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Dyslexia Screening
With the passage of IC 20-35.5, et seq., as created by SEA 217 (2018) in April 2018, Indiana school corporations and charter school’s reading plans must now include screening for dyslexia risk factors and indicators. If a student is determined to be at-risk for dyslexia, the school will administer an additional dyslexia screener, which will identify whether or not the student needs to be referred for further testing. It also requires schools to use specific response to intervention processes if screeners indicate certain characteristics of dyslexia are present. Parents/Guardians click here to read the Notification Letter for Dyslexia Screenings.
Dyslexia as defined by IC 20-18-2-3.5 is a specific learning disability that:
(1) is neurological in origin and characterized by:
(A) difficulties with accurate or fluent word recognition; and
(B) poor spelling and decoding abilities;
(2) typically results from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction;
(3) may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge; and
(4) may require the provision of special education services after an eligibility determination is made in accordance with 511 IAC 7-40.
Take a moment to read the following. How was that? Frustrating? Slow? What were those sentences about? They're actually a simulation of the experience of dyslexia, designed to make you decode each word. Those with dyslexia experience that laborious pace every time they read. When most people think of dyslexia, they think of seeing letters and words backwards, like seeing "b" as "d" and vice versa, or they might think people with dyslexia see "saw" as "was".
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The truth is people with dyslexia see things the same way as everyone else. Dyslexia is caused by a phonological processing problem, meaning people affected by it have trouble not with seeing language but with manipulating it. For example, if you heard the word cat and then someone asked you, "Remove the 'c'," what word would you have left? At. This can be difficult for those with dyslexia. Given a word in isolation, like fantastic, students with dyslexia need to break the word
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into parts to read it: fan, tas, tic. Time spent decoding makes it hard to keep up with peers and gain sufficient comprehension. Spelling words phonetically, like s-t-i-k for stick, and f-r-e-n-s for friends is also common. These difficulties are more widespread and varied than commonly imagined. Dyslexia affects up to one in five people. It occurs on a continuum. One person might have mild dyslexia while the next person has a profound case of it. Dyslexia also runs in families. It's common to see one family member
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who has trouble spelling, while another family member has severe difficulty decoding even one syllable words, like catch. The continuum and distribution of dyslexia suggests a broader principle to bear in mind as we look at how the brains of those with dyslexia process language. Neurodiversity is the idea that because all our brains show differences in structure and function, we shouldn't be so quick to label every deviation from "the norm" as a pathological disorder or dismiss people living with these variations
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as "defective." People with neurobiological variations like dyslexia, including such creative and inventive individuals as Picasso, Muhammad Ali, Whoopi Goldberg, Steven Spielberg, and Cher, clearly have every capacity to be brilliant and successful in life. So, here's the special way the brains of those with dyslexia work. The brain is divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere is generally in charge of language and, ultimately, reading, while the right typically handles spatial activities.
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fMRI studies have found that the brains of those with dyslexia rely more on the right hemisphere and frontal lobe than the brains of those without it. This means, when they read a word, it takes a longer trip through their brain and can get delayed in the frontal lobe. Because of this neurobiological glitch, they read with more difficulty. But those with dyslexia can physically change their brain and improve their reading with an intensive, multi-sensory intervention that breaks the language down
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and teaches the reader to decode based on syllable types and spelling rules. The brains of those with dyslexia begin using the left hemisphere more efficiently while reading, and their reading improves. The intervention works because it locates dyslexia appropriately as a functional variation in the brain, which, naturally, shows all sorts of variations from one person to another. Neurodiversity emphasizes this spectrum of brain function in all humans and suggests that to better understand the perspectives
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of those around us, we should try not only to see the world through their eyes but understand it through their brains.
In accordance with IC-20-35.5-6-2, Penn-Harris-Madison now has an authorized reading specialist trained in dyslexia. That person is Lisa Russell. Click here to email Lisa Russell.
In accordance with the law, each school corporation and charter school shall report on the school corporation or charter school’s website the following information:
What intervention programs are used to assist students with characteristics of dyslexia?
Dyslexia intervention programs must have explicit direction and instruction that is systematic, sequential, and cumulative. Instruction that follows a logical plan of presenting the alphabetic principle that targets the specific needs of the student without presuming prior skills or knowledge of the student. It must use meaning based instruction that is directed at purposeful reading and writing. Instruction that incorporates the simultaneous use of two (2) or more sensory pathways during the presentation of instruction and student practice. It is also important to keep in mind that the dyslexia program should be research based and be offered in a setting that also teaches the five (5) components of literacy.
The Wilson Fundations program is P-H-M’s mandatory phonics and spelling curriculum in grades K-2 that meets these requirements. Every K-2 classroom does 30 minutes of Fundations daily.
In the 2022-2023 school year, all 2,456 kindergarten through second grade P-H-M students receive this Tier 1 instruction in their classrooms daily. This systematic, sequential, and cumulative instruction is also used in small group intervention in tier 2 and tier 3 small groups as needed, along with Heggerty Phonemic Awareness curriculum and the HearBuilder and MVRC (Mindplay Virtual Reading Coach) computer based interventions.
How many students received dyslexia interventions during the 2022-2023 school year?
In the 2022-2023 school year, P-H-M had 486 students working in small groups with Reading Specialists, interventionist or a certified teacher, for an intense focus on phonological awareness and phonics through the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness and Fundations curriculum.
How many students were identified with dyslexia during the 2022-2023 school year?
During the 2023-2023 school year 2,4661 students across K-12th grade were administered the Universal Screener (DIBELS 8th) screener, and 22 students were administered the Level 1 diagnostic screener (Mindplay Screener for Kindergarten and NWEA Skills Checklist for 1st-12th). 0 Students were identified with dyslexia during the 22-23 school year.
Please contact Lisa Russell with any questions you may have. Click here to email Lisa Russell.
Click here to visit the IDOE website for more information on the Indiana dyslexia law.