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CREC Helps Educators Understand Specific Learning Disability or Dyslexia
(Hartford, CT) To help Connecticut educators better serve students with specific learning disability/dyslexia, CREC’s Technical Assistance and Brokering Services Division brought Fulbright Scholar Susan Lowell to Connecticut.
The two-day workshop was held in May, and it was Lowell’s second appearance in Connecticut this year.
Dyslexia is classified as a learning disability under state and federal special education law, and it is characterized by one’s impairment to read, write, spell, and in severe cases, speak. Often misunderstood, it is not a sign of low intelligence or low motivation, but CREC’s Alison Cianciolo says that educators must conduct comprehensive evaluations to determine the best educational plans for students with specific learning disability/dyslexia.
During Lowell’s workshops, participants learned about effective identification and instruction for individuals with specific learning disability/dyslexia. Severity can be from a mild difficulty with spelling to a significant disability in reading. Of students with learning disabilities, 80 percent have reading disabilities, and based on the findings of Sally Shaywitz’s research at Yale University, 1 in 5 have dyslexia.
Lowell says that Connecticut has progressive laws that are designed to ensure that students with specific learning disability/dyslexia are identified early and receive appropriate instruction. CREC’s specific learning disability/dyslexia workshops are a direct result of Public Law 14-39, which was signed by Connecticut’s governor in 2014.
Offered through CREC, Lowell’s workshops taught participants that students with specific learning disability/dyslexia need explicit, systematic, cumulative, and direct instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Participants also learned how to make decisions in their own districts about services for students with specific learning disability/dyslexia through discussion, exploration of resources, and examination of case studies.
“It was a great day,” said Simonne Lamothe, an employee of Killingly Public Schools who attended the May workshop. “This conference is invaluable. Every Connecticut teacher should take this training.”
For those interested in learning more about specific learning disability/dyslexia, contact Lisa Fiano at 860-712-3897, or lfiano@crec.org.
