What is dyslexia?
Here’s the definition of dyslexia developed by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and adopted by many state education codes.
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.
Key signs of dyslexia
Difficulties with phonological processing—such as phonemic awareness and decoding skills—are hallmark characteristics of dyslexia.
Key signs also include difficulty with:
- Understanding the sounds in words
- Reading fluently
- Spelling, rhyming, and sequencing information
- Finding the right words when speaking
Prevalence of dyslexia
According to the IDA, between 15 and 20 percent of the U.S. population exhibits characteristics of dyslexia. With this in mind, it’s crucial educators have dyslexia resources that help all of their students be successful.
Importance of early identification and early intervention
Research shows that students who struggle to read in third grade are at high risk of continued struggle … and academic failure. And according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 33 percent of U.S. fourth graders are proficient in reading. We need to help students with dyslexia, and we need to start early.
Dyslexia can’t be “cured,” but it can be identified and successfully addressed, starting as early as kindergarten. Students with dyslexia do have the potential to read at grade level when they have access to early intervention, targeted supports, and a structured curriculum. A University of Washington study found that only eight weeks of specialized instruction strengthened students’ neural circuitry—and improved reading performance.
Students establish reading trajectories early. Without intervention, readers on a low trajectory tend to stay on that trajectory or fall further behind. Being on grade level by the third grade is widely considered the most important predictor of high school graduation and college and career readiness. (Good, Guba, & Kaminski, 2001; Morgan, Farkas, & Wu, 2011; Shaywitz, Escobar, Shaywitz, Fletcher, & Makuch, 1992).
The later the onset of intervention, the lower the odds that struggling readers will become proficient readers (Torgesen, 2000). Response to intervention (RTI) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) are built on research in prevention and early intervention and designed to help educators implement strong literacy systems. The screening and progress-monitoring data they provide enable educators to design instruction and intervention that prevent difficulties and close skill gaps for students.
Without early, intensive intervention, struggling readers won’t catch up to their average-performing peers. In fact, the gap between good and poor readers widens over time. (Adams, 1990; Good et al., 2001; National Research Council, 1998; Stanovich, 1986).
What dyslexia looks like
Signs of dyslexia may emerge before children start school, but they become more apparent in the classroom.
They may include the following:
- Delay in learning tasks such as tying shoes and telling time
- Difficulty expressing oneself
- Inattentiveness, distractibility
- Difficulty with following directions
- Left-right confusion
- Difficulty learning alphabet, times tables, song lyrics
- Difficulty with rhyming
- Poor playground skills
- Difficulty learning to read
- Mixing orders of letters or numbers when writing
- Reversing letters or numbers
Dyslexia legislation across the United States
Recent efforts to increase awareness of and protections for those with dyslexia and other reading difficulties have triggered major shifts in state-level educational legislation. According to the National Center on Improving Literacy, 49 states have passed laws addressing dyslexia in public schools. Common themes in the legislation:
- Increased emphasis on intervention
- Dyslexia screening procedures
- Adoption of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)
- The use of explicit instruction
- Changes to teacher preparation and training
- Establishing rights for individuals with dyslexia (e.g., creating state task forces to study educational issues/needs)
- Preventing the use of dyslexia screening requirements to supplant or postpone IDEA or Section 504 eligibility determination process.
How does mCLASS help you screen for students at risk?
Amplify’s mCLASS system includes DIBELS® 8th Edition’s teacher-administered one-minute measures and other built-in dyslexia screeners, as well as intervention and robust reports for teachers and administrators. It’s all you need to monitor and support every student in your classroom.
The most critical early reading skills—including phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, and oral reading fluency (Good, Simmons, & Kame’enui, 2001; National Reading Panel, 2000; Torgesen, 2002)—are best measured through direct observation. This is a key feature of mCLASS’s content validity. Early literacy skills, defined as the ability to translate letters to sounds and combine sounds to read and comprehend, are directly measured in mCLASS through a student’s active production of sounds and words, ultimately followed by reading and demonstrating comprehension
Groups driving change
The following organizations advocate for dyslexia legislation, supports, and other early literacy efforts:
Decoding Dyslexia is a national network of parent-led grassroots groups across the country, organized around the issue of equity and concerned about limited access to educational opportunities for all students, including those at risk for dyslexia in the public education system. Through Decoding Dyslexia’s 50 state chapters, tireless parent leaders work to share dyslexia resources, raise awareness, remediate and support students with dyslexia, inform policy makers on best practices to identify at-risk students, advocate for the drafting and passage of state policies, and empower families to support equity for all children.
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is a non-profit education and advocacy organization devoted to issues surrounding dyslexia. Serving individuals with dyslexia, their families, and professionals in the field, the IDA provides information about dyslexia on its website, publishes a peer-reviewed scientific journal called Annals of Dyslexia, and provides referral services to individuals and professionals who use the federal legislative systems to advocate for individuals with dyslexia.
The University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning—a UO College of Education research and outreach center that develops educational interventions and assessment tools—developed DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills). DIBELS is a research-backed instrument for evaluating reading in kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms. In developing DIBELS 8th Edition (University of Oregon, 2018), the Center on Teaching and Learning made significant efforts to ensure that the measures meet state-level dyslexia screening requirements and help maximize testing efficiencies for schools.
The National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL) is a partnership among literacy experts, university researchers, and technical assistance providers, with funding from the United States Department of Education. Its mission is to increase access to, and use of, evidence-based approaches to screen, identify, and teach students with literacy-related disabilities, including dyslexia.