• Information on Dyslexia

    The School District of Clayton is committed to inspiring each student to love learning and embrace challenge within a rich and rigorous academic culture while providing effective and appropriate educational opportunities for every child in our schools. We know that students come to us with a wide range of unique needs that require specialized, purposeful instruction in order to have the greatest impact and success, and our goal is to promote growth and increased individual achievement for children of all abilities.

    What is dyslexia?

    According to the International Dyslexia Association, dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

    “Dyslexia is a processing difference, often characterized by difficulties in literacy acquisition affecting reading, writing, and spelling. It can also have an impact on cognitive processes such as memory, speed of processing, time management, coordination, and automaticity. There may be visual or phonological challenges, and there are usually some discrepancies in educational performance” (Reed).   

    Universal Screeners

    In conjunction with previously adopted District literacy assessments, the District also has adopted the Star Literacy Assessments as a component of the universal screener tools for students in kindergarten through third grade. Star provides a “suite” of assessments that help teachers and specialists identify possible areas for improvement in foundational literacy skills.

    The District employs the Star Early Literacy and Star Curriculum Based Measure (CBM) Rapid Automatic Naming components with K-1 students to assess skills such as concepts of print, phonemic awareness, phonics, rapid naming, and comprehension. In first grade, to assess word recognition, students will complete the Star CBM Sight and High Frequency Words.

    Second- and third-grade students are assessed using Star Reading and Curriculum Based Measures (CBM) to evaluate the student's general reading and oral reading fluency. Star Reading is a multiple-choice question assessment related to all reading skills, including phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension. For Star CBM, the student completes Star CBM Encoding, Star CBM Rapid Naming, and Star CBM Passage Oral Reading to assess spelling, rapid naming, and fluency.

    For additional information on assessments of reading in the District, please click here.
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  • Students in grades 4-10 who are enrolled in the District at the start of each school year will be administered a reading inventory. If a parent has questions about his/her child as a reader or would like to inquire about further testing, he/she should contact a reading specialist at his/her child's school.


    Next Steps

    After assessments are made, a team of building-level education specialists are consulted and the parents of students with whom teachers see concerns are contacted. They discuss next steps, determine monitoring tools, establish a review of data, and follow updates that meet the specific needs of the student.


    Students Who are Diagnosed with Dyslexia

    While the School District of Clayton does not have the ability to diagnose students with dyslexia, we do have students who have been diagnosed with dyslexia by a qualified professional. The parents of a student diagnosed with dyslexia may propose that we begin the problem-solving team process to determine whether we suspect a disability.  In the case that a child is eligible under IDEA or Section 504, the District will evaluate the success of accommodations and modifications that can be put in place within our schools.


    A child with dyslexia does not qualify for a Special School District IEP based on the diagnosis of dyslexia but may qualify for a specific learning disability in the area of language or reading.


    For more information or school-level interventions related to dyslexia or other disorders of reading, please contact your school’s reading specialist.


    Resources

    Websites

    Missouri 

    Books

    • Reading in the Brain, by Stanislas Dehaene
    • Language at the Speed of Sight, by Mark Seidenberg
    • Overcoming Dyslexia, by Sally Shaywitz
    • Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain by Brock Eide and Fernette Eide

    Provider List from IDA for MO: