Senator Melinda Bush moves for Dyslexia Awareness Week in Illinois
SPRINGFIELD — The State Senate adopted a resolution last week naming the second week of December 2014 as Dyslexia Awareness Week in Illinois.
“We need to do a better job of identifying dyslexia,” said State Senator Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake), who sponsored the resolution. “We need to increase awareness so that parents and teachers understand the signs and can make determinations about screening and support early on.”
Dyslexia affects 70-80% of people with reading difficulties and is more common than autism or attention deficit disorder. However, awareness and identification of the learning disability are still severely lacking in Illinois.
Earlier this year, Bush passed a law that seeks to improve the way Illinois school districts’ teach dyslexic students.
The new law allows schools to implement training for teachers and services for students in order to better accommodate those with the learning disability.
“Now that we have training in place to accommodate for dyslexia, we need to bring deeper understanding and awareness to it,” Bush said. “The earlier we can detect a learning disability, the earlier we can implement alternative learning tools to counteract it.
Senate Resolution 1642, which was adopted by the Senate on Thursday, December 4, marks another great stride toward bringing awareness and assistance to students struggling with dyslexia.