At a time when everything about education seems contentious, a bill making its way through the Indiana legislature deserves note. House Bill 1108 would change how Indiana schools treat children with learning disabilities. With final action in the Senate due soon, no one in either chamber has yet opposed it.
The bill requires all teachers – not just special education ones — to have training enabling them to identify children falling behind in school because of dyslexia, a neurological condition that affects the ability to read, write and listen. It also calls for use of a wider range of teaching methods to help students overcome their disabilities, as much evidence shows they can.
Federal data indicate that around five percent of Indiana’s schoolchildren have learning disabilities, though advocates for the new legislation claim that because so many go undetected, the proportion is much higher, perhaps twenty percent nationwide.
Whatever the case, if not properly taught, children with dyslexia are likely to do poorly in school and drop-out. High rates of dyslexia have also been found among juvenile delinquents.
Avoiding these problems requires early diagnosis and effective treatment, just what HB 1108 aims to promote. But these measures can be costly. Schools of education may need to modify their requirements and financially-pressed school districts may need to provide more training to their teachers, as well as new instructional material.
Yet, amid all the disputes over curricula, funding and governance that have beset American education in recent years, agreement on a potentially useful reform is worth celebrating.
Sources:
HB 1108
Herald-Times story about bill
Federal data
Advocate data
Drop-outs, delinquency: Sara Denise Glennon, “Juvenile delinquency, IDEA disability, and drop-out status in high school students,” Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Arizona, 2009.
