The 2015 session of the General Assembly is well underway, and bills are moving through the committee process. This week, a bill I authored about dyslexia passed out of the Education Committee . Dyslexia is an issue that is near and dear to my heart, and I have spent a great deal of time advocating for people with dyslexia.
House Bill 1108 defines dyslexia in order to help teachers more easily identify it and other specific learning disabilities related to reading. The bill also requires elementary education teachers to be proficient in teaching students with dyslexia as a requirement to obtain their teaching license.
A few years ago, I met Greenwood resident Cheryl Clemens who is an active member of Indiana’s Decoding Dyslexia organization. Decoding Dyslexia is a grassroots movement driven by Indiana families to raise awareness about dyslexia among parents, educators, community leaders, legislators and the general public. Last week, Cheryl’s son, Joshua, came to an Education Committee hearing to share with us about his own experience with dyslexia.
Approximately one in every five people in the U.S. are dyslexic to some degree. It is a language-based learning disability that may affect an individual’s ability to read, write, spell and pronounce words. Joshua shared with the committee that he thinks of his dyslexia as a different way of learning rather than as a disability.
Dyslexia does not limit one’s ability to think, speak or be creative. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Some filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg have dyslexia in addition to business leaders like Charles Schwab. Even Apple founder Steve Jobs had dyslexia. This legislation will give teachers the understanding they need to tailor their teaching to the learning style of students like Joshua.
I enjoyed having Joshua and Cheryl at the Statehouse and am proud of Joshua’s excellent presentation to the Education Committee. It is important that we take a look at this issue and do what we can do to ensure a bright future for all Hoosier students.
Sincerely,
