LITERACY ADVOCATES
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    • Donor Appeal
    • TOE BY TOE
    • VOLUNTEER!

Special
Education Advocates

We Advocate to Remove Barriers
To Education for ALL Students with Disabilities

STOP LEARNING DIFFERENCES BECOMING 
​LIFELONG DISABILITIES

FREE ADVOCACY CONSULTATION
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Make a Tax-Deductible Donation

DDNY SUPPORT GROUPS
FREE ADVOCATE CONSULTATION
GET DATA FOR MY SCHOOL
NEW SPEAK UP COMING SOON!

95-100% of ALL children have the cognitive
​capacity to read at grade level or above

We advocate for students with all disabilities 
including emotional and or behavioral challenges 

BOARD OF EDUCATION TRAINING

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This training equips school board members with the knowledge and vision to lead instructional transformation with confidence and clarity.

​Participants learn what it takes to move a district from a balanced literacy approach to a structured literacy model—grounded in science, supported by evidence, and focused on results.
LEADERSHIP

 ADVOCACY WORKSHOPS 

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We run free educational workshops for parents, teachers, and administrators. These range from unique workshops to support the science of reading and advocacy in a school district to subjects including:
  • The science of reading
  • High-quality remediation 
  • IEP goal workshops
  • Progress monitoring 
WORKSHOPS

SPECIAL EDUCATION ADVOCATE

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We empower families of students with special education needs and all disabilities. We advocate to ensure students receive the evidence-based services to which they are legally entitled. Every child has a right to equitable access to their education. 
  • Early Intervention Services
  • Transition Advocacy & IEPs
  • Special Education Services
  • State Complaints
  • Due Process Complaints​
  • ​Free advocacy consultations​
ADVOCACY
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Foster Care Research Donor Appeal

Education is a vaccine against poverty
​

In New York, 80% of children in foster care have weak literacy skills.

​Give foster care youth a chance in life

Our research plan is to provide educational advocacy to students in foster care, and bring this research to legislators

FIND OUT MORE
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Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to
Educational Advocacy in New York

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Can't Afford a Reading Tutor?
And need a kick-start? Toe by Toe will help... $36 including postage

Meet Toe by Toe! This is a highly structured phonics-based workbook for parents and guardians to use with their children (good for adults too). It takes just 5-20 minutes a day, and it helps emerging readers practice vital foundational skills. Toe by Toe helps parents recognize and better understand their children's skill weaknesses. 
  • More affordable than an Orton-Gillingham tutor!​
  • The book builds all the reading skills needed for reading 
  • The exercises are explicit, structured, systematic and cumulative
  • Helps parents understand reading skill weaknesses 
  • Can be used to show school administrators and teachers what progress tracking and structured literacy look like!
We offer this book at a discounted cost for parents willing to complete a survey, and send their comments about the book. Additionally, profits from the book go directly towards advocacy for underprivileged students.
FIND OUT MORE

FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS

​"It's coming! I may not be able to read tomorrow or the next day, but it's coming....."
Isla, age 10

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IT'S POSSIBLE!  a leadership plan for implementing quality reading instruction and ensuring literacy for all!

CONTACT ANGELA HANLIN

OUR MISSION

Learning to read is like a vaccine against poverty. Unfortunately, thousands of students in New York State are taught to guess words instead of receiving proper, evidence-based reading instruction. As a result, over 52% of students who speak English as their first language read significantly below grade level, putting them at risk of dropping out or graduating with low literacy skills.
​

We advocate, raise awareness, educate, and legislate on the social and economic injustices stemming from non science of reading instruction, other educational barriers, and feasible solutions. We support students in crisis, including low-income families and those in foster care, to ensure they receive the services they are legally entitled to, including evidence-based instruction in reading and writing.

We advocate for school reform and encourage districts to build capacity by implementing universal screening tools, multi-system support, data teams, evidence-based literacy instruction, and other essential services. Our goal is to ensure equitable access to education for all students. The science of reading approach reduces the number of students referred to the Committee on Special Education by enhancing service quality and lowering long-term costs.

Our long term goal is to stop the school-to-prison pipeline by advocating for underprivileged students and using legal tools to reform underachieving public schools in New York. Furthermore, we organize literacy interventions for disadvantaged children, including children in foster care. One of our long term goals is to legislate for funding to provide online remediation for incarcerated youths, and adults.

Studies indicate that 80% of youths brought before courts have weak literacy skills (National Assessment of Literacy, 2016). In addition, almost half of the population of incarcerated adults have dyslexia (Moody, 2000), and three out of four people on welfare cannot read (National Assessment of Literacy, 2016).

Literacy is essential to becoming a full member of society. Children who do not learn to read and write well without remediation are destined to become socially and economically disenfranchised.​

Our programs ensure that children, youths, and young adults who struggle with literacy receive expert evaluations and science-based remediation that meets their specific needs. In addition, we progress monitor to ensure they reach their full potential and achieve reading and writing fluency. These basic skills will allow them to become literate, independent individuals who can successfully function within our society, further their education, and find meaningful careers. 

Make a donation: support a child in crisis.


PLEASE SHARE THIS REPORT (AND GUIDANCE BELOW) WITH YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT ADMINISTRATORS, TEACHERS, BOARD OF EDUCATION AND FAMILIES

New York State Education Department
​Dyslexia & Dysgraphia
Task Force
 

Report & Recommendations

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Please review the report using the link below or by clicking the image, and share it with your school district's board of education, administrators, teachers, and families. 

