During Superintendent’s Conference Day on March 18, the Westmoreland Central School District hosted a training on dyslexia for more than 20 special education teachers, school psychologists, speech pathologists and paraprofessionals from the Westmoreland, Clinton, New York Mills and Holland Patent school districts.
The training – to better understand what a dyslexic child faces in the classroom on a daily basis – was led by Linda Martin, director of the Children’s Dyslexia Center of Central New York. Dyslexia accounts for almost 90 percent of all student learning disabilities. As a result, New York has made early screening for dyslexia and intervention a priority beginning in grades K-2.
“One of our special education teachers said it best,” Bryan Yurka, director of special education/district data coordinator at the Westmoreland Central School District, explained. “With more knowledge about how we can better screen for dyslexia and adapt our curriculum, we are going to change students’ lives.”
As next steps, Mr. Yurka said the Westmoreland Central School District Special Education Department is exploring ways STAR testing can also be used to screen students for dyslexia. Students in grades K-8 take a STAR diagnostic test at least three times each school year. The data from the tests helps pinpoint which students continue to have difficulty with reading. Additionally, the Special Education Department will be looking at STAR’s curriculum based measures, also known as CBM’s, as another tool to help screen for dyslexia. Last, but certainly not least, the Special Education Department will be learning more about the Orton-Gillingham program, which is renowned for helping teachers better connect meaning to new learning for dyslexic children. One of Westmoreland’s special education teachers is currently going through the Orton-Gillingham training process provided through the Children’s Dyslexia Center of Central New York.