Our Goals
Decoding Dyslexia – NJ is a grassroots movement driven by NJ families concerned with the limited access to educational interventions for dyslexia within our public schools. We aim to raise dyslexia awareness, empower families to support their children and inform policy-makers on best practices to identify, remediate and support students with dyslexia in NJ public schools.
We are advocating for NJ to implement:
- A universal definition and understanding of “dyslexia” in the state education code
- Mandatory teacher training on dyslexia, its warning signs and appropriate intervention strategies
- Mandatory early screening tests for dyslexia
- Mandatory dyslexia remediation programs, which can be accessed by both general and special education populations
- Access to appropriate “assistive technologies” in the public school setting for students with dyslexia
DD-NJ with Steven Wilson, Senior Policy Advisor for Rep Frelinghuysen (NJ)
DD-NJ with Timothy Lynagh, Deputy Chief of Staff & Legislative Director for Rep Christopher Smith (NJ)
DD-NJ with Rep Rush Holt (NJ)
DD-NJ with Brendan Hennessey, Legislative Assistant for Rep Frank Pallone (NJ)
LDANJ Spring Conference!
Life in High School and Beyond Conference & Resource Expo
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Registration: www.LDANJspring2020.eventbrite.com
Full Conference Brochure: www.ldanj.org/wp-content/uploads/LDANJ-March-2020-Full-Conference-Brochure.pdf
Questions? 732-645-2738 or info@LDANJ.org
$1000 Scholarship Opportunity -- Deadline March 6:
The Learning Disabilities Association of New Jersey Inc. (LDANJ), will be giving the Dr. Rosa Hagin Scholarship Award to several New Jersey students with learning and/or attention issues who will continue their education beyond high school. This scholarship is for students moving on to ANY post-secondary program. Click the link for application and all information.
www.ldanj.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-Scholarship-letter-and-application.pdf
Without appropriate reading instruction, the problems at the top of the iceberg give way to what lies beneath. Often those problems are bigger and even harder to remediate.
Workshop information from ReallyGreatReading:
"Decoding and the Struggling Reader” is being offered in NJ on the following dates:
5/6: Paramus, NJ
5/7: Edison, NJ
5/8: Mt. Laurel, NJ
REGISTER: www.reallygreatreading.com/workshops
Complimentary seats are available with the code: WORKSHOP
This article is specific to NYC, but other themes are universal: Why are public schools so unprepared to meet the needs of dyslexic students (and more broadly, those who struggle with learning to read not due to a disability)? Why are students who need specialized reading instruction placed in classes with students who have intellectual or behavioral disabilities? Should learning to read be this dependent on family resources? #saydyslexia #equity
www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/education/2020/02/09/disability-special-education-dyslexia-doe-nyc...
www.usatoday.com
Two boys with learning disabilities grew up just blocks apart in New York City. Public schools couldn't teach them. So their parents battled to place them in private schools, on the taxpayers' dime."Calkins’s approach “is a slow, unreliable way to read words and an inefficient way to develop word recognition skill,” Mark S. Seidenberg, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said in a blog post. “Dr. Calkins treats word recognition as a reasoning problem — like solving a puzzle. She is dedicated to the educational precept that children learn best by discovering how systems work rather than being told. ...skilled reading “is fast, automatic, almost like a reflex — not deliberative.”
www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/read-all-about-it-the-reading-wars-are-back-in-americas-ed...
Perspective | Read all about it: The ‘reading wars’ are back in America’s education salons
www.washingtonpost.com
Should phonics be emphasized? What about whole language learning?Educators and Parents: "Calkins' Units of Study is the third most widely used set of core materials to teach reading, according to a survey by Education Week. But, as APM Reports has shown, the Units of Study lessons and materials frequently assert an idea about how people read that has been proven wrong by cognitive scientists. The idea, known as three cueing, encourages children to look at pictures and use contextual clues to identify words as they are reading. Scientific research shows that skilled readers do not use cues to read words and that instructing children to use these cues teaches them the habits of struggling readers."
www.apmreports.org/story/2020/01/27/lucy-calkins-reading-materials-review
Experts say widely used reading curriculum is failing kids
www.apmreports.org
A first of its kind review finds Lucy Calkins' materials don't align with the science of reading.Always a good time when DDNJ folks get together to reflect on our work and brainstorm future efforts!
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