1. Dyslexia Legislation UCONN Critical Issues in Dyslexia Conference
Dr. Patricia Anderson
CT State Department of Education
Bureau of Special Education

2. Public Act 14-39
An Act Establishing the Office of Early Childhood, Expanding Opportunities for Early Childhood Education and Concerning Dyslexia and Special Education

3. Legislative Language
Not later than January 1, 2015, the Department of Education shall add "SLD - Dyslexia" under "Specific Learning Disabilities" in the "Primary Disability" section of the individualized education program form used by planning and placement teams for the provision of special education and related services to children requiring special education and related services.

4. Legislative Language
On and after July 1, 2006, any program of teacher preparation leading to professional certification shall include, as part of the curriculum, instruction in literacy skills and processes that reflects current research and best practices in the field of literacy training. Such instruction shall (1) be incorporated into requirements of student major and concentration, and (2) on and after July 1, 2015, include the detection and recognition of, and evidence-based interventions for, students with dyslexia.

5. CSDE Actions
Assembled an internal Specific Learning Disabilities/Dyslexia (SLD/Dyslexia) advisory group to address the requirements of the legislation and consider the needs of the field regarding the upcoming change in the “Primary Disability” section of the IEP document.
Compiled an external SLD/Dyslexia Workgroup comprised of a wide range of stakeholders that met monthly for five meetings to develop statewide guidance and recommendations.

6. CSDE Actions
Revised IEP document to include “SLD/Dyslexia” in the Primary Disability section on page one
Revised IEP Manual
Communicated changes to electronic IEP vendors
Revised SEDAC data collection file layout

8. SLD/Dyslexia Workgroup Objectives
Explored issues surrounding the identification and instruction of students with SLD/Dyslexia
Reviewed and identified a shared understanding and definition of “dyslexia”
Identified pertinent legislation and implementation practices from other states
Discussed evidence-based practices for the screening, identification, and instruction of students with SLD/Dyslexia

9. Frequently Asked Questions – (FAQs)
What is Dyslexia?
Who can identify a child with a Specific Learning Disability (SLD)/Dyslexia?
What is a comprehensive evaluation for a child suspected of having SLD/Dyslexia?
Is a child identified with SLD/Dyslexia automatically qualified for special education services?
What is appropriate specialized instruction for a student with SLD/Dyslexia?

10. Frequently Asked Questions – (FAQs)
SLD/Dyslexia FAQs are located under “Eligibility Documents” following the Guidelines on Identifying Children with Learning Disabilities: #Elig
The responses to the FAQs are based on information from the LD Guidelines and updated with new research and input from the SLD/Dyslexia Workgroup.
The complete CSDE Working Definition of Dyslexia can be found as the response to the first FAQ - “What is Dyslexia.”
The IEP Manual contains the IDEA definition of specific learning disabilities and the initial segment of the CSDE Working Definition of Dyslexia.

11. Substitute Bill No. 1054
Designation of a CSDE employee to provide information and assistance to LEAs and parents regarding dyslexia.
On and after July 1, 2015 not fewer than 12 clock hours of instruction in the detection and recognition of, and evidence-based structured literacy interventions for students with dyslexia.
Inservice training on the detection and recognition of and evidence-based structured literacy interventions for students with dyslexia.

12. Substitute Bill No. 1054
On or before January 1, 2016, CSDE shall develop or approve reading assessments Commencing as of July 1, 2016 to identify students in K – 3 who are below proficiency in reading, provided any reading assessments developed or approved by the department include frequent screening and progress monitoring of students.
Such reading assessments shall ) assist in identifying, in whole or in part, students at risk for dyslexia

13. Southern Connecticut State University
Contributions of Speech-Language Pathologists to Reading Assessment and Intervention on Interdisciplinary Teams
Richard P. Zipoli, Jr.
Southern Connecticut State University

14. Language Foundations Five Domains of Language
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
Pragmatics
sound system
word structure and parts
word order in sentences
meaning
social use and discourse skills

15. Simple View of Reading Gough & Tunmer, 1986
Reading Comprehension = Decoding x Linguistic Comprehension

16. Subgroups of Poor Readers Based on Catts & Kahmi, 2005
Poor Decoding and Poor Comprehension
Poor Comprehension
Poor Decoding

17. Subgroups of Poor Readers Catts, Hogan, & Adolf, 2005
Dyslexia
Deficits in word recognition
Spelling difficulties
Relatively good listening comprehension
Often present with underlying deficits in phonological awareness

18. Subgroups of Poor Readers Catts, Hogan, & Adolf, 2005
2. Specific Comprehension Deficit
Deficits in listening comprehension
Relatively good word recognition
3. Mixed Reading Disability
Deficits in word recognition and listening comprehension

19. Example of a Comprehensive, Interdisciplinary Evaluation Roberts & Scott, 2006, p. 139
Area
Component
Measure
Administrator*
* varies based on team members, setting, etc.
Reading
Spelling
Writing
Phonological Processing
Oral Language
Single-word decoding
Nonword reading
Oral reading fluency
Passage comprehension
Product measures
Process measures
Phonological awareness
Phonological memory
Rapid naming
Receptive language
Expressive language
Vocabulary
Narrative discourse
TOWRE
WDRB: Word attack GORT
WDRB: Passage CBM
Portfolio
CTOPP
CELF-4
EVT
SNAP
Reading specialist Reading specialist Reading specialist Reading specialist Classroom teacher Classroom teacher Classroom teacher
SLP
NOT intended to be prescriptive

20. Transition services
CT State Dept of Ed Secondary Transition Resource Page:
National Technical Assistance Center for Transtion

21. Adolescents with Reading Difficulties
Adolescents’ needs and pathways to literacy vary from their younger counterparts (O’Brien & Dillon, 2014)
Developmental differences
School histories – compromised assent to learn
Reading histories – differential practice, confidence motivation & engagement
Intervention histories –artifacts of learned approaches (unintended consequences)

22. Addressing Adolescent Difficulties
Student-created and student-selected text (comprehensible input)
Action-oriented reading and writing
Support for discourse and sentence-level cues
Meaning and syntactic cueing systems
Social reasons for reading
Opportunities for high-success experiences

23. A “first language” foundation for reading: engaged reading experiences
Independent reading proficiency
Engaged reading experiences
Modified from Cummins’ iceberg model of interdependence)_,

24. The Engagement Model of Reading Development
Guthrie, 2014
Motivation in
Reading*
Components:
Intrinsic
Efficacy
Value
Social
Classroom
Instruction
& Teaching
Reading
Engagement
Reading
Achievement
Components:
Effort
Enthusiasm
Persistence
Self-regulation
Components:
Reasoning
Literal
Fluency
Vocabulary
This is what it takes to be a reader.
Most instruction focuses only on the black factors & ignores the others - we end up with students that have skills, but are not readers...with skill practice that has no purpose and therefore doesn't add up to anything
The more readers struggle with the fundamentals, the less attention we generally pay to affective factors, though these may in fact become even more important for their success
Components:
Relevance/choice
Success
Importance
Collaboration
Volume
Cognition in
Reading
Components:
Word rec.
Fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension
*Ongoing research suggests this is all true of writing as well!