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Battling Specific Learning Disability (Dyslexia)
(Hartford, CT) Connecticut Public Law 14-39 ensures that students with specific learning disability/dyslexia are identified early and that they receive appropriate instruction. As a result, CREC works with the Connecticut State Department of Education to make sure this happens.
It is an effort that CREC takes seriously.
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. 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. There are many people who have specific learning disability/dyslexia, including musician and actor Billy Bob Thornton, real estate guru Barbara Corcoran, and filmmaker Harvey Hubbell.
Hubbell will join CREC October 12 at the Theater of the Performing Arts, 359 Washington Street in Hartford, for a special screening of his film, “Dislecksia: The Movie.” After the screening, Hubbell will participate in a question and answer session, discussing what it was like to grow up with dyslexia.
The October 12 event is sponsored by Whole Foods Market and organized by CREC’s Technical Assistance and Brokering Services and the CREC Foundation. It begins at 6 p.m., and it will help CREC mark National Dyslexia Awareness Month and launch its new professional development opportunities.
In partnership with the state, CREC now offers professional development services for educators who want to learn how to better help students with specific learning disability/dyslexia. These services include a specific learning disability/dyslexia consortium, workshops on the topic, and several literacy services for struggling learners.For more information, or to purchase tickets to the movie screening, visit www.crec.org/movies.
Visit www.crec.org/tabs for more information about professional development opportunities provided by CREC’s Technical Assistance and Brokering Services.
