Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and the Dyslexia Resource Center find in a new study that Black students with dyslexia may be overlooked in schools.
A team including senior author Sally Shaywitz, MD, a world-recognized leader in dyslexia research, screened students from kindergarten to second grade at two New Orleans charter schools using the teacher completed, evidence-based Shaywitz DyslexiaScreen: 90% of the students screened were Black, and 93% were considered economically disadvantaged.
Just under half of the students (49.2%) screened as "at-risk" for dyslexia. When these "at risk" students were individually tested, 62% were found to have dyslexia.
Dyslexia is defined in federal law (PL 115-391) as “an unexpected difficulty in reading for an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader, most commonly caused by a difficulty in phonological processing, which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and spell.” The diagnosis is very common, affecting nearly 1 in 5 American children, equally across genders. The study also notes that children with dyslexia often “fail to receive effective reading interventions."
Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress consistently shows 20% of white and 50% of Black students read at a level considered "below basic." The study authors say combined with their results, data indicate high numbers of African American students have dyslexia but are currently undiagnosed, and do not receive evidence-based interventions for their reading difficulties.
Co-author Bennett Shaywitz, MD, says “these data mandate early screening for dyslexia and early implementation of evidence-based interventions for those children found to be at risk” if the reading gap between Black students and their white peers is to be narrowed.
Laura Cassidy, Kayla Reggio, and Bennett Shaywitz were co-authors of the study.
Laura Cassidy, Kayla Reggio, and Bennett Shaywitz , MD, helped author this study.
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