In February 2020, the Wisconsin legislature passed Wisconsin Act 86 (Act 86). This bi-partisan legislation, with support from Governor Tony Evers, resulted in the creation of this informational guidebook on dyslexia and related conditions. Act 86 stipulated:

• that the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), under the leadership of State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor, work with co-chairs and an advisory committee composed of equal membership from the Wisconsin Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (IDA WI) and the Wisconsin State Reading Association (WSRA);
• that the guidebook work from a specific definition of dyslexia;
• that the guidebook includes information about screening processes and tools, instruction and intervention, and resources; • a timeline for the creation and on-going revision of the guidebook; and
• that DPI host the guidebook on their website and that all Wisconsin school districts include a link to the guidebook on their respective websites.

See Appendix A for the full text of Act 86. See Appendix B for other Wisconsin statutes related to reading. This introduction (not required by Act 86) includes the following background:

• the process used to create the guidebook;
• general information about dyslexia; serving students with dyslexia within an equitable multi-level system of support;
• serving students with dyslexia in special education or through a 504 plan; and
• a definition of reading and literacy requirements for all students.

The Process

Together with the co-chairs, DPI completed the work required by Act 86 through a transparent process. While adults disagree about definitions, preferred interventions, and funding, the cochairs, DPI, and the advisory committee hoped to be a model for understanding and working through differences to best serve learners, their families, educators, and educational systems. To that end:

•  all meetings of the advisory committee, held virtually, were open for public observation;
• the co-chairs spent extensive time understanding each other’s expertise and perspectives about reading and dyslexia. They shared their learning with advisory committee members and developed guiding principles for the committee’s work;
• an outside facilitator led the group in establishing and applying working norms intended to lead to conversations about learners and families with an open exchange of ideas;
• each subgroup was provided with guidebook examples from other states as starting points for discussion. Subgroups considered the sections of other states’ guidebooks before including in the Wisconsin guidebook.
• Although not required by statute, a public comment period allowed for the collection of feedback from groups not included on the advisory committee. 

The Purposes of the Informational Guidebook on Dyslexia and Related Conditions

As Act 86 states, this is an informational guidebook on dyslexia and related conditions. It provides information to learners, families, educators, and educational systems. It does not include requirements, other than in places where the guidebook references state and federal laws. There are many kinds of reading difficulties that exist on a continuum of severity. The focus of this guidebook, as legislated, is on dyslexia and related conditions. However, this focus on dyslexia should not negate the fact that ALL students deserve an educational system that is responsive to individual strengths and needs.

This guidebook can be used to:  

• help learners, families, and educators understand the characteristics of dyslexia and related conditions and how they can be identified;
• share characteristics of instruction that can effectively serve students with dyslexia and related conditions so that all Wisconsin students get the instruction/interventions they need when they need it;
• help families understand what information to request and questions to ask to better understand their child’s strengths and needs as a learner;
• help families understand how their child’s needs as a reader are, or can be, addressed;
• help families understand educational language related to reading, including common terms related to assessment, instruction, and intervention;
• help families understand the universal instruction and/or interventions educators and educational systems use and how to effectively meet the needs of readers with dyslexia or related conditions; and
• support educational systems in considering how their system addresses assessment, screening, instruction, and intervention for all readers, including those with dyslexia and related conditions and those who struggle for other reasons.

The ultimate goal of this guidebook is to ensure that students, their families, educators, and citizens of Wisconsin understand that the Wisconsin K-12 education system should provide students with responsive instruction and interventions that build upon strengths and address current needs, so students become proficient readers.  Appendix B describes existing Wisconsin standards, legislative rules, and systems of support. Appendix B also describes federal requirements which guide districts to make instructional decisions for all students, including students with dyslexia and related conditions.

This guidebook highlights the need for early comprehensive assessments that lead to responsive instruction and intervention with the goal of preventing further reading difficulties. This is important for students with dyslexia because studies have shown that providing early intervention can “help prevent severe and persistent reading difficulties” (Catts and Hogan 2020, 11). Since reading becomes progressively more complex and because reading difficulties may persist despite expert teaching, students’ reading should continue to be assessed with both formative and summative assessments that lead to responsive instruction and interventions when needed K-12.  

Wisconsin school districts, in collaboration with their school boards, make decisions to best serve students. This includes selecting standards, assessments, and instructional materials for universal instruction and intervention. This guidebook provides information and guiding questions for making local decisions. It explains characteristics of instruction and assessment likely to benefit students with dyslexia and related conditions. School/district teams can consider these characteristics as they make decisions about instruction, assessment, and materials.

A school or district could assemble a team of educational professionals with varied expertise, family members, and community members to review the information in this guidebook. They could consider how the educational system and district/school meet the needs of readers when they struggle. They may also consider what improvements may be necessary in order to accomplish this.  (See DPI Guidance document for more information about how to use this guidebook.)  

Dyslexia: Defined

Act 86 specifies using the definition of dyslexia adopted by both the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): “a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties with accurate and 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 growth of vocabulary and background knowledge” (https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2019/related/acts/86).

Elaboration of the definition is found in Appendix C which provides further explanation of the following terms: • specific learning disability (which is defined specifically in federal and state law);

• neurobiological in origin;
• accurate and fluent word recognition;
• spelling and decoding abilities;
• a deficit in the phonological component of language; and
• often unexpected.

What are Related Conditions?

The guidebook is about dyslexia and “related conditions.” Act 86 required the inclusion of “related conditions” but did not officially define the term.  Based on the work of the legislative study committee (Summer 2018), the term “related conditions” is understood to refer to children struggling with learning to read in ways similar to the difficulties experienced by individuals with dyslexia. They also have difficulty with accuracy and fluency and poor spelling and decoding abilities.  Inclusion of “related conditions” ensures students who have difficulties with accurate and fluent word recognition also receive responsive, comprehensive instruction and timely interventions.  

Characteristics of Dyslexia

Dyslexia is found on the lower end of a continuum of reading skills (Elliott 2020; Shaywitz, S., Escobar, Shaywitz, B., Fletcher, and Makuch 1992).  Students with dyslexia range from those who experience difficulties with phonological awareness and word level difficulties to those having profound difficulties with reading and writing that persist throughout their lives.  Parents and educators sometimes ask for lists of characteristics to look for as indicators of dyslexia. 

These characteristics of dyslexia may indicate the need for further assessments if they persist despite effective instruction provided by expert reading teachers that is comprehensive, responsive, differentiated, and targeted based on the student’s strengths and areas of need. Young children who are learning to read and write and older students who have not had any instruction in these areas can also exhibit similar characteristics.  

Characteristics of dyslexia typically include the following:

• persistent difficulty with phonological processing, which impacts one’s ability to effectively decode letters into blended sounds to form words. A fundamental phonological processing problem may block access to more advanced aspects of reading, such as word identification and comprehension (Vellutino & Fletcher, 2007);
• persistence of slow, inaccurate, or labored oral reading below what is expected for their age and grade level despite effective instruction.  "Many complex and interdependent...skills contribute to the ability to read fluently, including recognition of speech sounds, letters, words, connected text, memory, cognition, and even individual experiences" (Hasbrouck & Glaser 2019, 17). Other factors that influence fluency include text structure, purposes for reading, and engagement;
• persistent difficulty with spelling despite responsive instruction and opportunities to write/spell, and spelling errors that reflect ongoing and persistent challenges with phonology, orthography, and morphology (Fletcher et al. 2019);    • patterns of difficulty with rapid naming of familiar objects. “Assessments of naming speed in young children can help identify those who may subsequently develop reading difficulties, (Elliott and Grigorenko, 2014, 55). However, research has not indicated that RAN can be improved with intervention (Elliot and Grigorenko 2014);  
• “co-occurring conditions” or overlapping learning disabilities (Seidenberg 2017, 166) such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), speech and language problems, dysgraphia (difficulty with handwriting and/or spelling), and math problems (dyscalculia) (Fletcher et al. 2019; Hasbrouck 2020; Seidenberg 2017); and
• dyslexia often runs in families.  “It is a moderately inheritable trait,” and research “is beginning to identify specific genetic markers of dyslexia that involve several different genes” (Fletcher et al., 2019, 190). 

Table 1 shows common myths about dyslexia (adapted from Colorado Department of Education Dyslexia Handbook 2020, 12-14).

