{"id":32182,"date":"2019-12-05T06:00:56","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=32182"},"modified":"2019-12-05T08:13:44","modified_gmt":"2019-12-05T14:13:44","slug":"oklahoma-doesnt-screen-students-for-dyslexia-the-most-common-learning-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2019\/12\/05\/oklahoma-doesnt-screen-students-for-dyslexia-the-most-common-learning-disability\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma doesn\u2019t screen students for dyslexia, the most common learning disability"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_32184\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 615px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-32184\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MICHELLE-AND-SAM-KUIPER-1920x1312.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"615\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MICHELLE-AND-SAM-KUIPER-1920x1312.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MICHELLE-AND-SAM-KUIPER-672x459.jpeg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MICHELLE-AND-SAM-KUIPER-768x525.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MICHELLE-AND-SAM-KUIPER-150x103.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MICHELLE-AND-SAM-KUIPER-300x205.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MICHELLE-AND-SAM-KUIPER-620x424.jpeg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MICHELLE-AND-SAM-KUIPER-1580x1080.jpeg 1580w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Robby Korth \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sam Keiper (right) poses for a photo with his mother Michelle Keiper. The Keiper have advocated for resources for dyslexic students in Oklahoma schools for several years.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.simplecast.com\/9a338596-331d-470b-ad25-8c4e0a29ec0b?dark=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sam Keiper fidgeted in his chair in front of a classroom full of Oklahoma teachers.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, it was his job to educate teachers at Tulsa Tech, as part of a workshop put on by the State Department of Education for Oklahoma and advocate group Decoding Dyslexia Oklahoma.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI wanted to give a face to dyslexia, what it looks like,\u201d Keiper said. \u201cIt can look like anybody in the room. I really wanted to inspire teachers to go get further education about dyslexia.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oklahoma teachers are often blind to those faces because of a lack of resources and direction for educating young people with dyslexia, a neurological learning disability. People with dyslexia often have trouble with word recognition, spelling and phonics.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though the state\u2019s Reading Sufficiency Act mandates measuring student reading performance, the high stakes tests that come with it do not screen for dyslexia among young students. Nobody measures the number of students with the disorder in Oklahoma, though experts estimate as many as 20 percent of Oklahoma students could have some form of dyslexia.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the classroom, no matter the support, living with dyslexia is simply a challenge, Keiper said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI remember in earlier grades, it was kinda like trying to walk through a fog,\u201d he said. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t really see what\u2019s ahead of you. You can\u2019t understand some of the bigger words, you can only imagine what they actually mean.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Simply hearing those challenges Keiper and others face on a day-to-day basis is helpful for teachers, said Lynn Schroeder, a special education director in Sequoyah Public Schools.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In her district, about 35 miles northeast of Tulsa, she\u2019s often heard stories like Keiper&#8217;s.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think even the most painful stories, every one of us were able to stand back and go \u2018oh my gosh, I\u2019ve heard that. I\u2019ve heard those comments made,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cTo hear it from the kids that \u2018I\u2019m not stupid, there\u2019s a reason I\u2019m having trouble reading,\u2019 that brought it all into focus.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Oklahoma, dyslexia stories simply go unrecognized, teachers said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI feel that dyslexia has kind of been on the back burner for Oklahoma,\u201d Inola Public Schools special education director Tracy Mootry said. \u201cIt\u2019s not been talked about for years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_32185\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 774px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-32185\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/DYSLEXIA-SIGN-1920x1280.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"774\" height=\"516\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/DYSLEXIA-SIGN-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/DYSLEXIA-SIGN-672x448.jpeg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/DYSLEXIA-SIGN-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/DYSLEXIA-SIGN-150x100.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/DYSLEXIA-SIGN-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/DYSLEXIA-SIGN-620x413.jpeg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/DYSLEXIA-SIGN-1620x1080.jpeg 1620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Robby Korth \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign points teachers toward a dyslexia conference at Tulsa Tech&#8217;s riverside campus in November.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bringing Dyslexia to the forefront<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are a multitude of reasons for that. A lack of diagnoses, a lack of general understanding about the disorder and attention to other priorities that stress the entire educational system across the state.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, activists and a handful of legislators are trying to change that. People like Sam Keiper&#8217;s mom Michelle Keiper have brought up dyslexia with local and national lawmakers.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And they\u2019re not alone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Across the country dyslexic students and their parents have spent the last several years creating a grassroot movement calling for change, said David Hurford, a Pittsburg State University professor and director of the school\u2019s Center for Research, Evaluation and Awareness of Dyslexia.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Parents at this point in time across the nation are stepping up and saying we&#8217;re demanding that our children get a free and appropriate public education like everyone else, which requires that you teach them how to read,\u201d Hurford said. \u201cAnd so they&#8217;ve gone to legislators, they&#8217;ve created lawsuits and won.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAnd there&#8217;s a huge change.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_32186\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 633px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-32186\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MIKE-SANDERS-1920x1703.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"633\" height=\"561\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MIKE-SANDERS-1920x1703.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MIKE-SANDERS-672x596.jpeg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MIKE-SANDERS-768x681.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MIKE-SANDERS-150x133.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MIKE-SANDERS-300x266.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MIKE-SANDERS-620x550.jpeg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/12\/MIKE-SANDERS-1218x1080.jpeg 1218w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 633px) 100vw, 633px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Robby Korth \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. Mike Sanders, R-Kingfisher plans to introduce legislation addressing screening for dyslexia in Oklahoma children during the 2020 session.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moving dyslexia education forward<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the last few years, Oklahoma parents have gotten the attention of House Majority Leader Rep. Mike Sanders, R-Kingfisher.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sanders, whose son is dyslexic, said his top goal is to raise awareness about the issue and help people find ways to treat the disorder.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe need to educate people,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not a disease like leprosy. This is just a different way of learning.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He started that education piece in last year\u2019s session by shepherding through a bill that mandated a teacher in-service day be dedicated to dyslexia training. That legislation will go into effect for the 2020-21 school year.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But that\u2019s not the end. Sanders said he hasn\u2019t yet determined the details, but he plans to introduce legislation in February that will help fund screening for students.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe next piece of that is to get these kids screened,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to make sure that we can cover the costs\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Screening is already the norm in Arkansas, where students are screened for dyslexia in kindergarten through second grade. Some are even screened in later grades if they do not do well in reading.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That model could serve as inspiration in Oklahoma, Sanders said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere\u2019s no reason to reinvent the wheel,\u201d he said. \u201cIf other states are doing something that works, that benefits children, we\u2019re not going to have to completely redo something. We can mirror and gear it toward Oklahoma students.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Workshops, like the one in Tulsa, are great, teachers said. But they\u2019ll only go so far in helping dyslexic students.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think this is a beginning. I think it\u2019s step one. I think we need to get to step ten eventually,\u201d Mootry of Inola said. \u201cI know it\u2019s going to take time, it\u2019s a process. I think we all have a lot of learning to do. We, as the people who are attending these conferences, need to get the word out to our districts.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBut I think we need to understand it better and we need the meat and potatoes. We do need to know what assessments are expected, we do need to know how we\u2019re going to address it, we do need to know how it\u2019s going to affect students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sam Keiper fidgeted in his chair in front of a classroom full of Oklahoma teachers.Today, it was his job to educate teachers at Tulsa Tech, as part of a workshop put on by the State Department of Education for Oklahoma and advocate group Decoding Dyslexia Oklahoma.\u201cI wanted to give a face to dyslexia, what it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":32183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[720,983],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32182"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32282,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32182\/revisions\/32282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}