We must discuss the recommendations and how school districts can best implement them. The report's outline is a solid start, but let's push for increased oversight and accountability. Establishing a Center or Division for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia would help, but this would require adequate funding and setting up proper independent oversight.

According to the Education Consumers Foundation (2019), illiteracy costs New York State more than $3.6 billion annually. Low literacy skills significantly contribute to poverty and disenfranchisement. Screening and remediating at-risk children, youth, and adults in the Information Age is a vital human right. Equitable access to education promotes social justice and increases resilience and quality of life for all New Yorkers.

Please share this report!
nysed-dyslexiadysgraphia-taskforce-report-12.20.24.pdf
File Size: 3953 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

TASK FORCE LINK

Guidance Issued by 
New York State 
Institutions & Associations
​

Task Force Approved List of Evidence-Based Reading Instruction Programs

Evidence Based Reading Instruction

Screening & Evaluations for
School Psychologists (2025)

NYSAP, Evaluating for Dyslexia in Schools__1_.pdf
File Size: 3048 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

NYSED Regulation Amendments: MTSS and Evidence-Based Structured Literacy (2025)

Evidence_based_scientifically_based__002_.pdf
File Size: 72 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

NYSED Meeting Needs of D&D (2024)

meeting-the-needs-of-dyslexia-dysgraphia-dyscalculia.pdf
File Size: 106 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Universal Screeners
​Approved by Task Force (2024)

approveduniversalscreeners.pdf
File Size: 800 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

NYSED Questions & Answers (2018)

q-and-a-students-with-dyslexia-dysgrahia-dyscalculia.pdf
File Size: 186 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Guidance on Special Education Law (2018)

chapter-216-of-laws-of-2017-advisory.pdf
File Size: 56 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Video from Our Written Testimony Workshop
​Held on Thursday 10th October, 2024

Donate & Get T-Shirts & Merch!

Support Our Advocacy Work
​Make a PayPal Donation

Don Meichenbaum, one of the world's leading experts on childhood trauma, states:

                                    "….one thing is more important to traumatized children than anything else. More important than therapy, more important than social programs, more important than anything else. The research shows that the single most powerful predictor of their ability to overcome the trauma and survive their circumstances is the ability to read. If they can read, they have a chance to find success in school and overcome all those terrible things in their lives. If they can't, school will only be another source of pain and failure added to all the other sources of pain and failure.  If they can read, they can benefit from therapy and everything else we may try to do for them. If they can't read, all of that is a waste of time".

Support Our Advocacy Work
​Make a PayPal Donation

Is your child struggling at school?

Do they guess at words instead of decoding them?
Do they struggle with spelling?
​Do they struggle with writing?
Are they starting to dislike school?
Are they falling behind?
Did you know that for every year that passes, the hours needed for remediation doubles?

We can help...

ADVOCATE NOW

Special Education Quality Assurance

THIS IS WORTH A TRY- BUT WHAT THEY CAN DO IS LIMITED
Special Education Quality Assurance oversees preschool and school-age special education services through a quality assurance review process that emphasizes attainment of positive results for student with disabilities. Regional Associates, located in several quality assurance offices across New York State, coordinate the review process and also provide technical assistance to parents, school district personnel, and private providers. 
CALL THE NUMBER FOR YOUR AREA
QUALITY ASSURANCE

Support Our Advocacy Work
​Make a PayPal Donation

We educate legislators and the public about the
literacy crisis in New York State 

VIEW TESTIMONY DOCUMENTS HERE

Make a Difference

Donate to the Dyslexia Advocacy Action Group's year end campaign and give the gift of reading this year. 

Take Action on Literacy Laws

A literacy law to screen and remediate incarcerated individuals needs your support.

  • Screening for risk of dyslexia for incarcerated individuals
  • Identification of dyslexia will initiate evidence-based interventions​

Call Your Assembly and Senate Representatives.
Ask them to sponsor A02062 / S00307
FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
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Give the gift of reading 

We represent students in crisis to advocate for services that reduce barriers to receiving a free adequate public education

​Support Us with a Donation

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Dyslexia Advocacy Action Group is a 501c3 registered charity #47 33 27
PRIVACY POLICY
©2015 Dyslexia Advocacy Action Group, New York. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Statement of Purpose
  • What is Dyslexia?
    • Dyslexia Stories >
      • SHARE YOUR STORY
    • WHY, WHAT GOES ON NY?
    • Science of Reading
    • Knowledge & Insight
    • EMILY HANFORD/APM REPORTS
    • Evaluations + Testing
    • Resources & Assistive Technology
    • Dyslexia News & Articles
    • Cost of Failure to Teach Reading
    • Common misunderstandings about dyslexia
    • Why New York Needs Literacy Laws
    • Tutoring, Colleges & Professional Development
  • SPEAK UP FOR LITERACY
    • LA Newsletter
    • Dyslexia Task Force Bill
    • NY Finally Moving!
    • EXPLORE NYSED DATA
    • Champion Parents Video Gallery
    • The Right to Read
  • Your Advocate
    • Your Advocate
    • FREE CONSULTATION!
    • Leading for Literacy & Training
    • Learned Helplessness?
    • TAKE OUR SURVEY
    • JOIN US!
    • HOW ARE LITERACY LAWS BLOCKED IN NY?
    • Legislate!
    • American Psychiatric Association Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest DSM-5-TR
    • RESOURCES
  • Donate
    • Donor Appeal
    • TOE BY TOE
    • VOLUNTEER!