We are failing students with learning differences. This was true before the pandemic (1). This was true during the pandemic. This is still true now. I think we’re failing these students in three fundamental ways, and I think these failures (particularly the last one) harm all students. 

1. Failure to screen. Despite 39 states requiring some sort of screening regime for dyslexia (2), most schools lack a comprehensive, consistent, and routine screening protocol that is easy to implement and interpret (3). On top of that, there aren’t laws that require screening for ADHD and other common learning and attentional difficulties.

2. Failure to intervene in time. Even if students are properly screened and identified as “at-risk,” schools often wait for students to fall far behind their classmates before offering interventions (4). This happens even though it’s clear that early detection leads to early intervention, which, in turn, drives improved academic outcomes (5). We know that if you get a math intervention in third grade, you’ll need three times the intervention you would have gotten in kindergarten. 

3. Failure to intervene effectively. Even when schools identify at-risk students and decide to intervene in time, teachers often lack the training, knowledge, support, and curricular materials to intervene effectively (6). 

Affluent families can make it work. They can afford private neuropsychological exams. They can hire private tutors. They can work with lawyers and advocates to fight for services. And if all else fails, they can afford tuition for excellent specialized private schools like the Windward School or The Lab School or Commonwealth Academy or Landmark School or The Riverview School, to name just a few. 

Less affluent families don’t have these options--which means that this problem is, at its heart, an equity problem. And there are profound, long-term consequences. Learning and attentional differences are correlated with a higher incidence of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and addiction (7). Moreover, students with learning differences are more likely to drop out of school (8) and interact with the criminal justice system (9).

This is tragic because we do know how to screen children for learning differences. We could give ourselves a break if we didn’t know how to help struggling students. But we do have the tools. But we are just not using them consistently, strategically, and equitably. We have failed to adapt them to work at scale. This is unacceptable, and this is why the Goyen Foundation wants to focus its resources and time in this space. 

Fortunately, there are many organizations and schools and teachers and scientists that are working to chip away at these problems, and I look forward to telling their stories in the coming weeks. But for now, I recommend Emily Hanford’s work about “The Reading Wars” in either podcast or long-form.

Endnotes:

(1) https://www.educationnext.org/the-naep-sounded-red-alert-for-students-with-disabilities-before-covid-19/

(2)  https://improvingliteracy.org/state-of-dyslexia

(3)https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350948928_Specific_Learning_Disability_Identification_Practices_in_the_USA_A_Survey_of_Special_Education_Administrators

(4) https://dyslexiaida.org/its-a-myth-that-young-children-cannot-be-screened-for-dyslexia/

(5) https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/fall-2004/avoiding-devastating-downward-spiral

(6) https://epe.brightspotcdn.com/1b/80/706eba6246599174b0199ac1f3b5/ed-week-reading-instruction-survey-report-final-1.24.20.pdf

(7) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09687637.2018.1488949

(8) https://www.ncld.org/research/state-of-learning-disabilities/executive-summary

(9) https://ldaamerica.org/lda_today/disability-and-criminal-justice-reform/