House Bill 731 signed into law; Idaho now has dyslexia legislation for the first time - KMVT

BOISE, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — For the first time, the state of Idaho now has dyslexia legislation, recognizing the learning disability that affects every 1 in 5 people. KMVT spoke with parents of dyslexic children who say this bill was a long time coming.

Dyslexia is a language based learning disability, and it affects people’s abilities with reading, writing, and other language skills, and up until last week, Idaho didn’t have any type of legislation recognizing dyslexia or provide any resources for the teachers and the students on how to teach someone with dyslexia.

“For you to be able to do school work completely you have to be able to read, if you can’t read how are you supposed to do any type of school work, if you can’t read you can’t hardly do any of it,” said Anna Human a Twin Falls mother.

Anna Human has a daughter with dyslexia and says this bill gives her hope.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction, getting the teachers to recognize it because not everyone is a specialist, not everyone is going to recognize what it is, so having a place like the school be able to call the parent and be alike hey this is going on, we need to get some help for that, that would’ve been amazing,” said Human.

Through the state department of education this bill will provide 97,000 to all Idaho schools to give statewide dyslexia screening in students K-5 with characteristics of dyslexia, provide training for educators in multisensory-structured literacy approach, and create a handbook with intervention strategies to help students with characteristics of dyslexia.

Ruth Vincill a dyslexia specialist says the bill has potential but only if it’s implemented correctly.

“If we take this and we apply it in a way that has a strong ethic behind it, then I think it could be great,” said Vincill.

The State Board of Education says they will implement the new services during next school year.

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source: https://www.kmvt.com/2022/04/04/house-bill-731-signed-into-law-idaho-now-has-dyslexia-legislation-first-time/

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