Rep. Swan seeks dyslexia screenings for children

Although one in five children struggles with some form of dyslexia, Missouri doesn’t have a program in place to screen them for those reading difficulties.

It’s a state of affairs state Rep. Kathy Swan, R-Cape Girardeau, is trying to change with House Bill 2379.

“We’re doing a significant disservice to 20 percent of the population who suffer from dyslexia or some form of it by not screening and not making simple accommodations for them at school,” she said.

Swan introduced the bill in late January. It passed the House overwhelmingly earlier this month, with 142 “aye” votes and only nine voting against it.

It’s headed for a Senate committee hearing as early as Wednesday.

If the bill passes out of committee and is approved by the Senate, a Dyslexia Task Force will meet by October and make recommendations to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. DESE then will develop guidelines on when children should be screened and the training teachers will need to accommodate them.

Accommodations can be as simple as giving extra time during testing or reading questions aloud for affected students.

When dyslexia is not caught in time, students can experience difficulties throughout their lives, Swan said.

She also said 70 percent of youngsters in the juvenile-detention system have some form of dyslexia, along with 90 percent of those in the prison population.

“There is a significant number of those in substance-abuse programs who have some form of dyslexia as well,” she said.

Kim Stuckey, a dyslexia specialist at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said not only does Missouri not have any kind of intervention system for dyslexics, but many of them do not qualify for special-education services because they generally are considered too bright.

While some might struggle profoundly with reading, others compensate for their difficulties and “fly under the radar.”

“All of these children look a little different, and that can lead to the difficulty in pinpointing these kiddos in the classroom,” Stuckey said.

One of the early warning signs a child is dyslexic is difficulty with language, including sounds and words that rhyme. Spelling problems and slow, choppy and painful reading are common as well.

“Most children learn to read to a point ... but by the time they reach third grade, they’ve passed the point of learning to read to reading to learn,” she said.

If a child already is behind at that stage, difficulties can multiply in all other subject areas, setting him or her up for a lack of success in school and, essentially, in life.

Stuckey’s job will be to help determine what screening process will be used statewide and what kind of training teachers receive.

If HB 2379 becomes law, the Dyslexia Task Force will meet no later than October.

The DESE guidelines will be implemented by Dec. 21, 2017.

ljones@semissourian.com

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