Education
PND Connections - The Invisible Dyslexics: How Public School Systems In Baltimore and Elsewhere Discriminate Against Poor Children In the Diagnosis and Treatment of Early Reading Difficulties
A new report from the Baltimore-based Abell Foundation explains that the failure to recognize early reading difficulties is disproportionately harmful to poor and minority students in its hometown and around the country. The Invisible Dyslexics: How Public School Systems In Baltimore and Elsewhere Discriminate Against Poor Children In the Diagnosis and Treatment of Early Reading Difficulties (37 pages, PDF), by education analyst and advocate Kalman R. Hettleman, finds that at least 20 percent of children in the Baltimore City Public School System and other large urban districts qualify as "invisible dyslexics" — students whose academic futures are at risk because they may not receive help in time, or at all. The report discusses several barriers to proper reading instruction in early education, outlines general principles for early identification and intervention wth invisible dyslexics, and offers preliminary ideas for a pilot project to help at-risk students master fundamental skills.
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