House Bill 2778 - Dyslexia
by Erin Dugan
February 14, 2008
My name is Erin Dugan. I am the Director of Special Services for the Olathe School District. Thank you for this opportunity to provided testimony on “AN ACT concerning school districts related to students with Dyslexia.” I represent the Olathe School District as an opposing party with respect to House Bill 2778.
As the Director of Special Education Services in the Olathe School District I am a passionate advocate for all students with disabilities, regardless of the disability’s degree of severity, intensity, or incidence. Additionally, I am a passionate advocate for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal statute which provides states and school districts with the legal mandate to find, evaluate and serve students with disabilities.
This federal statute also includes mandates for parental notification and consent, timelines for evaluation, appropriate evaluations, trained evaluators, and a written plan for the provision of services and for the monitoring of those services
Included in this federal statute are 13 identified areas or categories of disability by which a student can be determined eligible and in need of special education. Students with a medical diagnosis of dyslexia can be served under the category of either “Specific Learning Disability in the area of reading” or under Other Health Impairment.”
Additionally, in Kansas, early intervening services are provided to students that demonstrate reading difficulties very early in their educational career, prior to any eligibility determination for special education. In Olathe, this starts immediately upon entering kindergarten. Evidence-based best practices in reading instruction are implemented in small group and 1:1 instructional formats for students with reading difficulties. If students do not make progress with those levels of intervention, they are referred for a special education evaluation.
Based on the above and for the following reasons, we are opposed to House Bill No. 2778
Each item in HB 2778 is addressed in existing mandates under NCLB and IDEA-04. In fact, more specificity is in place in those mandates related to research-based instructional reading programs than in HB 2778.
Kansas schools are already accountable under NCLB for the performance of their students that demonstrate a difficulty in learning to read, write, or spell, despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence and sociocultural opportunity.” Duplicative legislation is unnecessary.
HB 2778 adds additional and unnecessary costs in terms of mandated reading assessments/instruments, staff to give such assessments and additional parental notification requirements.
There will be a loss of instructional time for students not having reading difficulties while participating in such a universal screening as mandated by HB 2778.
If Kansas addresses dyslexia with separate legislation, is it prepared to address other medical diagnosis not specifically named as one of IDEA’s 13 categories? For example, ADHD, Asperger’s Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalculia?
Similar to recent requests for separate legislation in the areas of gifted, autism, and deaf and hard-of hearing, we can not support any legislation that advocates one area of disability as more worthy than another in its need for screening, training, specialists, bills of rights, specialty certifications, monetary reimbursement etc…
We support individuals with disabilities being served as individuals, addressing their unique instructional needs with matching specialized instruction and supports – not with mandated evaluations and screening based on a poorly defined medical diagnosis.
We thank you for your attention to this testimony.
