Reading is a tough subject for students to learn how to do.

If you think about

when you first began to read, you probably had some struggles at first. Every child

tends to struggle with reading at some point in their life. So if everyone struggles to

read, why are we not providing extra resources for those students who continue to

struggle? Students with dyslexia are categorized as a language-based learning

disability. According to the International Dyslexia Association, “students with dyslexia

usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing, and

pronouncing words.”

Students with dyslexia have a hard time with basic language skills, but so do

most children. When a student has reading difficulty but is not dyslexic they may have

the resource to go to a reading specialist for intervention. Students with dyslexia can go

to a reading specialist as well, but having dyslexia is having a language disability. Why

do students with dyslexia not get offered special education services? When a student is

presented as needing special education services not all get “accepted”. I never have

truly understood this reasoning as if a student needs extra services why is it a matter if

they get accepted or not. According to the National Center on Improving Literacy, “Of

those identified with a SLD, approximately 80% have dyslexia or a specific learning

disability in reading.” As we can see from these numbers, dyslexia is very common.

Since it is common, they should be provided special education services.

When we try to see the development of dyslexia over history it dates back to the

19th century. According to LDRFA, “In 1877, the German neurologist, Adolf Kussmaul,

called it “complete text blindness … although the power of sight, the intellect, and the

powers of speech are intact.” After this definition of dyslexia, it became uncommon and
not talked about until the 1960s. In the 1960s the World Federation of Neurology’s

Research Group rewrote the definition of dyslexia as, “A disorder manifested by

difficulty in learning to read despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and

socio-cultural opportunity. It is dependent upon fundamental cognitive disabilities which

are frequently of constitutional origin.” Then we come back to where we are today with

dyslexia being identified as a Specific Learning Disability, but we still have some

students not being accepted into special education services.

There are still many states fighting for more dyslexia legislation in school

systems. By being a school system and working in schools we have taken an oath to

support our students and their needs no matter what. So denying any student special

education services is not us following our oath. All students should have the equal right

to learn to the best of their ability and as educators we must do more to support them.

So I ask you to think about your school system that you are in, think about the students

that you have, and advocate for them everyday even if it is the last thing you do.
Does special education law include dyslexia?. National Center on Improving Literacy.

(2020, March 31).

https://improvingliteracy.org/ask-an-expert/does-special-education-law-include-dyslexia

Dyslexia basics. International Dyslexia Association. (2020, March 10).

https://dyslexiaida.org/dyslexia-basics/

The history of dyslexia. LDRFA. (2022, February 18).

https://www.ldrfa.org/the-history-of-dyslexia/