Table 1: Myths about Dyslexia

Topic	Myth	Reality
Reversals	Myth: People with dyslexia see and write letters and words backward. Writing letters and words backwards means that a child has dyslexia.	Many young children reverse letters when learning to read and write. Reversing letters is not necessarily an indicator of the presence or absence of dyslexia in beginning readers (Elliot and Grigorenko 2014; Hasbrouck 2020; Kilpatrick 2016), although its persistence may indicate dyslexia.
Visual Issues	Myth: Dyslexia is a vision problem. It can be corrected or mitigated by using colored overlays, tinted lenses, or vision therapy.	Dyslexia is not a vision problem. It is a language-based problem. Therefore, treating dyslexia with therapies to improve visual function or tinted lenses/filters is not indicated (AAP 2009).
Special Education Eligibility	Myth: If a student has dyslexia, he or she will automatically receive special education supports through an Individual Education Program (IEP). An IEP is the only way to get the appropriate instruction and accommodations needed.	All reading difficulties, including dyslexia and related conditions, present in various ways from mild to severe. Some children with characteristics of dyslexia meet the eligibility requirements for special education in the specific learning disability (SLD) category. Some do not.  All students should receive appropriate high-quality universal, differentiated, responsive instruction with interventions or supports as needed. Students who do not respond to these interventions may be eligible to receive interventions through the state’s defined special education eligibility process.
Intelligence and School Success	Myth: If you perform well in school, you must not have dyslexia or related conditions.	The ability to learn to read does not directly correlate with a person’s intelligence (Elliot and Grigorenko 2014; Vellutino et al. 2000). Some students with dyslexia or related conditions perform well in school while others may not. Some higher performing students with dyslexia or related conditions have received appropriate instruction, accommodations, and/or supports, and/or have developed their own coping skills and strategies.
Reading Ability	Myth: Individuals with dyslexia cannot learn to read.	Students with dyslexia can learn to read with comprehensive, responsive, and targeted instruction (Vellutino et al. 1996; Kilpatrick 2020). However, they often do so with greater effort.
Comprehension	Myth: All students who have dyslexia have poor reading comprehension skills.	Individuals with dyslexia can have good comprehension skills, but their comprehension may be impacted by the amount of mental effort required to decode.  In addition to decoding skills, reading comprehension depends upon many factors like vocabulary, background knowledge, text complexity, working memory, purpose for reading, engagement, and interest (Fletcher et al 2019).
Reading Difficulties	Myth: All reading difficulties can be attributed to dyslexia.	Dyslexia is not the only reading difficulty. There are other profiles and conditions that may impact learning to read (Valencia and Buly 2004; SpearSwerling 2015) See Appendix D for more information.
Effort	Myth: If students with dyslexia just tried harder, they would learn to read.	When students with dyslexia appear capable and successful in other domains of learning, people may think that if they just tried harder during instruction and intervention, they would learn to read. Many individuals with dyslexia suffer from low self-esteem, anger, anxiety, hopelessness, and shame, especially when they are working as hard as they can without improvement (Hasbrouck 2021; Shaywitz and Shaywitz 2020).
Life-long Reading Difficulties	Myth:  Students with dyslexia will never become proficient and/or functional readers.	Early identification of students with characteristics of dyslexia followed by “powerful and age-appropriate instruction” (Hasbrouck 2020, 37) can help prevent the reading difficulties associated with dyslexia for many children (Hasbrouck 2020; Kilpatrick 2020; Vellutino et al. 1996).  Studies such as Vellutino et al. 1996 have shown “most reading difficulties can be successfully remediated. Furthermore, they showed we can prevent most reading difficulties from happening in the first place” (Kilpatrick 2020, 28).  However, some dyslexic learners may only become accurate but not automatic word readers (Fletcher et al. 2019).

Brain Imaging Research and Dyslexia  

The body of scientific reading research is informed by ongoing brain imaging research and research in the fields of cognitive psychology, linguistics, developmental psychology, and education, etc. This body of research helps further understand how the brain learns to read, including how the brains of individuals with dyslexia function.

Results from dyslexia brain imaging and other types of brain research have indicated there are physical and functional differences between the brains of people with dyslexia compared to typical readers.  Brain imaging studies have shown there are specific brain regions that do not activate or over activate in people with dyslexia compared to typical readers.  

Although brain imaging researchers continue to work to answer questions about how the brain functions in those with dyslexia, brain imaging does not currently provide a way to diagnose dyslexia, pinpoint individual differences, or prescribe specific interventions.   

Equitable Multi-Level System of Supports (E-MLSS): Reading Success for All

For Wisconsin schools and districts, implementing an equitable multi-level system of supports means providing equitable services, practices, and resources to every learner based on responsiveness to effective instruction and intervention. In this system, high-quality instruction, strategic use of data, and collaboration interact within a continuum of supports to aid learner success. Schools provide varying types of support at differing levels of intensity for proactive and responsive adjustments to the needs of the whole child (WI RtI 2017).

Figure 1: Wisconsin’s Framework for an Equitable Multi-Level System of Support

When done well, an E-MLSS (see Figure 1) can support readers with dyslexia and related conditions. Strong universal instruction (classroom instruction), especially at the early grades (as called for in Wisconsin’s Standards for ELA), includes explicit and systematic instruction in phonics. A continuum of supports exists to meet the needs of individual or small groups of readers based on assessment data and response to classroom instruction. Sound-symbol based interventions for students who need this are one element of this continuum of supports. An E-MLSS also supports readers with dyslexia and related conditions through strategic use of data which might include:

• yearly screening and, as needed, diagnostic assessment to identify students who are still developing accurate and fluent word recognition;
• use of formative assessment by the classroom teacher and intervention to continually adjust instruction to students’ strengths and needs; and
• use of summative assessment data to, over time, evaluate effectiveness of instruction and intervention at the programmatic level.

High-quality instruction which might include:

• use of evidence-based instructional practices in universal instruction and intervention. This includes explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics in the early grades and continuing in all grades as necessary for students with ongoing struggles in these foundational skills.

Collaboration which might include:

• systems and structures for collaboration between classroom teachers, interventionists, learners, and families to ensure cohesion between instruction; and
• attending to all aspects of a student’s identity and needs. This includes meeting social emotional needs and teaching self-advocacy. 

When intentionally designed and refined, an E-MLSS, allows for instruction that meets the needs of the majority of students. However, some students may need more than what can be offered in an E-MLSS. Students with dyslexia and related conditions may qualify for support through special education or Section 504. More information is found in Appendix G.

Reading: Defined

Dyslexia impacts an individual’s ability to read. For that reason, it is important to consider what is meant by reading. How one defines reading influences the goals of instruction and intervention.  

Reading can be defined as, “a multifaceted process involving word recognition [identifying the words in print], comprehension [constructing an understanding from words in print], fluency [automatic and accurate reading], and motivation” (Leipzig 2001), or “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language” (Snow, 2002, 11).  

The early work of the advisory committee included discussion of what kind of readers we hope Wisconsin students become.  Members of the advisory committee believe it is important to create readers who:

• are competent, comfortable, and fluent readers in academic and non-academic settings; • read and comprehend for a variety of purposes with cognitive flexibility;
• read proficiently which leads toward equitable outcomes for all students;
• have equitable access to comprehensive and responsive reading instruction and a variety of appropriate resources; and
• enjoy reading -- are thoughtful, engaged, purposeful, critical and questioning.

Readers of the guidebook are encouraged to consider what kind of readers they hope to create.

These ambitions should be reflected in the learning opportunities available to students with dyslexia and related conditions.

Reading and the advisory committee’s valued qualities of readers happen through intentional and explicit instruction that includes practice, feedback, and application of all components depicted in Figure 2.  

Figure 2. A Model Representing the Reading Process 

• Reading Comprehension
  • Metacognition
  • Interest & Relevancy
  • Choice & Access
  • Social / Emotional Learning
• Foundational Skills*
  • Concepts about Print / Phonological Awareness
  • Phonemic Awareness
  • Alphabetic Principle
  • Phonics
  • Orthographic Knowledge
  • Automatic Word Recognition
  • Fluency in Context
• Language Skills 
  • Background Knowledge: Topical, Disciplinary, World and Linguistic (e.g. pragmatics)
  • Vocabulary: Lexical & Morphological
  • Structure: at text & sentence levels
  • Language Comprehension 
• Cognitive Skills
  • General Purpose for Reading
  • Specific Purpose for Reading
  • Strategic Reading Behavior
  • Comprehending Strategies
  • Strateigic Knowledge

* Sequential Overlapping Skills
Adapted from Farrall, M. (2012) Beading assessment: Linking language, literacy, and cognition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons; Mckenna, M. & Stahl, K (2009)

The ultimate goal of reading is reading comprehension which results from proficiency and integration of all the following components: foundational skills, language skills, and cognitive skills which are influenced by metacognition; interest and relevance of texts, tasks, and topics, choice and access; and social/emotional learning. Figure 2 depicts the components of reading in a linear fashion. In reality, the components are interrelated. This complexity is reflected in:

• Wisconsin’s Guiding Principles for Teaching and Learning;
• Wisconsin’s Vision for English Language Arts;
• Wisconsin’s Model Early Learning Standards (used from birth through grade 1);
• Wisconsin’s Standards for English Language Arts; and
• Key shifts included in Appendix 1 (beginning on p. 69) of Wisconsin’s 2020 standards for ELA.

While instruction for students with dyslexia should be targeted to meet specific strengths and needs, that instruction must also provide students with the opportunity to work in or move beyond grade-level standards.

Students with dyslexia and related conditions usually have difficulty with the foundational skills required for fluently reading the words on the page.  Therefore, it is critical to ensure they are taught and have reached proficiency in the foundational skills, which include phonemic awareness and phonics. Teaching foundational skills in the early grades is important because, if done well, fewer children, including some with dyslexia and related conditions, will need intervention later.  However, students with dyslexia may need ongoing intervention with foundational skills in later elementary or into secondary grades.  

Those who struggle with dyslexia and related conditions can feel overwhelmed. They often recognize their need for support long before they are able to voice it. The Colorado dyslexia handbook states, “depending on their age, individuals with dyslexia are well aware that they have difficulty reading and/or understanding what they read. They may have challenges with keeping up with assignments, with organizing or prioritizing materials, with asking for or managing extra time they will need to write a paper, or with note taking and study strategies” (Colorado Department of Education Dyslexia Handbook 2020, 46).  

Reading instruction should be provided by an expert teacher.  Therefore, teachers need ongoing professional learning to build upon their expertise in order to effectively teach their students.  This reading-specific learning should include comprehensive knowledge about literacy as a complex process, the body of evidence of reading research (referenced in Appendices C, D, and E), patterns of literacy acquisition and development, and how to assess in order to differentiate to meet the individual needs of each student they serve.    

While it is necessary for most students with dyslexia to engage in explicit instruction in sound symbol correspondence, the body of scientific reading research includes information about more than just teaching phonics. It represents a “complicated constellation of skills and knowledge that impact reading comprehension” (Cervetti et al. 2020,1).  Seidenberg et al. (2020) said, “discussions about connecting the science of reading to education are often limited to phonics.  The considerable research on this issue is only one part of a much larger body of research that has addressed the many other elements of skilled reading and its development, including the many factors that affect students’ progress. The science speaks to the importance of integrating print and sound early in development and to the role of instruction.  However, it does so in the context of other skills and knowledge, their dependence on each other, and the development of reading over time” (Seidenberg et al. 2020, S127).

