NYC unveils dyslexia program
Children to be screened three times a year
Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday the details of a plan to turn around a literacy crisis in New York City and, in particular, to serve thousands of children in public schools who may have dyslexia, an issue deeply personal to the mayor, who has said his own undiagnosed dyslexia hurt his academic career.
School officials plan to screen nearly all students for dyslexia, while 80 elementary schools and 80 middle schools will receive additional support for addressing the needs of children with dyslexia. The city will also open two new dyslexia programs with a goal of opening similar programs in each borough by 2023.
Officials also plan to train all teachers and will create a new dyslexia task force. School leaders are requiring principals to pivot to a phonics-based literacy curriculum, which literacy experts say is the most effective way to teach reading to most children.
“Dyslexia holds back too many of our children in school but most importantly in life,” Adams said during a news briefing Thursday morning.
The lack of easily accessible academic support for children with dyslexia has been an issue that has been top of mind for the mayor. He has said his own dyslexia went undiagnosed for years because his mother did not have the necessary information to get him screened.
Adams has devoted $7.4 million in his proposed budget for addressing dyslexia and other literacy issues.
Under the new plan, all children in kindergarten through second grade will be screened for literacy three times per year. Children in grades three through 10 will also be screened three times per year.
If children consistently perform below bench marks, they will be recommended for a secondary screening, which will look for dyslexia and other language-based disabilities.
Once children are identified as at-risk, they will be recommended for a neuropsychology evaluation.
The students will then receive either additional support at their current schools or enroll at one of the two new programs, which will open this fall.