US Senator Bill Cassidy MD (R-LA) and his wife Dr. Laura Cassidy recently met with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and dyslexia and learning disability organizations to discuss serving children with dyslexia.
It’s important to remember five things.
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- Public schools used to do more for students with learning disabilities. Resource classes, general education support, and certified teachers were a reality. It was not perfect, but it was better than what many public schools offer now.
- Public schools should have improved from that point, but they went backwards. Many believe this was intentional to forward a privatization agenda.
- DeVos gave Sen. Cassidy at least $70,200 in campaign funding, and about $4 million overall to Republicans who, in turn, supported her for the position she has now that will give her power to push vouchers.
- Sen. Cassidy and his wife have a charter school for children with dyslexia. It had an F rating, however, the school was given an extension instead of being closed.
- Ninety percent of children in America attend public schools. One in five of those children have dyslexia that needs to be addressed today…not ten, five, or even a year down the road.
A few years back, Cassidy gave Arne Duncan a snotty lecture at a senate meeting because Duncan did little for children with dyslexia. It was true. Duncan didn’t do much.
But Cassidy hasn’t made inroads to getting better programs for children with dyslexia in their public schools either.
Cassidy and Senator Mikulski (D-MD) did accomplish getting a resolution passed to call October “National Dyslexia Awareness Month” There’s nothing wrong with this, but it’s superficial. It doesn’t put programs into place in public schools.
The Every Child Succeeds Act is also, due to a push by Cassidy, supposed to support a “dyslexia-focused comprehensive center” to identify children and get evidenced-based resources to children. But how this will impact children with dyslexia and learning disabilities in their public schools is unclear.
That’s because Cassidy, like DeVos, wants privatization. They want to get rid of public schools and have charter schools. They both criticize public schools without helping the children in those schools.
With their plan, wealthy children might attend a private school for help with dyslexia (there are few of these). But most children will still be stuck in unfunded public schools that don’t serve them well. Or they will go to a second rate charter. Charters rarely have qualified teachers.
Every child has unique challenges and abilities, and children with dyslexia are no different – they simply learn differently. As many as one in five Americans experience a language-based learning disability, and too many of them do not receive the resources they need in our schools. The Department will continue to work every day to empower families with the supports and services they need in learning environments that best fit their children’s individual educational needs. I’m grateful to Sen. Bill Cassidy and Dr. Laura Cassidy for joining this discussion and for their exceptional work on this issue, and I thank all of today’s participants for the constructive exchange.
DeVos should not be critical of public schools in her role. It’s her responsibility to see that children with dyslexia get the services they need in their public schools!
She has some pie in the sky idea that she can click her heels and create vouchers to private or charter schools dealing with dyslexia that currently do not exist. Not only is Sen. Cassidy on board for her plan, with his school he profits from it!
There is no way DeVos can create programs for students with dyslexia anytime soon even if one supports vouchers.
Betsy DeVos is about tricks and no treats when it comes to dyslexia and learning disabilities.
Happy Halloween! Be careful out there!
One of the major causes of dyslexia is how a child was tauvht to read. Whole word, look see reading methods are priven to cause dyslexia. Read “Crimes of the Educators by Alex Newman and Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld.
This post is about public schools not being funded well enough, or supported, to create good programs for students with dyslexia or learning disabilities. Ninety percent of children attend those schools.
For the record, I taught phonics programs to my students with disabilities throughout the 80s and 90s. I never saw a lack of phonics in my schools. Perhaps other schools did not do phonics. But phonics has been a politically charged issue for years, all while public schools have lost more programming for students with learning disabilities.
I will add that I used other methods involving journal writing and reading books as well.
And a book called Crimes of the Educators sounds terrible to this teacher. Teachers and parents need to work together not condemn each other.
Spot on to how I felt! The closest private dyslexia school to me is a 3-hour drive one way and it cost over $36k per year to attend. A voucher won’t help me. And I don’t want a dyslexia-charter because I feel that is segregation and my child needs the least restrictive environment. Thank you, Nancy!
Thank you, Julya! The charter/segregation issue is difficult to convey to some parents–even those who fought so hard for inclusion.
Why would one fight for their child to be in a general class, but be fine in a dyslexia charter school? Such a school would be far more separate from other students than if public schools had resource classes and a continuum of services.
I will also say as I stated on FB, Betsy DeVos should have had parents like you at the meeting.
Best.
Not sure if you can view this. Usually they have a couple of free articles. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2017/11/devos_special_education_handling_bill_cassidy.html
Before dyslexia can be addressed through IEP or 504 plans it first has to be identified.
Screening for dyslexia is where the funding is needed first, Then protocols can be addressed.
I disagree. Screening is important. But children shouldn’t have to wait for help. Good screening tools already exist. This is procrastination and a way to not put programs in place.
This was not a zero sum comment. Screening tools are not being used in the schools here in NY. If you can’t identify dyslexic students how can you place them in an appropriate program. The majority of teachers I have worked with are ignorant about dyslexia and cannot begin to spot the signs that would recommend a child for screening. Oh wait, there is no screening . . .
Why aren’t screening tools being used?
I used to teach in a resource class. I taught students with reading disabilities including several with dyslexia.
There are formal and informal screening tools to identify reading disabilities.
Screening can always improve, but you can help children with what you have today.
Who are the ignorant teachers? Are they from Teach for America?
Well-trained teachers from reputable university programs are being shoved out along with special ed. programs.
Universities also used to have learning disability credentials. Dyslexia was covered here. Where LD go?
Dyslexia is a term I really do not understand at all. Most of the in service training we have had the last thirty years have focused on developing empathy in teachers for the dyslexic students. Since almost no teacher exists without some empathy, this has been a waste. If I could get some training on how to help one kid in a classroom full of thirty, I would gladly listen.
But Nancy is right, as usual. While DeVos looks for ways to privatize, the rest of us watch our numbers go up and up. It is difficult to even get to the point of wondering whether a child has a processing problem, even if teachers like me knew how to spot potential problems and differentiate between processing problems and other brain interference that might be prevalent.