MD Dept. of Education Says Dyslexia -- Issues Technical Assistance Bulletin to Help Schools Identify & Support Students

KEY ELEMENTS

1. Defines dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia (p. 5, Definitions)
2. Early Screening: Clarifies that MD Public Schools do NOT screen for dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia, but acknowledges that early screening is a best practice (p.6, Identification, Do Maryland Public Schools screen all students for these conditions?)
3. Identification of dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia: provides information on who can identify these conditions both within and outside the school system. Within the school system a school psychologist, speech language pathologist and reading specialist are named as qualified to identify dyslexia (p. 6, Identification, Who can identify one of these conditions?)
4. The IEP and Dyslexia: Clarifies that dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia can be referenced in the IEP to address the student’s needs resulting from that disability; further clarifies that the IEP should include information about the disability and how it relates to eligibility, educational needs, and specially designed instruction to address dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia (p. 7, Can these conditions be referenced in a student’s IEP?)
5. Lists general problems experienced by students with dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia (p. 7-8, Instruction)
6. Instruction: Acknowledges that dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia may impact achievement across academic content and explains that ALL students should be provided evidence based practices and interventions “matched to their identified area of need.”
   1. Progress Monitoring: clarifies that general education students who receive interventions for reading, writing and/or math and who are not achieving adequately may require more intense specially designed instruction and should be evaluated for an IEP. (p. 8, Instruction: How do I know if one of these conditions requires specially designed instruction?)
   2. Dyslexia Assessments:  Lists assessments (universal screeners) known to identify dyslexia including Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) and Rapid Automatized Spelling (RAS) (p. 9, Instruction)
   3. Specially Designed Instruction: Delineates the elements and principles of Structured Literacy, “a highly recommended approach” to address dyslexia.  The elements of structured literacy include phonology, sound-symbol association, syllable instruction, morphology, syntax and semantics and is taught in an explicit, systematic, cumulative and diagnostic way (p. 10, Instruction, What might specially designed instruction look like?).

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RESOURCES:

Dyslexia Technical Assistance Bulletin (TAB), Maryland State Department of Education, November 2016
DDMD Summary of MSDE Dyslexia TAB (coming soon)
Federal Department of Education Dyslexia Guidance Letter, October 2015 
DDMD Summary of Federal DOE Guidance
​DDMD Dyslexia TAB Press Release (coming soon)
Maryland Reading Scores, 2015 and 2016

Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia

Maryland Technical Assistance Bulletin, November 16, 2016