Acadia Connor, of Lexington, along with several other members of Learning Ally’s Youth Examples of Self-Advocacy, presented testimony in support of pending dyslexia legislation on July 11 at the Statehouse.

The legislation includes early screening for dyslexia so that children can receive the additional help they need before falling behind their peers.

The Joint Committee on Education heard testimony on four bills dealing with dyslexia: S.294 filed by Sen. Barbara L’Italien, H.2872 filed by Rep. Alice Peisch, S.313 filed by Sen. Bruce Tarr, and H.330 filed by Rep. Chris Walsh. Each bill has roughly 40 co-sponsors, and each one takes a different approach to screening.

Speaking in front of an overflowing room, Connor, who will be attending Skidmore College this fall, testified before the committee about her experience in school.

“Two months into sixth-grade I hit a wall. My self-confidence and motivation plummeted,” Connor told the committee. “Luckily my English teacher noticed the prevalent signs of dyslexia and my parents could afford the thousands of dollars to get me privately tested and provide me with the outside tutors until the IEP was in place. I was relieved to heave something solid to explain my struggling. The outside support came with missing many social opportunities and being a normal kid”.

Also testifying at the hearing were leading researchers, medical professionals and educators. Dr. Melissa Orkin, a program director at the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University, said early identification of dyslexia is critical and cited research that showed that dyslexic students who receive an intervention in first grade make twice the gains of their second- and third-grade peers who received the same intervention.

According to Decoding Dyslexia Massachusetts, the rate of occurrence of dyslexia in the American population is between 10 percent and 17 percent, and 80 percent of special education students in Massachusetts “have dyslexia but schools do not have the current most informed understanding of dyslexia and do not identify it or miscatergorize it.”

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke defines dyslexia as “a brain-based type of learning disability that specifically impairs a person’s ability to read. These individuals typically read at levels significantly lower than expected despite having normal intelligence.”

Supporters of the bills said it is important to screen children for dyslexia at an early age because a child who is struggling to read is not necessarily unintelligent, and that the child’s brain may understand letters and numbers differently and benefit from another method of learning to read and write.

“We think it is important to know that it is a disorder of neurobiological origin and that children are stepping into the first day of kindergarten with a less optimal brain to learn to read,” said Dr. Nadine Gaab, an associate professor of pediatrics at Boston children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and faculty member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “There is no reason to wait until the third, fourth, fifth grade to give them a diagnosis and access to resources.”

Dr. Tiffany Hogan, director of the Speech and Language Literacy Lab at the Mass General Hospital Institute, said all but 13 states have laws to screen students for dyslexia and provide training so teachers can more effectively help students with dyslexia. The cost of those screenings and training, she said, is worth it.

“One fact is clear from all my work with these students, and that is the small cost of effective screening and teacher education far outweighs the costs, the years of struggles to learn to read, and a higher than expected rate of high school dropout, juvenile delinquincy and suicide,” Hogan said. “It’s the old adage — an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

The Youth Examples of Self-Advocacy program, or YES!, trains students with learning differences to build upon their strengths and accommodate their weaknesses. YES! ambassadors mentor younger students, helping them build confidence and providing them with tools to become self-advocates. As a YES! ambassador, students in grades 6-12 have the opportunity to support other students by leading YES! workshops, participating in Q&A sessions, demonstrating assistive technology and empowering other students to advocate for themselves.

Connor is a graduating ambassador of the YES! program.

For more information: https://1in5.learningally.org/YES-Program.