Dylsexia (Carmel version)
Early Literacy Intervention and Indiana Dyslexia Legislation
Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, Indiana’s public and charter schools must meet added requirements to identify, as early as possible, struggling readers who show risk factors for dyslexia. Schools must provide systematic, sequential, and multisensory instruction to meet these students’ needs. All students in grades kindergarten through second grade will undergo universal screeners to check their skills in six different areas. These areas are: phonological and phonemic awareness (ability to separate and change sounds in words), alphabet knowledge (name different letters), sound symbol relationship (phonics), decoding (reading), rapid naming (quickly name common objects), and encoding (spelling). Students who fall below a set score or benchmark on the universal screener will be considered by their school to be “at risk” or “at some risk” for the characteristics of dyslexia. Students who are considered “at risk” or “at some risk” will receive targeted, intensive instruction to grow their foundational literacy skills.
Dyslexia as defined by IC 20-18-2-3.5 is a specific learning disability that:
- is neurological in origin and characterized by:
- difficulties with accurate or fluent word recognition; and
- poor spelling and encoding abilities;
- 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;
- may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge; and
- may require the provision of special education services after an eligibility determination is made in accordance with 511 IAC 7-40.
In accordance with this 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 WHO SHOW RISK FACTORS FOR DYSLEXIA?
Students in SACS who need intervention in foundational literacy skills receive additional direct, explicit, and multisensory instruction utilizing the following programs:
- Orton-Gillingham
- Wilson Just Words Intervention
- Wilson Reading System
- Rewards
- UFLI
- Phonics and Spelling through Phoneme-Grapheme Mapping
HOW MANY STUDENTS RECEIVED A DYSLEXIA INTERVENTION DURING THE 2024-2025 SCHOOL YEAR?
In grades K-2, 179 students, or 6% of all K-2 students, received a flag indicating potential risk factors for dyslexia on the dyslexia screener. These students received targeted intervention in literacy skills related to dyslexia (phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, alphabet knowledge, and/or encoding).