said, including understanding relationships between letters, words and sounds; and knowledge of the alphabet.

�We�ve been working on it for a year, and we are excited about that,� Keys said, noting as soon as requirements were discussed last year, the district began looking into solutions.

The Regional Professional Development Center on Southeast Missouri State University�s campus in Cape Girardeau has been coordinating with their committee, Keys said, and that�s a resource other districts could use as well.

Certified teachers are also now required to receive two hours of training on the screening each year, Keys said.

State Rep. Kathy Swan introduced a house bill in 2016 that addressed screening requirements. Swan then added 70 percent of young people in the juvenile-detention system have some form of dyslexia, along with 90 percent of the prison population.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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