Dyslexia Services

The campus’ Provider of Dyslexia Instruction (PDI) is a great point of contact if you have questions about your concerns regarding characteristics of dyslexia, appropriate dyslexia instruction methods, or how to best support a student with dyslexia in the classroom.

Campus Contact List

Yes, Judson ISD provides Certified Academic Language Therapists (CALTS) or CALTS in training that serve as Providers of Dyslexia Intervention (PDI). These individuals receive extensive special training, including a Master's degree, comprehensive therapy-level training in multisensory structured language education, a minimum of 700 clinical teaching hours, and passing a national board certification exam, all focused on effectively addressing language-based learning differences like dyslexia; this training equips them with a deep understanding of the English language structure and specialized intervention strategies.

Yes, Texas Education Code (TEC) §38.003 requires public school students to be screened for dyslexia and related disorders. This includes kindergarteners at the end of the school year and first graders by January 31.

Additionally, TEC §28.006 requires administration of a reading instrument to diagnose student reading development and comprehension to all kindergarten, first, and second grade students.

A school typically identifies a child as needing a dyslexia evaluation by observing significant difficulties in reading compared to their peers, considering their overall academic performance, analyzing data from standardized tests and classroom assessments, and taking into account concerns raised by teachers and parents, which may include a pattern of struggles with phonological awareness, decoding, fluency, and spelling, especially when interventions haven't been successful. If these concerns persist and the analysis of the data shows the student exhibits characteristics of dyslexia or other specific learning disabilities, the school will seek parental consent for a Full Individual Initial Evaluation (FIIE).

No, you do not need to wait for your child to be in a specific grade to get a dyslexia evaluation; early screening and identification of potential dyslexia is encouraged, and evaluations can be conducted at any point where concerns are present.

If your child was tested for dyslexia by a professional outside of your school district, the school is required to "consider" the results of that evaluation, but they are not obligated to accept it as definitive and must still conduct their own evaluation to determine eligibility for special education services based on criteria set out by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). We recommend that you present the outside evaluation report to the school and discuss your concerns with the special education team to determine the next steps.

The intervention program(s) available to Judson ISD students identified with dyslexia center around the Scottish Rite for Children Hospital – Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia & Learning Disorders and other State approved evidence-based Dyslexia programs. These programs use direct, explicit teaching of letter-sound relationships, syllable patterns, and meaningful word parts, and provide a great deal of successful practice of skills that have been taught. Fluency-building exercises, vocabulary instruction, language comprehension, and writing are also included in the comprehensive intervention.

Services

Intervention programs are provided in a small group and are available for students in K-12. Students receiving direct instruction in a dyslexia program are pulled out from the general education classroom.

If your child with dyslexia requires accommodations, it means that the school needs to provide specific adjustments to his/her learning environment and assessments to help him/her access the curriculum and demonstrate knowledge effectively, which could include things like extra time on tests, text-to-speech software, audiobooks, simplified instructions, and preferential seating depending on their individual needs; it's crucial to work with your child's teacher and school administration to develop an Individualized Education Program (IEP) outlining these necessary accommodations

The IEP is the written document that is completed by the ARD committee for a student receiving special education services in Texas.

Common misconceptions about dyslexia include: believing it's solely a visual problem where people see letters backwards, that it's a sign of low intelligence, that it can be "cured," that it only affects reading, that people with dyslexia are lazy, and that it only impacts children in elementary school; in reality, dyslexia is a neurological condition affecting decoding and spelling abilities, not vision, and can impact people of all ages and intelligence levels

With proper diagnosis, appropriate and timely instruction, hard work, and support from family, teachers, and others, individuals with dyslexia can succeed in school.

A review of recent evidence indicates that dysgraphia is best defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder manifested by illegible and/or inefficient handwriting due to difficulty with letter formation. This difficulty is the result of deficits in graphomotor function (hand movements used for writing) and/or storing and retrieving orthographic codes (letter forms) (Berninger, 2015). Secondary consequences may include problems with spelling and written expression. The difficulty is not solely due to lack of instruction and is not associated with other developmental or neurological conditions that involve motor impairment.