All reading instruction elements depicted in Figure 2 are important to consider as part of comprehensive reading instruction.  However, as noted above, students with dyslexia almost always need more intensity of instruction with phonemic awareness and phonics (the foundational skills) and careful monitoring as they apply their foundational skills to reading connected text.  

How to Read this Document

This is an informational guidebook. Other than where statutory requirements are clearly stated, this guidebook shares information rather than making recommendations or mandates.

The guidebook includes three chapters: screening and assessment, instruction and intervention, and resources. These chapters represent the three topics that Act 86 required for the informational guidebook. The chapters, which refer to each other, appear in the order the topics are listed in statute.

The document offers the following features to support users:

• When applicable, significant vocabulary is defined at the beginning of each chapter. Definitions are repeated at a glossary at the end of the document (before the appendices);
• Each chapter begins with the purpose of the chapter and an outline; and
• Each chapter includes guiding or probing questions for learners and families, educators, and educational systems. These and additional questions are included in Appendix D.

The document also includes appendices. The appendices provide supplemental and/or more in depth information. They are referenced in the chapters, as applicable.

Schools/districts may consider studying this guidebook in collaborative teams. Visit https://dpi.wi.gov/reading/dyslexia guidebook for a guidance document. The guidance document was informed by the advisory committee and intended to support diverse teams in having productive conversations that lead to improved understanding for adults and learning for students with dyslexia and related conditions. 

  

Purpose of this Chapter

The purpose of this chapter is to address “screening processes and tools available to identify dyslexia and related conditions” (WI Act 86).

Screeners are one part of a comprehensive literacy assessment system. The system guides instruction to provide students with what they need when they need it in ways in which they can learn.  Screening, along with other forms of assessment (such as formative and summative assessments and progress monitoring), are essential processes that provide information for teachers to effectively differentiate instruction and intervention for diverse learners, especially students with dyslexia and related conditions.  

Like all sections of this guidebook, the ideas in this chapter are informational, meant to inform and guide discussion. Anything that is required by statute is clearly indicated. This section focuses on:

• understanding reading screening processes and tools;
• understanding a comprehensive literacy assessment system of which screening is a part;
• parent information about assessment;
• teacher and educational system information about assessment;
• special considerations for English learners (ELs);
• testing for dyslexia; and
• ideas to consider.

Relevant Definitions

Strategic Assessment: “Formative, benchmark and summative assessments to provide a complete and clear picture of student progress, student achievement, and instructional effectiveness” (Wisconsin Response to Intervention (RtI) Center 2017)

Screening Assessment: “Valid and reliable measures and processes used to assess students’ current level of performance in relation to grade level benchmarks” that could be used to identify a need for diagnostic assessment to better understand strengths and needs” (WI RtI 2017)

Diagnostic Assessment: A series of assessments conducted to better understand an individual student’s specific strengths and needs in order to plan for responsive and targeted instruction.

Relevant Wisconsin Statute

See Appendix B for further information 

• 118.016 explains Wisconsin’s requirement for an assessment of reading readiness.
  • All students are screened annually in an appropriate, valid, and reliable measure of reading readiness that includes measures of phonemic awareness and letter sound knowledge.

Understanding Universal Reading Screening in Wisconsin

Screening is a specific type of assessment. Universal reading screening, usually administered to all students early in the school year through a valid and reliable assessment, is a way to identify students who may need a diagnostic assessment and possibly more support in reading. This includes students with dyslexia and related conditions.  

For kindergarten (beginning in 4K) through grade 2, Wis. Stat. 118.016 requires that every student be assessed annually “using the appropriate, valid, and reliable assessment of literacy fundamentals selected by the school board”. The statute further requires that:

• the assessment measures phonemic awareness and letter sound knowledge (critical to early identification of students with word level reading difficulties); and
• assessment results are communicated to families.
• “If a student's score on the literacy screener indicates the student is at risk of reading difficulty, schools and districts are required to provide interventions or remedial services...and shall address all areas in which the student is deficient” (https://dpi.wi.gov/assessment/reading-readiness).  

This statute does not include a family opt-out provision. Every student must be assessed. Student performance on this assessment is not reported to the state and does not factor into a school or district report card.

Wisconsin’s guidance about equitable multi-level systems of supports recommends that schools/districts screen annually.  

Schools/districts make local decisions about what screening tool or tools to use. See this link: https://dpi.wi.gov/assessment/reading-readiness/selection for guidance from DPI on selecting screening tools.

Understanding Reading Assessment Beyond Screening

If the universal screener identifies a student who may need more support in reading, additional information gathered from a comprehensive literacy assessment system should be used to best serve the student. These could include:

• diagnostic assessments, which is a broad term used to describe a series of assessments conducted to better understand an individual student’s specific strengths and needs in order to plan for responsive and targeted instruction; and/or
• formative assessments (including teacher observation and other informal assessments), continually conducted by educators. These provide by-the-minute information to immediately inform instruction.  

For more information about formative assessment, visit https://dpi.wi.gov/strategicassessment/cycles-assessment/formative.  

Wisconsin does not have any statutes related to diagnostic or formative assessment.

Parent Information about Screening and Identification  

Parents, guardians, and other stakeholders often have questions about the results of their child’s screening in school and their own observations of their child.  Table 2 is a list of potential indicators of dyslexia and related conditions. This list of potential indicators, if present toward the end of the specified grade and after responsive instruction and interventions during the year, can also guide diagnostic assessment.

It is important to note that young children who are learning to read and write, students who do not have background experiences with literacy, and students who have not had any instruction in these areas also exhibit some of these characteristics.  Many checks in one area suggests a need for further assessment and/or conversations with their child’s teachers.  

Table 2. Potential Indicators of Dyslexia

(Adapted from Arizona Department of Education 2018, 7 - 8; New Jersey Dyslexia Handbook 2017, 20 - 21)

Yes / No to the following:

• Potential Indicators of Dyslexia  
  • Family history of dyslexia or learning challenges
• Characteristics that may persist after responsive instruction and intervention    
  • Student scored below benchmark on universal screening measure    
  • Student is performing poorly in the classroom  
  • Student progress monitoring data shows slow or poor rate of improvement  
• Characteristics that may persist toward the end of the kindergarten year after responsive instruction and intervention from expert teachers  
  • Late learning to talk or slow to learn new words; persistent inability to recall the right word (word retrieval) even with very familiar words    
  • Trouble pronouncing speech sounds that would be expected for their age    
  • Mixing up the sounds and syllables in long words (says “aminal” for “animal”) or “difficulty breaking words into smaller parts (syllables) (e.g., ‘baseball can be pulled apart into ‘base’ and ‘ball’ or ‘napkin’ can be pulled apart into ‘nap’ and ‘kin’’ (Arizona Department of Education 2018, 7)  
  • Avoids letters or confuses them   Difficulty recalling sounds of letters learned  
  • Unable to break words into separate speech sounds (cat has 3 sounds /c/ /ă/ /t/ or “say the word “bat” and ask the student to delete the first sound /b/”)  
  • Cannot identify or create words that rhyme    Doesn’t know letters in own name    
  • Confused about the meanings of the words – who, what, where, when, before, after, etc.    
  • Decreased interest in read-alouds or word play activities
• Characteristics that may persist toward the end of grade 1 after responsive instruction and intervention from expert teachers  
  • Difficulty remembering the names of letters and recalling them quickly  
  • Difficulty learning sound-letter correspondence-- “doesn’t associate letter or letter combinations with sounds (e.g., /b/ with “b,” or /j/ with “dge”)” (Arizona Department of Education 2018, 7)  
  • Difficulty with phonemic awareness tasks (such as blending or breaking words into separate speech sounds, flash = /f/, /l/, /ă/,/sh/)    
  • Difficulty learning to recognize common words automatically (family names, names on signs or objects, high frequency words)   Has difficulty self-correcting errors when directed to check the sounds/letters in the word, such as when reading “rabbit” as “bunny”  
  • Difficulty spelling (omitting sounds, substituting sounds, adding sounds, transposal of sounds) when spelling phonetically regular words  
  • Isn’t developing “strategies for reading unfamiliar words and doesn’t recognize common prefixes and suffixes” (Arizona Department of Education 2018, 19)  
  • Difficulty remembering sequences (days of the week, months, ABCs)    
• Characteristics that may persist after responsive instruction and intervention  
  • Frequently misreads common high frequency words (when, went, they, their, been, to, does, said, what)  
  • Lacks strategies for word solving.  May guess at unknown words by over-relying on context or pictures without reference to print  
  • Difficulty decoding phonetically regular words, often making single sound errors, omitting syllables, or skipping over prefixes and suffixes    
  • Lacks strategies for solving multisyllabic words  
  • Persistent inability to recall the right word (word retrieval)  
  • Loses place and skips over words while reading without noticing  
  • Persistent reversals and transpositions of letters, numbers, and words with similar visual appearance (such as b & d, 6 & 9, was & saw)    
  • Spells phonetically without applying spelling rules or patterns. Additionally, often “uses less complicated words in writing that are easier to spell than more appropriate words (e.g., ‘big’ instead of ‘enormous’) (Arizona Department of Education 2018, 8)  
  • Difficulty with spelling phonetically regular words (omitting sounds, substituting sounds, adding sounds, transposal of sounds)    
  • Spelling the same word different ways on the same page  
  • Slow, choppy, and/or inaccurate oral reading that lacks appropriate expression when rereading instructional or independent level texts  
  • Comprehension problems arising from poor word recognition; “cannot summarize what has been read” and “does not use strategies to increase understanding” (Arizona Department of Education 2018, 20)  
  • Beginning to avoid reading and writing tasks    
  • Difficulty with memorizing math facts 
• Characteristics that may persist after responsive instruction and intervention  
  • Slow, inaccurate oral reading when reading passages at a student’s instructional level or grade level  
  • Inaccurate reading of grade level word lists    
  • Ongoing difficulty with spelling phonetically regular words (omitting sounds, substituting sounds, adding sounds, transposal of sounds)    
  • Difficulty with handwriting and written expression: “has trouble connecting ideas, including details, maintaining the topic...and fails to use correct punctuation and capitalization” (Arizona Department of Education 2018, 20)  
  • Avoidance of reading    
  • Substantial gap in reading comprehension compared to listening comprehension  
  • “Limited word knowledge, difficulty in learning new vocabulary words, and difficulty recalling the right word (word retrieval)” (Arizona Department of Education 2018, 20)
• Characteristics that may persist after responsive instruction and intervention  
  • Slow oral reading when rereading grade level passages and/or passages at a student’s instructional leve
  • Difficulty with spelling (omitting sounds, substituting sounds, adding sounds, transposal of sounds)    
  • Difficulty with note-taking  
  • Overwhelmed by multiple assignments  
  • Cannot work fast enough to cope    
  • Lack of effective strategies for studying  
  • Difficulty with homework completion    
  • Difficulty with organization    
  • Persistent comprehension and vocabulary deficits compared to peers requiring ongoing intense instruction    
  • Expressing oneself in writing is difficult and requires great effort  

Diagnostic Assessment for Students with Dyslexia or Related Conditions

Diagnostic assessment may be necessary when universal screening shows that a student is not yet meeting grade-level expectations for reading. The assessment provides information about a student’s specific strengths and needs. Students’ strengths should be considered alongside their instructional needs when matching a student to interventions.  

