Dyslexia and Teachers in a World with No Special Education
What happens to students with dyslexia and learning disabilities when there are no more special education services?
This from a teacher in Mississippi: I am an Inclusion teacher at my son’s high school. Our special ed department lost a certified position and two paraprofessional positions. Students receive services, but we have cut our presence in all but core classes. —National Center for Children with Learning Disabilities who claim there is a 52 percent cut in special education. For more see HERE.
When it comes to teacher education, many parents and the National Center on Learning Disabilities (NCLD) supported Sen. Cassidy’s (R-LA) push for an amendment to ESEA. This was to provide federal funds towards professional development for teachers to teach and identify students with dyslexia. While the bill did not pass, many parents still support his ideas.
Certainly, as parents, educators and citizens we should be troubled that we have not evolved to a better place when it comes to serving students with disabilities including dyslexia and learning disabilities. To witness an exchange such as the one between Sen. Cassidy and Education Secretary Arne Duncan is troublesome. HERE.
But while I can appreciate Sen. Cassidy’s attention to the area of learning disabilities, and more specifically dyslexia, I did not support this amendment or the thinking behind it and here is why.
First
It is not true that teachers have never had training to work with students with dyslexia or learning disabilities. It used to be that students with learning disabilities would be Dyslexia and Teachers in a World with No Special Education: