Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly promised a brand-new approach to reading and literacy for students this coming school year. In addition to training teachers in phonics-based curriculums all summer, the city has beefed up its dyslexia support and screening. “It’ll be terrific,” chimed in Harlem Commonwealth Council Vice President Suzanne Hurley about the coming reading programs. “Students will actually learn how to read. Learning phonics is fundamental for reading and comprehension. They’re learning to break words into smaller digestible pieces for understanding the word and then sentences. It will definitely help students in our community close the gap in education post pandemic.”

Adams partnered with Kate Griggs, founder and CEO of Made By Dyslexia, a nonprofit charity organization focused on dyslexia. The goal of the nonprofit is to train teachers in ways to spot and support kids with learning challenges. Griggs has spoken at length about her dyslexic journey, being from a dyslexic family and raising dyslexic kids and being dyslexic herself. 

“The main reason it goes undetected, the first is because teachers are not routinely trained in dyslexia. This is a global issue, not just in the U.S. So teachers are arriving not knowing how to support these kids,” said Griggs. “And because there isn’t that automatic knowledge it becomes such a big problem that no one knows how to deal with it.” About 1-in-5 kids across races and genders end up having some degree of dyslexia, said Griggs. Commonly dyslexia is a different way of processing information leading to difficulties grasping traditional education. The more mild cases of dyslexia means problems with reading, writing, grammar, math, and sequential memory but not debilitatingly so. More severe presentations of dyslexia often means problems learning to read and likely requires intervention, said Griggs.

There is also a heavy evidenced connection between many incarcerated people and those identified as the most educationally disadvantaged population in the country. A joint report from the DOE and Department of Corrections noted that about “half of the individuals housed in jails do not have a high school diploma or general educational development (GED) certificate.” And, on Rikers Island about 80% of new arrivals didn’t have a diploma or GED back in 2007. 

Griggs commended Adams and the city’s massive push for more screening and intensive support for New York City students to head off the root causes of systemic issues. Griggs said her organization has been working with the city’s teachers since June, and luckily the training is free so it hasn’t been affected by the ongoing back and forth legalities on school budget cuts. 

Teachers for grades K-12 will have one year to complete literacy training and are all expected to participate in Made By Dyslexia’s 2-hour introductory training by April 2023, said the Department of Education (DOE). Read the full story