Teacher expertise in selecting, administering, and interpreting diagnostic (and other) assessments and planning further instruction is paramount. Diagnostic assessments are not intended to “diagnose” dyslexia.  Instead, diagnostic assessments results indicate which students will likely need more responsive, differentiated, targeted, and intensive instruction.  

Since dyslexia occurs along a continuum of severity, not all students with dyslexia and related conditions will demonstrate a need for support in all categories of a diagnostic assessment. A student need not be behind in all or a specified number of the areas of assessment to benefit from intensified instruction in reading.  

For students with characteristics of dyslexia and related conditions, diagnostic assessments may investigate what a student understands about a concept and reasons why a student may have difficulty learning and applying concepts such as those in Table 3 (Colorado Department of Education Dyslexia Handbook 2020). 

Table 3: Potential Areas of Diagnostic Assessment for Dyslexia and Related Conditions

4K:  

• Phonological Awareness (PA); and
• Letter-sound knowledge.

Kindergarten

• Phonological Awareness, including phoneme segmentation, blending, onset and rime;
• Rapid automatic naming (RAN)*, including letter-naming fluency;
• Letter-sound association;
• Phonological memory**, including nonword repetition; and
• Oral expressive and receptive language, including vocabulary, syntax and listening comprehension. These should also be considered since oral language development can be predictive of later reading outcomes.

First Grade

• Phonemic Awareness, specifically phoneme segmentation, blending, and manipulation***;
•  Letter naming fluency; letter-sound association;
• Phonological memory, including nonword repetition; 
• Word recognition fluency (i.e., accuracy and rate);
• Oral reading fluency should be added by mid-first grade; and
• Oral expressive and receptive language (including vocabulary, syntax, and listening comprehension) should be also considered since oral language development and oral comprehension can be predictive of later reading outcomes and give insights into learning strengths and overall verbal reasoning, comprehension, and vocabulary.
• Second and third grade (and beyond);
• Word identification including real and nonsense words (pseudowords)****;
• Oral reading fluency; • Reading comprehension; and
• Oral expressive and receptive language (including vocabulary, syntax, and listening comprehension) should be also considered since oral language development and oral comprehension can be predictive of later reading outcomes and give insights into learning strengths and overall verbal reasoning, comprehension, and vocabulary.

 *A pattern of difficulty with rapid naming of familiar objects, numbers, letters, or colors may be evident. This screening tool is not meant to guide instruction but to be used only for screening purposes. “Students slower than average with RAN [rapid automatized naming] typically struggle with word level reading” (Kilpatrick 2015, 364).

 ** Phonological memory:  the ability to hold sounds in working or short-term memory

*** Phonemic manipulation:  ability to modify, change, or move individual sounds in a word. 

**** Nonsense words (pseudowords) are used for assessment only; they should never be taught or practiced.  A nonsense word is one that “follows conventional spelling patterns but has no meaning (e.g., ‘muz,’ ‘blod,’ ‘prupe,’ ‘smand’).  Nonsense words are sometimes used in assessments to determine a student’s decoding skills, because these words are not able to be recognized as sight words” (Hasbrouck 2020).  This ensures a student can only use decoding strategies when reading a nonsense word (Hasbrouck and Glaser 2018).

Special Considerations for English Learners

English learners (ELs) and emerging bilinguals have unique language needs; a one-time assessment (such as a screening) may produce results that do not represent the complexity of a student’s language development.

It is difficult to determine which of a student's strengths and needs are the result of typical language development and which may be the result of dyslexia or a related condition. To ensure assessment supports instruction that best meets the needs of individual ELs and/or emerging bilinguals, schools/districts could:

• assess/understand a student’s development in their languages other than English;
• use a variety of measures administered over time to look for patterns of strengths and needs; and
• intervene early and monitor how a student’s language development responds to universal instruction and/or intervention, adjusting the intervention based on the student’s response.

Identifying Characteristics of Dyslexia

There is not a single conclusive assessment to determine if an individual has dyslexia. Instead, schools can use multiple assessments and data points to determine whether a student has characteristics of dyslexia to provide responsive, targeted instruction to meet the needs of students with dyslexia and related conditions (Catts & Hogan, 2021).  

A diagnosis or label of dyslexia is not a prerequisite for school-provided reading support. Within an E-MLSS, a student is matched with additional support (interventions) based on their needs rather than a diagnosis or label. Within special education, information from a dyslexia assessment (whether provided by the school or an outside provider) can be used as part of an eligibility determination. However, a diagnosis of dyslexia does not guarantee special education services.  

There is nothing in state or federal law that specifically allows schools to or prohibits schools from assessing for characteristics of dyslexia. If a school assesses for characteristics of dyslexia, the school might consider:

• ensuring the selected assessment or battery of assessments are valid and reliable; and  
• ensuring that the individuals administering the assessment(s) are properly trained and have all credentials required by the test publisher.

If a family chooses to seek assessment for dyslexia outside of the school, the family is responsible for the cost of the assessment. If a family is considering outside assessment, they may wish to ask the following questions:

• What are the credentials of the person who will be administering the assessment(s)?
• What assessments will be administered? What does each measure? How does what is measured connect to dyslexia?
• What interventions or supports will be recommended based on the results of the assessment?  

An outside evaluation diagnosing a reading disorder such as dyslexia may provide useful information to the IEP team in determining a child’s eligibility for special education.  Furthermore, as stated in guidance from DPI and the federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), there is nothing in IDEA that would prohibit the use of the terms dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia in IDEA evaluations, eligibility determinations, or IEP documents. However, in order for a child to be eligible for special education services, the school district must conduct an evaluation, and the IEP team must first determine that the student meets criteria under one of the specified disability categories under state and federal special law (such as criteria for specific learning disability or other health impairment).  

Second, the IEP team must determine that the student requires specially designed instruction. These considerations by the IEP team are not necessarily the same as those applied during an outside evaluation or diagnosis.

Ideas to Consider

Use the questions in Table 4 to have conversations that lead to better support for students with dyslexia and related conditions. Find additional prompting questions in Appendix F.  

Table 4. Ideas to Consider - Screening Processes and Tools

Families	Educators	Educational Systems
What does the reading screener tell you about my child’s strengths and needs in reading? How is my child performing on classroom assessments? What does the reading screener tell you about my child’s strengths and needs in reading? What do you know about my child’s development of phonemic awareness? Phonics?  Reading comprehension? Engagement with reading? Based on current data, what additional supports or challenges is my student engaged in? (i.e., Is my child receiving reading intervention?) If additional support is needed: What will reading intervention focus on? When will we meet again to discuss progress and/or next steps?	In 4K through grade 2: What reading readiness screener do we use for students in 4K through grade 2 to meet the requirements for phonemic awareness and alphabet and letter-sound knowledge? In grades 3 through 12: What reading screener do we use? In all grades: Who administers the screener and how do I get the results? What information does the screener tell me about students’ strengths and needs related to phonemic awareness, letter sound knowledge, other foundational reading skills, and reading comprehension?   Based on screening results, what diagnostic assessment may be needed? What support do I have to create an effective action plan to address specific students’ needs based on the data received? What professional learning do I need in order to meet the needs of all my students within the EMLSS?	In 4K through grade 2: What reading readiness screener do we use for students in 4K through grade 2 to meet the requirements for phonemic awareness and alphabet and letter-sound knowledge?  In grades 3 through 12: What reading screener do we use? In all grades: What information does the reading screener tell us about learners’ strengths and needs related to phonemic awareness, letter-sound knowledge, other foundational reading skills, and reading comprehension? What diagnostic assessments are available? How are the results communicated to teachers?  How are the results communicated to families? How are teachers supported in using the results to inform student grouping and instruction? How are teachers supported in using the results to inform decision-making about instructional context, content, time, and intensity?   How does our district use screening and diagnostic information to help students struggling with literacy? Does our current screening practice provide the information for us to meet federal Child Find requirements to identify all students in our district with a suspected learning disability? What professional learning does the district need to provide in order to make sure that teachers have the expertise to meet the needs of all students within the EMLSS?

Purpose of this Chapter

This chapter discusses “interventions and instructional strategies that have been shown to improve academic performance of pupils with dyslexia and related conditions” (WI Act 86).

For some young people, the ability to read seems to happen with little effort. When they’re older, they have a hard time describing how they learned to read because the process of becoming a reader seemed so natural to them. Yet, human beings are not born knowing how to read. We need to learn how the specific language that we hear and speak is represented in writing.  

