I Support the ~20% of Students in ICSD Who are Struggling Readers

A large number of students in the Ithaca Community are struggling readers. We want parents to unite and advocate for improvements in the system.

Background
Reading disabilities effect around 20% of the population with 80% of those struggling readers being dyslexic. This means that in every classroom in our district from kindergarten to twelfth grade sits 2, 3 or more children who have dyslexia. That’s a lot of kids! Many people still have the misconception that dyslexics see letters or words backwards. Dyslexia is not a visual problem, but a neurological deficit in the phonological processing of the brain that causes information to take alternate pathways making it more difficult to learn to read and write.

Individuals with dyslexia have average to above average IQs, yet struggle in school. It is often called a hidden disability because you can’t look at someone and tell they have dyslexia, which is one reason they have been overlooked so long. These children have the ability to learn to read when taught with an explicit, evidence based program such as an Orton Gillingham based methodology. Early intervention is critical. Studies have shown that it takes 8 times more money and 4 times as long to remediate a 4th grader who can’t read than it does to provide proper intervention to kindergarten and first grade students.

Local situation
The Ithaca City School District currently uses a wait to fail approach. They operate under the false assumption that most children will outgrow their reading disability. A diagnosis does not usually happen until a child reaches the 3rd grade wall and cannot make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Even then many children fall through the cracks by being thought of as troublemakers, lazy or low IQ. The RTI (response to intervention) reading groups that the school district provides to struggling readers in first and second grade use a guided reading approach which is proven to work with 80% of the population, but not dyslexic children. In fact, this is one of the worst approaches to teach a dyslexic to read because it reinforces bad habits such as guessing. This is a disservice to children.

What you can do
1) Sign this petition to show the school district that parents support the approximate 20% of students who are struggling readers. The more support, the better chance we have that the school district will listen and make changes in their reading policies.
2) Join our Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/IthacaParentsofStrugglingReaders/ ) to connect with and support parents of struggling readers. Your child does not have to be diagnosed as dyslexic to be part of this advocacy. We realize that not all struggling readers are dyslexic, but dyslexia makes up the highest percentage (around 80%) of struggling readers so we are using that terminology.
3) Call, write, or email your NY state assembly person to say you support Bill 4330 for teacher training in regard to dyslexia and Bill 9116 to establish a pilot program to provide early screening and intervention services for children with risk factors for dyslexia.
4) Talk. Talk to your friends, family, and community members. The more people are aware of this hidden problem in our system, the more support we will get.