Learning problems can become society’s problems

Opelika, Ala.: It’s imperative that Mayor Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks heed Dr. Sally Shaywitz’s recommendations and fight effectively to diminish the dyslexia scourge. Shaywitz said that slow reading, so common in dyslexia, is often mistaken for slow thinking. However, anyone who watched Muhammad Ali in his 1960s verbal and fistic prime, as he spewed retorts with speed akin to a humming bird’s flitting wings, knew he was no slow thinker. Nevertheless, Ali displayed characteristics associated with dyslexia. The International Dyslexia Association considers it a neurological specific learning difficulty, manifested by difficulty with accurate and fluent word recognition and poor spelling abilities.

Alabama state Rep. Terri Collins sponsored a bill that includes early diagnosis identification, specific support for dyslexic students and prepares college students to develop expertise in science-based reading instruction. In the August 2019 Prison Legal News, a 2000 Texas study revealed that 48% of prisoners were dyslexic and two-thirds struggled with reading comprehension.

Ameer Baraka hated school. An undiagnosed dyslexic, he was shamed, scorned and stigmatized. Defeated and distraught, he began selling drugs. He was a 23-year-old prisoner when he was diagnosed as dyslexic. Reading “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” filled him with hope, and he earned his GED while imprisoned. Since his release, Baraka has developed into an author, actor and producer, and launched Us Helping Us New Orleans, a free after-school program for children in first through eighth grades.

Adams and Banks must remain steadfast in their desire to establish a program that diagnoses and treats dyslexia — or be prepared to build more jails and prisons.