Reading instruction in schools is the way that most children make the transition from oral language to print. However, for some students, including those with dyslexia and related conditions, learning to read is especially difficult and requires comprehensive and differentiated instruction, responsive and targeted interventions, and explicit and systematic instructional strategies from expert teachers to engineer that transition. As Dr. P. David Pearson writes,

 “…a teacher’s job is always to bridge from the known to the new. Because there really is no other choice. Kids are who they are. They know what they know. They bring what they bring...Our job is to turn each student’s knowledge, along with the diversity of knowledge we will encounter in a classroom of learners, into a curricular strength rather than an instructional inconvenience” (Pearson 2007, 36).

Human variation is a given. Schools should have ways to discover the unique strengths, interests, and needs of every student in order to design and provide what each student needs, when the student needs it, in ways that each student can learn.  

Like all sections of this guidebook, the ideas in this chapter are informational, meant to inform and guide discussion. Anything that is required by statute is clearly indicated. This section focuses on:

• relevant definitions and WI statutes;
• how an educational system can support students with dyslexia and related conditions;
• qualities of instruction that benefit individuals with dyslexia and related conditions;
• content of instruction that benefits individuals with dyslexia and related conditions;
• how universal instruction serves students with dyslexia and related conditions;
• the role of educator expertise; and
• ideas to consider.

Relevant Definitions

Universal Instructional: “the academic and behavioral curriculum and instruction deemed critical, delivered to all students, and expected to meet the needs of most students in a school. Also referred to as Core Instruction, Primary Level of Intervention, and Tier One instruction” (Wisconsin Response to Intervention (RtI) Center 2017). 

Intervention: “The systematic use of a technique, practice, or program designed and shown to improve learning in specific areas of student need” (Wisconsin Response to Intervention (RtI) Center 2017).

Relevant Wisconsin Statutes

See Appendix B for further information.

• 118.015 and 121.02 include requirements related to reading instruction:
  • Each school district shall maintain a written, sequential curriculum plan in reading and language arts;
  • Each school district shall provide regular instruction in reading and language arts; and o Each school district shall employ a district reading specialist
• Schools/districts make local decisions about instructional methodology, programs, and materials.
• 121.02 requires the identification of students in kindergarten to grade 4 experiencing challenges in reading and providing them with appropriate interventions and support. This is sometimes referred to as Standard C.
• A reading teacher license is required in most situations where reading or reading intervention is being taught beyond the reading instruction provided by the classroom teacher. Further information is found at https://dpi.wi.gov/title-i/teacher-andparaprofessional-qualifications and https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/tepdl/pdf/RtI-Licensure-Guidance.pdf.  

How an Educational System Can Support Students with Dyslexia and Related Conditions

The framework of support that a school designs to serve all students is referred to as an equitable multi-level system of support or E-MLSS (see page 10 and https://dpi.wi.gov/rti). An EMLSS should include instruction that meets the needs of students with dyslexia and related conditions. These needs can be met through combinations of the following:

• differentiation of universal instruction within the classroom including interventions provided by the classroom teacher;
• additional instruction (sometimes called intervention) by an appropriately certified teacher (in the classroom or in a setting outside of the classroom); and/or
• special education.

Decision making about what combination of the above services may benefit a student should be based upon results from a comprehensive assessment system. These decisions are sometimes guided by local decision rules and include but are not limited to instructional priorities, instructional methods, scheduling, staffing, group size, and/or monitoring of progress.

Further, these decisions should be determined by a team of educators (including the child’s classroom teacher and a reading teacher and/or reading specialist), working with families, who have a deep understanding of the student’s strengths and needs as well as expertise in literacy. Types of support can change over time based on a student’s response, as monitored through a comprehensive assessment system. Support becomes more intensive if a student is not yet learning. Support is slowly decreased if a student is progressing at the expected rate.  

In some cases, intervention is facilitated by the classroom teacher. In other cases, intervention is facilitated by an interventionist (a reading teacher or reading specialist). If a student has an IEP that includes specially designed instruction for reading, the instruction can be offered by a special education teacher or a reading teacher. Decisions about who facilitates intervention are made based on:

• intensity of student need and
• educator qualifications.

Ideally, students with the greatest need are matched with the appropriately certified teacher with the strongest qualifications.

The process of adjusting support for students with dyslexia and related conditions is ongoing. So is the process of continuous improvement of a school or district’s E-MLSS to best serve students with reading challenges. This adjustment is the work of adults. “We should not expect children to adapt their learning to a flawed system; we must re-design our systems to understand and adapt to each learner, with the goal of helping them to discover and realize their potential” (Science of Learning and Development Alliance 2020, 15). Adjusting and/or intensifying support could include:

• providing more time for targeted instruction;
• reducing group size for explicit instruction and/or practice;
• grouping children with similar learning needs;
• increasing engagement strategies; and
• support for applying new and developing learning in independent reading and writing.

All instruction for students with dyslexia and related conditions is inextricably linked with assessment. Information from screening, diagnostic assessments, and formative assessments supports educator understanding of a student’s unique strengths and needs so that instruction and interventions match what the student needs. For example, diagnostic assessment may show that one student with characteristics of dyslexia needs to continue developing phonemic awareness through manipulating phonemes. A diagnostic assessment may show that another student with characteristics of dyslexia may benefit from continued work with decoding multisyllabic words.  

Figure 3 depicts a cycle of instruction, planning, and assessment that can support improved reading outcomes for students with dyslexia and related conditions. When considering assessments, review Tables 2 and 3 for content to be included in assessments. When designing instruction and intervention, consider the critical principles of reading instruction that support students with dyslexia and related conditions (Table 5).

Figure 3: Assessment and Instruction Cycle

• Student Learning
  • Assessment
  • Planning
  • Instruction

For students with dyslexia and related conditions, coherence between all instruction is needed to ensure an experience that promotes transfer and application of knowledge and skills. Coherence can be built through collaboration between classroom teachers and interventionists, consistent use of vocabulary, and sharing of data about student understanding between settings. Families are crucial partners in this collaboration. They can provide in-depth knowledge about their child’s behavior, what motivates them, and may be able to provide observations about what instructional techniques have or have not worked in the past. Figure 4 illustrates the types of support a student with dyslexia and related conditions might experience and the connection between assessment and instruction. 

Figure 4: Navigating the School System When Your Child Struggles with Reading  

Steps and Supports Available Within the School Setting

If a student is struggling with reading in school, we can identify their needs through: 

1. Identify need for supports:
   • * A system of screening identifies a student as at-risk of reading difficulties.
   • Parents(s) and / or teacher(s) agree that there is a need for diagnostic assessment to understand the student's reading strengths and needs. 
   • Special education or 504 accommodations: Request an evaluation for special education or 504 accommodations
2. Make and implement a plan for supports:
   • Decide what supports are needed within universal instruction**
   • Decide what additional supports (intervention) are needed**
   • Ensure there is a communication plan between teacher(s) and parent(s)
   • Determine how student's response to universal instruction and/or intervention will be monitored over time
   • Ensure teachers have on-going resources to implement supports in universal instruction and/or intervention (including professional learning)
   • If a student is being evaluated for special education, ensure eligibility evaluation procedures are followed
3. Monitor and adjust
   • Determine how student's response to universal instruction and/or intervention will be monitored over time
   • Monitor success of supports in universal instruction and/or interventions and make adjustments, as needed
   • If interventions are not working even after adjustments, consider a special education or 504 evaluation
   • ***If there is a disability and there is a need for supports, develop a 504 plan to improve access to grade level materials and learning or
     • If the student is eligible for special education, develop IEP to provide services and supports to ensure access to progress with grade level learning. 

Schools/districts design systems to meet local needs; therefore, the process outlined in the graphic may look slightly different school to school

*Wis. Stat. 118.016 requires annual screening for reading readiness in 4K through grade 2. See Appendix B for further information

**Unless parents and teachers agree not to intervene, Wis. Stat. 121.02 (sometimes called Standard C) requires reading interventions (kindergarten to grade 4) for students who do not meet benchmarks in the reading readiness assessment required by 118.016. These interventions could occur as part of universal instruction and /or intervention.

***Specific federal and state requirements exist for special education eligibility. For specific learning disability, interventions and progress monitoring must meet certain criteria. Se Pl 11.36(6) and Appendix B for more information. 

Parent(s) has a right to continue with and seed additional supports through community psychologists, tutors, speech pathologists, etc...

Within the requirements of state and federal laws, schools/districts make local decisions about how to allocate the financial and human resources available for reading instruction and intervention. Ideally, through on-going refinement and professional learning, universal instruction meets the needs of a majority (at least 80% of learners).

Strong universal instruction opens more resources to provide the most intensive interventions to the students who truly need it, including students with dyslexia and related conditions. From there, schools/districts make decision rules that teams use to determine which students have the greatest need for intervention and which interventions are a match for their individual needs. 

Students with dyslexia and related conditions participate in universal instruction. In addition, students with dyslexia may participate in intervention and/or special education. Across all of these settings, instruction is carefully and intentionally designed and delivered to meet individual needs. This section of the guidebook discusses qualities of instruction across all settings (universal instruction, intervention, and/or special education) that benefit students with dyslexia and related conditions.

First, all instruction should be implemented in ways that advance educational equity. For students with dyslexia, this can happen through:

• classroom and school environments that are inclusive and welcoming for all students, including students with dyslexia and related conditions;
• materials, including assessments, that are culturally and linguistically sensitive and sustaining, reflecting students’ identities and identities in the world (including positive representations of individuals with dyslexia and related conditions); and
• reading, writing, and collaboration that is used in ways that promote critical thinking about identities and social issues.

For more information about culturally responsive practice, see Wisconsin’s Model to Inform Culturally Responsive Practice.  

Second, barriers to learning should be minimized. This can happen through differentiation and Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

•  Differentiation is “the dynamic adjustment of curriculum and instructional practices based on the learning needs of students” (Wisconsin Response to Intervention (RtI) Center 2017).
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is “a research‐based set of principles (engagement, access, assessment) to guide the design of learning environments accessible and effective for every learner” (Wisconsin Response to Intervention (RtI) Center 2017).

