Dyslexia Universal Screener 2022-23

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO SCREEN FOR DYSLEXIA?

In 2017, the 85th Texas Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 1886, amending Texas Education Code (TEC) §38.003, Screening and Treatment for Dyslexia, to require that all kindergarten and first-grade public school students be screened for dyslexia and related disorders.

Early identification of students with dyslexia along with corresponding early intervention programs for these students will have significant implications for their future academic success.

• Early identification is critical because the earlier the intervention, the easier it is to remediate.
• Inexpensive screening measures identify at-risk children in mid-kindergarten with 85 percent accuracy.
• If intervention is not provided before the age of eight, the probability of reading difficulties continuing into high school is 75 percent (pp. 279–280).

-Straight Talk about Reading, Hall and Moats (1999)

WHAT WILL BE REQUIRED FOR CAMPUSES?

All Kindergarten and First grade students will participate. The testing window for first grade opens January 17 and closes January 31st, 2023.  

Create a PLC committee to review first-grade students at-risk for dyslexia:

• Use Dyslexia At-Risk sql report on HISD Connect
• PLC committee should consist of an administrator, IAT Liaison, campus-based staff trained in dyslexia (interventionist or administrator), and screening grade level teachers.  Section 504 Coordinator is optional for the meeting. Dyslexia team lead can be used if campus does not have staff trained in dyslexia. 
• Please send home the At-Risk Notification and parent input form. Teachers complete the teacher input form and gather the data from the checklist. Please see the website for directions: https://www.houstonisd.org/Page/178674 
• The recommendation is that a block of time is selected to review all students at once when all data is gathered from parents and teachers. 

Meeting Protocols 

At the meeting, review the teacher input forms, grades, intervention, and progress monitoring (PM) data, district level assessments   (CIRCLE, TX-KEA, HFW, etc.) for all students flagged from the Dyslexia Screening report. 

Complete the Dyslexia Committee Review Forms

Review the following criteria below to help determine the next steps and complete the following document for each student that was flagged on the Dyslexia Screening report.  Dyslexia Committee review documentation form 

Complete IAT Meetings

IAT meetings need to be completed by their respective due dates. Follow the IAT process. Complete the parent/guardian invite, teacher referral letter, IAT intervention plan, and finalize the summary of response request for evaluation (RFE). Please complete the following documentation for the students referred to IAT after the final decision has been made. IAT Referral documentation form 

WHAT WILL BE REQUIRED AND WHEN? 

WHO DO I CONTACT FOR QUESTIONS AND SUPPORT?