This document represents frequently asked questions (FAQs) received by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in relation to the State Board of Education’s (SBOE’s) Dyslexia Handbook: Procedures Concerning Dyslexia and Related Disorders, 2024 Update (Handbook).

• Dyslexia Texas Dyslexia Handbook: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Manual Sobre Dislexia De Texas: Preguntas Frecuentas (FAQs)

This resource from the Texas Education Agency includes information about:

• Characteristics of Dyslexia and Related Disorders
• Evaluation and Identification
• Effective Instructional Strategies
• Components of Instructional Delivery
• Instructional Accommodations and Modifications

  • Dyslexia and Related Disorders Information for Parents

  • Dislexia y trastornos relacionados: información para padre

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. Student with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing, and pronouncing words. Dyslexia affects individuals throughout their lives; however, its impact can change at different stages in a person’s life. It is referred to as a learning disability because dyslexia can make it very difficult for a student to succeed academically in the typical environment, and in its more severe forms, will qualify a student for special education, special accommodations, and extra support services.

• Dyslexia Fact Sheet
• Dislexia hoja informative

About 13–14% of the school population nationwide has an eligible disability condition that qualifies them for special education. Current studies indicate that one half of all the students who qualify for special education are classified as having a specific learning disability (SLD) (6–7%). About 85% of those students have a primary learning disability

in reading and language processing. Nevertheless, many more people—perhaps as many as 15–20% of the population as a whole—have some of the characteristics of dyslexia, including slow or inaccurate reading, poor spelling, poor writing, or mixing up similar words. These students will need a Full Initial Individual Evaluation (FIIE) to qualify for special education and likely to benefit from specifically designed instruction (SDI).

Dyslexia occurs in people of all backgrounds and intellectual levels. People with dyslexia can be very bright. They are often capable or even gifted in areas such as art, computer science, design, drama, electronics, math, mechanics, music, physics, sales, and sports. In addition, dyslexia runs in families; parents with dyslexia are very likely to have children with dyslexia.

• Dyslexia Awareness
• Concientización sobre la dyslexia

The problems displayed by individuals with dyslexia involve difficulties in acquiring and using written language. It is a myth that individuals with dyslexia “read backwards,” although spelling can look quite jumbled at times because students have trouble remembering letter symbols for sounds and forming words. Other problems experienced by people with dyslexia include the following: learning to speak; learning letters and their sounds; organizing written and spoken language; memorizing number facts; reading quickly enough to comprehend; persisting with and comprehending longer reading assignments; spelling; learning a foreign language; and correctly doing math operations. Not all students who have difficulties with these skills have dyslexia. Formal educational testing of reading, language, and writing skills is the only way to confirm a diagnosis of suspected dyslexia.

• Dyslexia Risk Factors
• Factores De Reisgo De La Dislexia

Bookshare is an accessible online library which has over 500,000 titles available to individuals with print disabilities. Through an award from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Bookshare offers free memberships to U.S. schools and qualifying U.S. students.

https://www.bookshare.org

Learning Ally has 80,000 + human-narrated audio books available to individuals with print disabilities. The materials can be delivered through internet downloads and accessed using various mainstream and assistive technology devices. Through a contract with TEA, Learning Ally offers free memberships to Texas K-12 public and charter schools with qualifying students.

https://learningally.org

The Talking Book Program (TBP) provides free library services to qualifying Texans with visual, physical, or reading disabilities. TBP is part of the National Library Service to the Blind and Print Disabled, a program administered by the Library of Congress. The TBP collection consists of more than 100,000 titles, including hundreds of titles in Spanish.

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/tbp/index.html

International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is an international non-profit education and advocacy organization devoted to issues surrounding dyslexia.

https://dyslexiaida.org