While both differentiation and UDL can be used to benefit all learners, each can be used in ways that specifically benefit students with dyslexia. Further information about how to use differentiation and/or UDL to meet the specific needs of students with dyslexia and related conditions can be found in Appendix H.

Table 5 explains critical principles of reading instruction for students with dyslexia and related conditions.  

Table 5: Critical Principles of Reading Instruction for Students with Dyslexia and Related Conditions

Critical Principles	What Students with Dyslexia and Related Conditions May Need
Early intervention that addresses individual needs leads to later success. What you might see: Support for individual needs first occurs within universal instruction. Intervention provided within (and/or outside) the classroom. Adjustments to intervention based on the student’s response. Most intensive intervention (support) for students with the greatest need. Allocation of resources (time and personnel) to early grades.	Based on screening and diagnostic assessment, early attention is given to intervention in kindergarten and grade 1 and continuing in higher grades, as needed Early intervention should focus on the identified needs of each student. This may include foundational skills such as: print concepts, letter identification, alphabetic principle, phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, word recognition, or fluency. More frequent and intensive instruction, adjusted based on student response and needs of the whole child. Diagnostic assessment can help determine the nature of a student’s strengths and needs.
Instruction is guided by assessment. Instructional decisions should be guided by assessment of individual student knowledge and progress. What you might see: Universal screening Ongoing formative assessment Summative assessment Communication with students and families about growth and needs	If below benchmark on universal screening and/or experiencing poor classroom performance, diagnostic assessment can help determine strengths and needs, including assessments related to phonemic awareness. Ongoing formative assessment guides decisions about next steps for instruction. Progress monitoring should provide information about the individual student’s response to an intervention and may provide information to support instructional changes if progress is not yet sufficient. A referral to special education may be indicated based on response to interventions as measured by progress monitoring data.
Instruction is systematic, cumulative, and systemic.  “Systematic phonics is the teaching of phonics with a clear plan or program, as opposed to more opportunistic or sporadic attention to phonics in which the teacher must construct lessons in response to the observed needs of children” (Shanahan 2005, 11).	Instruction begins with the easiest concepts that the student does not know yet and progresses to more difficult concepts based on the student’s learning with additional instruction, feedback, and practice, as needed Instruction includes coaching to monitor reading and develop cognitive flexibility to enable students to read phonetically irregular words.
Systemic instruction follows a predictable structure for instruction and assessment and the consistent use of teacher language within and between classrooms and grade-levels. What this might look like: Intentional teaching of identified concepts, skills, and strategies. Concepts, skills, and strategies based upon a scope and sequence and the identified needs of the student from ongoing formative assessments. Use of data from formative assessments to create and revise plans for instruction based on a scope and sequence. Consistent use of an instructional framework (such as gradual release of responsibility).	Consistent, ongoing review of concepts, skills, and strategies that have been introduced but are not yet applied independently in multiple contexts.   Instruction and educator language are consistent between instructional settings (such as universal instruction, intervention, and/or special education).
Explicit Instruction Explicit instruction is necessary to build literacy skills and strategies. Explicit instruction is followed with practice and feedback and repeated, as needed.   What you might see:   Regular, focused lessons where a limited number of language or print concepts are intentionally emphasized. Explicit instruction delivered through intentional grouping (whole class, small group, or individual). Teacher provides explicit instruction for the concept, skill, or strategy to be learned (e.g., thinking aloud with step-by-step demonstration). Intentional and consistent use of language by the educator (e.g., consistently using the same language to describe how to form a letter). Teacher seeks active participation from the students.	When data shows a need, explicit instruction can be repeated through re-teaching, teaching alternative strategies, and/or using alternative materials. On-going adjustment of instructional groups (whole group, small group, and/or individual) based on a student’s response to instruction (Connor et al. 2007; Connor et al. 2009; Connor and Morrison 2016). Lessons have a clear learning target(s) with an explanation of how new learning is connected to what is known. • Consistent, ongoing review of concepts that have been introduced but are not yet applied independently in multiple contexts. Instruction may include multimodal strategies such as audible, verbal, visual and tactile methods (i.e., tracing, writing, manipulatives, Elkonin boxes (Keesey, Konrad, and Joseph, 2014)). These can enhance learning for sound letter correspondences, blending and segmenting sound-letter combinations, and learning syllable patterns to read and spell unknown decodable words, as well as to learn high frequency words.
Feedback is used to address individual needs. Specific feedback should be provided to address individual needs. What you might see: Teacher provides instruction so that students apply/transfer the concept, skill, or strategy to varied literacy tasks. Individual prompts, coaching, and specific feedback (provided by the teacher) to foster independent application of new concepts, skills, and strategies. Gradual reduction in the frequency and specificity of prompts as students gain proficiency.	Additional coaching and specific feedback beyond a whole class or small group lesson. Coaching and specific feedback while applying the word solving strategy in novel situations (such as with materials different than what were used when the strategy was introduced). Consistency of teacher language between lessons and practice opportunities and between universal instruction and intervention.
Opportunities to read and apply word solving strategies leading to accuracy and independence. Extensive reading and writing allow for intentional application of word solving strategies. Application builds reading and writing stamina, reading accuracy, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension through: Support and feedback from the teacher, as needed Carefully selected texts and tasks to provide practice matched to student needs Opportunities to apply concepts from explicit instruction while reading and writing Opportunities to read connected text independently with accuracy and comprehension Reading of text chosen by the teacher and, as often as possible, text chosen by the students Prompting during and after independent reading and writing to reflect on how concepts from explicit instruction were applied	As needed, higher levels of teacher support and more frequent feedback during opportunities for practice and application. Texts with controlled vocabulary and phonics patterns should be part but not all of practice in decoding and word recognition skills (including but not limited to decodable text or dictated sentences) Time to engage in reading connected text to apply foundational skills and strategies in a meaningful context. Teacher guidance to help students self-select appropriate texts and to monitor word recognition, word solving, comprehension, and student engagement during independent reading time.
Collaboration Literacy learning is enhanced through social interaction and collaboration with peers. Exchanging and responding to others’ ideas helps all students solidify and extend their knowledge and comprehension skills. What you might see: Group norms with explicit lessons taught about how to apply norms so all students feel supported and valued Students sharing what they’re reading and writing with each other Students discussing text-based ideas	Opportunity for full-participation and leadership when the focus is on ideas and thoughts (rather than words on the page) Participation is scaffolded and carefully planned to support positive reader identity As needed, use of prompts and examples to support participation As needed, use of social stories or similar techniques to rehearse collaboration When content from text is being discussed, supports may be needed to access the content (such as text-to-speech)
Educator efforts to engage and help motivate students impact how a student responds to instruction. Engage students’ interest in reading through rich literacy environments, activities and materials. Classrooms filled with books and other media representing different genres, at different reading levels, organized, labeled and presented in attractive, accessible ways. Teachers’ use of exemplary texts containing rich language and content through read-alouds, book talks, and peer discussions and independent reading activities.	Assistive technology to access books on topics of interest and grade level texts such as “Text-toSpeech”, multi-media, audio and read aloud.  These can be used as accommodations to access text a student wants to read but is not yet able to read independently. These accommodations should be used very sparingly or not at all during reading interventions. Access to many and varied books that they can and want to read independently.

    Adapted from The New Jersey Dyslexia Handbook (The New Jersey Dyslexia Handbook 2017, 8-9). 

As stated earlier, instruction for students with dyslexia and related conditions can include a combination of universal (or classroom) instruction, intervention, and/or special education. Instruction can be designed to meet the needs of individual students. Students with dyslexia and related conditions usually need additional instruction, intervention, and practice with some or all of the following (defined in chapter 1):

• phonological awareness; • phonemic awareness;
• alphabetic principle;
• phonics;  
• morphology; and
• fluency.

Wisconsin’s Standards for English Language Arts, 2020 includes K - 5 standards for reading foundational skills and an appendix that supports educators’ understanding of the concepts included in the standards for reading foundational skills (www.dpi.wi.gov/ela). When educators understand the scope and sequence articulated in the standards, they are able to use information from formative assessments to understand the strengths and needs of students with dyslexia and related conditions as applied to word reading instruction. Instruction can be designed to intentionally match areas the student needs to develop.

Instruction, practice, and feedback are designed to support students in developing and applying skills as both a reader (decoding) and a writer (encoding or spelling). Beyond grade 5, some students with dyslexia and related conditions may continue to need instruction in reading foundational skills. This can be reinforced through differentiated classroom instruction or provided through intervention and/or special education plus extended opportunities to read texts that they can and want to read.    

Despite difficulties individuals with dyslexia and related conditions face, it is important to know that intervention for students who struggle to read and with the most severe cases of dyslexia can be successful. “Some of these children will readily respond to these efforts. In contrast, other children will require more intensive sustained intervention for them to achieve reading proficiency.  It is this second group of children who we would triage for more intensive, sustained intervention and who are likely struggling to read due to something intrinsic (i.e., dyslexia)” (Odegard 2019, 13).

A recent review of research (Brady 2020) suggests that phonemic awareness is important to teach beginning in kindergarten and is especially important (and often difficult) for individuals with dyslexia and related conditions. Therefore, it is important to teach with the goal of acquiring phonemic awareness through universal instruction in the early grades (kindergarten through grade 1) and to continue to intervene as long as needed for individual students.

To benefit students with dyslexia and related conditions, this instruction may need to be delivered individually or in small groups of students with similar needs. “Teacher/child managed, small-group, code-focused instruction is about four times more effective than the same type of instruction provided to the entire class (Connor et al., 2011; Connor, Morrison, & Slominski, 2006). Meaning-focused instruction appears to be effective in both small group and whole-class contexts.” 

