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Protecting Every Child's Right to Learn How to Read  

Make a Difference


84% of Black or African American Children Read Below Grade Level
Of Those - 53% Are Functionally Illiterate

The Lack of Methodology & Literacy Laws to Ensure Children are Taught How to Read is Criminal

Click Below to See the Facts on NYSED's Website:

THROUGH NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN
THESE KIDS ARE NOT BEING TAUGHT HOW TO READ
AT THEIR PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS

What we do

Students
We advocate for students who struggle to read, are not making progress, and are in crisis in their public school districts. We organize cost-effective teacher training in science-based programs and ensure students receive the services they need to learn how to read and write to grade level. We hold school district workshops to ensure the science of reading language and writing is consistent and sustainable across the school district. We provide support, free screening tools, and educational workshops on dyslexia to empower parents, teachers, and students.

Furthermore, if school districts are non-compliant and do not provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE), we provide referrals to well respected education attorneys.

Incarcerated Youths & Adults
We advocate for the remediation of incarcerated adults and youths. Literacy is a critical tool that is used to improve quality of life. Without that tool, children grow up with damaged self-esteem, loss of confidence, and they miss out on their education. 

When people do not learn how to read at school - they cannot participate in their education which excludes them from critical connections within society. 84% of  incarceration adults have weak literacy skills, of those 54% are dyslexic. Illiteracy is directly linked to incarceration and the damage caused by lack of education in a complex and highly pressured society.

Free Public Workshops
​Our programs include educational workshops on the science of reading at correctional institutions. Reading and writing support and tutoring for incarcerated adults and youths.
 
Our Mission
Our mission is to ensure that every child, youth or adult at risk of dyslexia (or simply has never been appropriately taught) learns how to read. We advocate for early intervention to stop learning differences from becoming  life-long disabilities.

Dyslexia is a symptom of a broader misunderstanding about how to teach reading. In New York, 65% of all students read below grade level, and more than half have below basic reading skills (are functionally illiterate). 
  • Advocate for individual students at their public school district
  • Refer parents to education attorneys if the school district is not providing FAPE 
  • Highlight the benefits of early identification of students at risk of dyslexia
  • Introduce freely available screening tools
  • Highlight benefits of daily multi sensory structured literacy for general education
  • ​Highlight the benefits of phonological awareness programs
  • Organize parent support groups & recruit parent advocate volunteers
  • Parent advocacy training
  • Organize teacher training in multi-sensory programs and approaches
  • Organize school psychologist training to identify students at risk of dyslexia 
  • Multi-Sensory structured literacy summer reading camps
  • ​Free multi-sensory structured literacy clinics for 25th percentile & below
  • School district Implementation & Impact Services
  • Remediation programs for incarcerated youth and adults ​​​

TELL NYSED TO PUT
FINANCIAL AID INTO
SCIENCE-BASED  
READING & WRITING
REMEDIATION PROGRAMS
& METHODOLOGY 
FOR ALL STUDENTS

WAKE - UP NYSED!
LOOK AT THE TERRIBLE DATA 
84 % OF BLACK & AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS
READ AT OR BELOW BASIC

65% OF GENERAL EDUCATION STUDENTS READ AT OR BELOW BASIC

CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW & GO TO "THOUGHT EXCHANGE" AND TELL THEM WHAT YOU THINK!
THANK YOU

Dyslexia Day 2020, Albany NY

We testified and provided evidence that NYS needs literacy laws to protect our students, teachers and communities from teacher training programs that do not teach children how to read. We need science-based programs that work!

Joint Legislative Public Hearing: 02/11/2020
Dyslexia Advocacy Action Group asks
​NYS for Literacy Laws!!
Thank You: Decoding Dyslexia NY !!!

Click for Written Testimony HERE

Take Action

No child should be in crisis at their public school. No incarcerated youth or adult should remain illiterate!

Make a donation today!

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How Common is Dyslexia?

​
Dyslexia is the most common reading disability affecting up to 1 in 5 people or 20% of the community (Yale Scientific).
Dyslexia crosses racial, ethnic and socioeconomic lines. With a structured literacy approach that is explicit, sequential and multisensory every student with dyslexia can become a skilled reader, fully participate in their education and successfully achieve their potential.
  • 3 out of 4 people on welfare cannot read (National Assessment of Adult Literacy) 
 
  • 80% of youths brought before the courts have low reading skills (National Assessment of Adult Literacy)
  • 70-85% of people in prison cannot read (National Assessment of Literacy) 

  • 38-45% of people in prison have dyslexia (Moody, 2000)
  • 89% of suicide notes left by youths when studied were found to have a disproportionate amount of dyslexia-type spelling mistakes (Learning disabilities and Adolescent Suicide, 1997) 

  • 85% of children classified with Learning Disabilities (LD) actually have dyslexia (Yale Center for Dyslexia) 
  • Dyslexia is genetically inherited (International Dyslexia Association)
  • Students with learning disabilities including dyslexia have a three times higher risk of attempting suicide (Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2006) 

  • Low reading scores and levels of intelligence for students with dyslexia have no correlation. In fact, the most innovative scientists, inventors and artists of our time have dyslexia (Yale Scientific). What are we doing to our potential geniuses?
  • The cost of reading failure (prime reason for school drop-outs) in New York State is: $ 3,088,573,000 (Education Consumers Foundation)

The impact of untreated dyslexia

ill-Literacy
Mom & Son Story

Film Credit: Director Producer Stephen Polk
 School Stories

Is Your Child Struggling in School?

Do they guess at words instead of reading them?
Do they struggle with spelling?
​Do they struggle with writing?
Are they starting to dislike school?
Are they falling behind?

We Can Help

The Writing Revolution: talk to your school district about teacher training..

Watch how TWR excellerated students outcomes...

Summer Academic Camps

Would your school district be interested in hosting a summer academic camp?

Hard to Read
How American schools fail kids with dyslexia

There are proven ways to help people with dyslexia learn to read, and a federal law that's supposed to ensure schools provide kids with help. But across the country, public schools are denying children proper treatment and often failing to identify them with dyslexia in the first place.
(Listening pages coming soon) find article here

Guidance from NYS Dept. Of Education:
Directs Schools to Put Diagnosis on
​Independent Education Plans (IEPs) 

This is the first step, lets now solve the problem.

SIGN OUR PETITION!
LET'S ENSURE ALL STUDENTS LEARN HOW TO READ AT THEIR PUBLIC SCHOOL!

Get Help:

Ask us to bring a Parent Support Workshop to your area: find out what you can do.
We are a grassroots movement driven by families concerned with the limited access to educational interventions for students with dyslexia or at risk of dyslexia. ​

Our Support Workshops Cover:
  • Evaluations
  • Dyslexia subtypes (and what this means)
  • ​The Law
  • Remediation that works
  • Teaching to fidelity - what to look out for
  • How to get programs into YOUR school district
  • What you can do
  • Any questions & discussion​
​All Welcome: Teachers, Professionals & Parents!

Results

In-Person Advocacy 

Only one school district refused to provide services to teach a child how to read and to use science-based strategies for regular students.

Free Advocacy Consultations 

Workshops