The needs of students with dyslexia and related conditions vary. It is important to match supports to needs. For example, in the same class, two students with dyslexia or related conditions might need support in two different areas. One student may be focused on developing phonemic awareness. Another student may be focused on developing phonics. Both students would benefit from repeated opportunities for explicit instruction in small groups (with students with similar needs) or individually followed by practice and application when reading connected texts supported by feedback from the teacher.  

For both students, intervention provides additional explicit instruction, practice, and application while reading. However, the content each student focuses on is very different. For example, for a student who needs to develop phonemic awareness, instruction may be on isolating phonemes or sounds. A student who needs specific phonics knowledge may be working on reading and writing long vowel sounds in single syllable words. It is also important to remember that learning to read requires more than foundational skills. While foundational skills like phonemic awareness and phonics are critical, especially for students with dyslexia and related conditions, foundational skills represent just one component of reading instruction:

“. . . the issue is not whether to provide explicit phonics instruction; rather, the question is how to integrate phonics instruction with instruction on other components central to learning to read. Individuals who argue that the solution to reading difficulties is simply to introduce more phonics instruction in the classroom, without incorporating instruction in other central critical reading skills (e.g., fluency, vocabulary, comprehension) are not attending to the NRP findings or the converging scientific evidence” (Fletcher et al. 2019, 163).

How Universal Instruction Serves Students with Dyslexia and Related Conditions

Universal instruction is grade-level instruction delivered to all students. Participation in universal instruction, with support as needed, ensures that students with dyslexia and related conditions engage with grade-level content and ideas. This includes, in the early grades, instruction in all components of reading.  

As stated earlier in this chapter, strong universal instruction is designed to meet the needs of the majority of students (around 80%). Strong universal instruction ensures that schools/districts can use resources to provide intervention for students who are most in need, including students with dyslexia and related conditions. It should be comprehensive and, while based on the standards and district curriculum, responsive to the strengths and needs of students. Instruction in all components of reading, including foundational skills, should happen in the primary grades.  

Student learning should be carefully monitored so that classroom instruction can be adjusted to provide students with what they need when they need it, including targeted interventions based upon the results of formative or diagnostic assessments.  

“Especially for students with dyslexia and related conditions, it is critical that the teacher or teachers delivering universal instruction are intentional and responsive:

Excellent teachers demonstrated instructional adaptability (Spencer and Spencer 1993), or an ability to adjust their instructional practices to meet individual student needs. For successful teachers, this flexibility appeared to be second nature; they were able to sense and respond to diverse students and their changing needs (Allington and Johnston 2002; Pressley et al. 2001). Wharton-McDonald and colleagues (1998) found that successful teachers were organized and prepared detailed lesson plans, but they did not follow them rigidly. Instead, they adapted plans as the need arose” (Williams & Baumann, 2008, p. 367) (Vaughn, Parsons, & Massey, p. 2).

Reading in Content Areas

If students with dyslexia and related conditions continue to struggle with word level reading skills, it may be challenging for them to access information through independently reading printed text, an academic task included in many subjects such as social studies, science, or math. This may be especially true as students progress through the grades.

Differentiation and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), discussed earlier in this chapter on page 35 and in Appendix H, may be helpful instructional design principles that promote access to and engagement with content. This may include the use of instructional technology (such as text-to speech) to access text, or the use of non-print-based text (such as videos or audiobooks). Appendix K provides further information about educational technology to support access to written text. Chapter 3 and Appendix L provide further information about accommodations and modifications.

Ideally, a team of adults, including the family and student, collaborate to identify the most helpful and meaningful supports for learning in the content areas Further, the student is explicitly taught and given feedback about how to use the supports.  

How Intervention Serves Students with Dyslexia and Related Conditions

Students with dyslexia and related conditions may experience difficulty with universal instruction, even after responsive teaching, and require more support for learning to read, write, and spell. Wisconsin’s Equitable Multiple Levels of Support System (E-MLSS) and the Standard (c) administrative rule were developed to guide decision-making so that students who experience difficulties learning to read receive the help they need when they need it.

Dyslexia and related conditions occur along a continuum, with word-level difficulties being the most common area of need. However, “evidence has accrued that, despite the commonality of phonological deficits, the cognitive profiles of children with dyslexia are widely multifaceted” (Brady 2019, 15-21). Therefore, intervention for students with dyslexia and related conditions should:

• be differentiated to target and respond to individual needs (which often include but are not limited to sound-letter correspondence and other foundational skills);
• build upon student strengths as a bridge to addressing needs;
• be comprehensive so that the learning leads to reading comprehension and engagement;
• be explicit so that a student understands what needs to be learned and why;
• provide for guided and monitored practice;
• lead to independent application and integration of skills and strategies; and
• be assessed frequently to monitor learning, guide ongoing instruction, and determine when an intervention can be discontinued.

From kindergarten through grade 4, Wisconsin 121.02 requires that schools/districts identify students experiencing challenges in reading and provide them with appropriate interventions and support. This includes students with dyslexia and related conditions. Parents should be notified about and engaged in this process. This is sometimes referred to as Standard C. Beyond parent notification, there are no reporting requirements. There is no specific funding associated with this statute. Intervention associated with this statute is most likely to be provided by classroom teachers, in consultation with reading specialists, in addition to universal instruction. 

An intervention does not need to be a purchased or “boxed” program. An intervention can be a technique, practice, or program provided by a teacher with literacy expertise (see The Role of Educator Expertise below). Schools and/or districts make decisions about what techniques, practices, or programs to use to support intervention. This includes understanding what needs an intervention is likely to target and the research base that supports the intervention.

Specially Designed Instruction for Students with IEPs

Specially designed instruction (SDI) must meet the student’s individualized disability-related needs and is the only category of service that is required for all students who receive special education through an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

The instructional methodology and/or program to be used with a student is not required to be documented in the IEP. It is within the district’s discretion to determine what instructional methodology will be used in educating students in special education and regular education classes to make appropriate educational progress.  

Specially designed instruction:

• Must enable a student to advance appropriately toward the annual goals in their IEP, be involved and make progress in the general curriculum, participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities, and be educated and participate alongside nondisabled peers;  
• Must be based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable; and
• Is provided by appropriately licensed staff, such as a special education teacher or a reading teacher (in the case of SDI for reading).

Instruction for Word-Level Reading Difficulties in the Context of Reading for Understanding

Ultimately, reading instruction supports understanding or comprehension of written text. For students with dyslexia and related conditions, word-level difficulties often negatively affect reading comprehension. When this is noticed, instruction for students with dyslexia and related conditions should emphasize letter-sound correspondences.  

Comprehensive Instruction for students with dyslexia and related conditions (universal instruction, intervention, and/or special education) provides what individuals need in order to understand what they are reading. This includes the alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, content knowledge and vocabulary, and comprehension across a variety of texts.  

Even at the earliest stages of their reading development, “reading instruction thus requires that teachers need to know how to create the conditions for children to learn all of these dimensions of reading. Learning to read will most certainly require some explicit instruction. And instruction should always be systematic at some level, because teaching depends on knowing what students know and can do and then determining what they need” (Moje, 2018, 2-3). In other words, even though students with dyslexia and related conditions often need extensive word-level instruction, it should not be done at the exclusion of reading for understanding.  

The following reading and writing practices “have proven to be successful” (Georgia Department of Education 2019, 25) for strengthening comprehension: interactive read-a louds, supported reading, discussion, verbal memory activities, writing about reading, sustained reading practice, free writing, and small group work. Explicit instruction can be used to introduce a concept. These practices can provide opportunities for application during reading. These practices can be used across both universal instruction and intervention. 

The Role of Educator Expertise

An E-MLSS matches support to what students need. One way to do this is to match students who need support, including students with dyslexia and related conditions, with educators who are able to use their expertise to benefit students.  

Educators with expertise have:

•  strong content knowledge related to what is to be taught;
• knowledge of how to teach others in that area (content pedagogy);  
• skill in implementing productive instructional and assessment practices;  
• understanding of learners and their development, including how to support students who have learning differences or difficulties, and how to support the learning of language and content for those who are not already proficient in the language of instruction;
• general abilities to organize and explain ideas, as well as to observe and think diagnostically; and
• adaptive expertise that allows teachers to make judgments about what is likely to work in a given context in response to students’ needs. (Darling-Hammond, 2012, 2-3).  

An educator with expertise who is able to use their understanding of how our language works, the development of reading and writing, and formative assessment data about a student to make intentional decisions about instruction and intervention is especially important for students with dyslexia and related conditions. This expertise includes how to use resources to accelerate student learning:

“There is abundant research documenting that teachers, not programs, are the most powerful in-school influence on student success (e.g., Konstantopoulos & Sun, 2012; Nye, Konstantopolous, & Hedges, 2004; Tivnan & Hemphill, 2005). Teachers need to know how to teach literacy well and how to respond when students do not develop literacy as quickly as expected. Teaching well requires being able to plan and provide instruction that is responsive to what students know and are able to do across the many aspects of literacy learning” (International Literacy Association, 2016).

Educators supporting students with dyslexia and related conditions in middle and high school, especially, need specialized expertise in how to effectively teach foundational skills normally taught in the early elementary grades and how to integrate those skills as students read for understanding. In addition to understanding grade-level expectations and how reading and writing develop, secondary level educators supporting students with dyslexia and related conditions should be prepared to teach foundational skills if needed. This is in addition to attending to motivation and engagement, the unique social and emotional needs of adolescents, accessing complex content concepts, and transition planning (such as preparing for education after high school).

Wisconsin law requires that each school district has a K - 12 reading specialist (see Wis. State 118.015 in Appendix B). The expertise of a reading specialist is critical to building and refining a system that meets the needs of students with dyslexia and related conditions. In Wisconsin, a reading specialist license prepares one to work with adults and systems to continually improve reading programming. Appendix I provides more information about educator licensing. 

Ideas to Consider 

Use the questions in Table 6 to have conversations that lead to better support for students with dyslexia and related conditions. Find additional prompting questions in Appendix F.

Table 6: Ideas to consider - Interventions and Instructional Strategies

Families	Educators	Educational Systems
What are my child’s unique reading strengths and needs?   How are these being addressed in universal instruction?   What reading concepts, skills, and strategies are you practicing in the classroom right now? How do you decide if a child requires additional reading support or intervention?   How do you provide those support or interventions?  How do you ensure that teachers providing support or interventions have the knowledge and training to address my child’s instructional needs? Are there specific prompts I should use at home when reading with my child?	How do I structure reading instructional time so that there is time for whole group instruction, small group instruction, and independent practice in order to provide instruction, additional support, and targeted feedback to each learner as necessary? How do I identify which students need additional support in reading?  What structures exist to provide additional reading support or intervention to those who need it? How do I make sure I have the appropriate knowledge to be able to effectively teach students with dyslexia and related conditions?	How do we structure our reading instructional time so that there is time for whole group instruction, small group instruction, and independent practice in order to provide instruction, additional support, and targeted feedback as necessary?   What support do teachers receive in effectively using the instructional time they have for reading instruction to meet each learner’s needs? How do we identify which students need additional support in reading?   What structures exist to provide additional reading support or intervention to those who need it? How does this system provide for comprehensive, responsive professional learning to ensure teachers have the expertise to teach all students, including those with dyslexia and related conditions?

   

Purpose of this Chapter

This chapter discusses “resources and services related to dyslexia and related conditions that are available to all of the following: 1. Pupils with dyslexia and related conditions. 2. Parents and guardians of pupils with dyslexia and related conditions. 3. Educators” (WI Act 86).

Like all sections of this guidebook, the ideas in the chapter are informational, meant to inform and guide decisions. Anything that is required by statute is clearly indicated.  

The resources included are available free of charge. Remember that your local public library is a source of information and computer and internet access.

The Wisconsin Department of Instruction neither recommends nor endorses any websites, products, specific titles, devices, or technology systems. School teams, including learners and the family, make individualized data-driven recommendations for their students’ accommodations for reading.

This chapter includes:

• resources for individuals with dyslexia and related conditions; 
• resources for families of individuals with dyslexia and related conditions;
• resources for educators and educational systems; and
• Wisconsin’s literacy-related professional learning and/or advocacy organizations.

Resources for Individuals with Dyslexia and Related Conditions

A 2011 study (CA Dept of Education) asked adults with dyslexia to remember their childhood experience and explain how children with dyslexia could be better served by their families and educators. They identified that having a positive support system that encourages the following are “building blocks related to success for the adult with dyslexia” (Nalvany, Carawan and Rennick):

• acceptance of their difference, recognizing it does not solely define them;
• exploration, development and understanding their strengths;
• understanding the need for extra time for academic tasks;
• development of strategies for organization and time management; and
• support in accessing information in text (such as assistive technology).

Therefore, individuals with dyslexia and related conditions can benefit from resources that share examples and characters they can relate to and that can help them become powerful self advocates. Here are some examples:

Books for Children

• Absolutely Almost (2014), Lisa Graff
• All Kinds of Minds: A Young Student’s Book about Learning Abilities and Learning Disorders (1992), Mel Levine, M.D.
• Dr. Dyslexia Dude (2019), Dr. Shawn A. Robinson, Inshirah Robinson
• Dyslexia: Talking It Through (2003), Althea Braithwaite 
• Hank Zipzer: The Greatest Underachiever (2005), a series by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
• Thank You, Mr. Falker (2012), Patricia Polacco

Books for Adolescents

• Bluefish (2011), Pat Schmatz
• Close to Famous (2012), Joan Bauer
• Dr. Dyslexia Dude (2019), Dr. Shawn A. Robinson, Inshirah Robinson
• Fish in a Tree (2017), Lynda Mullaly Hunt
• My Name is Brain Brian (1994), Jeanne Betancourt

Other Resources for Students

• Friends of Quinn, founded by filmmaker and author Quinn Bradlee, is an online community for older students and young adults with learning differences. It is sponsored by the National Center for Learning Disabilities. It can be found in a web search.
• Eye to Eye works nationally to establish mentoring programs where high school students with learning differences such as dyslexia and related conditions mentor middle school students with similar struggles. There is currently a chapter at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Contact https://eyetoeyenational.org/mentoring for more information.

Resources for Families of Individuals with Dyslexia and Related Conditions

Families of students with dyslexia and related conditions are often the first teacher and most important advocate. The California Dyslexia Guidelines states,

“Being an advocate for the student means giving a voice to the student’s needs when she is unable to either understand or express those needs herself. It means helping her obtain the resources required to meet her unique needs” (California Dyslexia Guidelines 2017, 94).

The resources in this section were selected to support families in at-home literacy learning. They also support advocating for in-school assessment and instruction that meets the needs of their child.

Supporting a Child’s Literacy Development

Table 7 gives a few examples of grade-by-grade suggestions for supporting a child’s literacy development (California Department of Education 2017, 83 - 94). 

Table 7: Suggestions for Supporting a Child’s Literacy Development

Preschool	Read aloud books with rhyme patterns and repetitive text. Use songs, chants, and nursery rhymes. Engage a child in conversation with open-ended questions. Encourage fine motor development.
Kindergarten and First Grade	Continue to read aloud. Play games that build sight-word recognition (e.g., sight-word bingo). Demonstrate strategies for decoding and monitoring for meaning while reading. Engage in question-based discussion.
Second and Third Grade	Help the student select reading material at their reading level. Listen to the student read aloud. Engage the student in a conversation about a text. Use open ended questions such as “What are you thinking and wondering about?” “What else did you notice?” “Say more.” “What is your evidence for your thinking?” Continue to read to your child, including texts that are above your child’s reading level.
Fourth Through Eighth Grade	Provide a homework routine and location. Guide and teach time-management and planning skills. Assist with and support the use of technology to increase engagement and ease of writing. Encourage reading for pleasure with both books and age-appropriate magazines. Children at this age often still enjoy being read to.
Middle School and High School	Encourage reading for pleasure with both books and age-appropriate magazines. Ensure access to a library and other sources of reference information. Assist with and support the use of technology to increase access and ease. Help the student understand their learning needs. Provide them with the language necessary to advocate on their own behalf with teachers.

Advocating for Your Child

It is within your rights both to request more information about the instruction and assessment your child is receiving, and to request additional services. Appendix F includes sample questions you can use to request more information about the instruction and assessment your child is receiving. Minnesota’s guidebook about dyslexia and related conditions (p. 11 - 13) contains a step-by-step list for preparing to request services for your child when they are struggling with reading. The following list is adapted from this resource and gives some examples of ways to prepare for requesting additional services:

• describe what you see as the issue. Be as specific as possible;
• document specific things that seem to make a difference;
• share what you see as your child’s strengths and weaknesses; and
• practice explaining your concerns before communicating with your child’s educators or school (Minnesota Department of Education 2015).

Appendix F includes prompting questions that families can ask to understand and improve services for children with dyslexia and related conditions.

Be a Wise Consumer

Sometimes families choose to seek, at their own expense, support beyond schools to strengthen their child’s reading. Table 8 offers information about being a wise consumer. 

Table 8: Be a Wise Consumer

 (Colorado Department of Education Dyslexia Handbook 2020, 45)

Unfortunately, a good amount of misinformation about dyslexia and its possible “cures” and “fixes” is offered through a host of advertising services and is found on the internet. Parents and families need to be informed consumers before they spend money on services that are neither scientifically based nor evidence based. Such services and programs will only take your money — and leave you and your student frustrated. Please be sure to carefully research any program, service, or individual making claims of “cures” for dyslexia, especially those that do not involve teaching your student to read and spell through an evidence-based approach.

The International Dyslexia Association devoted an entire issue of its quarterly publication Perspectives to the topic of Controversial Therapies for Dyslexia. The editor for this series of articles was Dr. Bruce Pennington, a Colorado resident and internationally recognized researcher in the area of dyslexia. This series of articles covers a range of topics, including vision efficiency therapies and movement-based interventions. As Dr. Pennington states:

“Ineffectual treatments for psychological and educational problems are harmful because they waste valuable time and money. Moreover, because we are making these treatment decisions for children who do not have the knowledge or judgment to make these decisions themselves, we need to meet a high standard of due diligence.”

The following link will take you to Volume 37 of Perspectives, and the topic, Controversial Therapies for Dyslexia: International Dyslexia Association publication, Perspectives, Volume 37, and Controversial Therapies for Dyslexia.

• https://dyslexiaida.org/beware-of-education-practices-too-good-to-be-true/  
• https://dyslexiaida.org/when-educational-promises-are-too-good-to-be-true/  

Resources for Educators and Educational Systems

Chapters 1 and 2 of this guidebook focus on the specifics of interventions and instruction that are known to improve outcomes for individuals with dyslexia and related conditions. This chapter provides additional resources educators and educational systems may find helpful in supporting these learners in their classrooms as well as helping families support their children at home. Appendix F includes sample questions that educators and educational systems can use to improve services for students with dyslexia and related conditions.

Educational Technology

•  Assistive Technology (AT) can help eliminate barriers to learning and “level the playing field” for students who are faced with the challenges of dyslexia and related conditions. AT is not a substitute for quality teaching or appropriate intervention, but it does give all students access to the curriculum while they continue to build their reading skills. With appropriate use of AT, such as audiobooks at the student’s grade level, text to speech and speech to text software, students can spend more time focusing on and building their strengths instead of expending cognitive and emotional energy working on their weaknesses. A comprehensive list of AT options can be found in Appendix K. The Wisconsin Council of Administrators of Special Services (WCASS) provides extensive information about accessible educational materials (AEM) available at https://wcass.memberclicks.net/wcass-guide.  

Accommodations

Accommodations like assistive technology are important tools or teaching strategies for helping students with dyslexia and related conditions gain equal access to instruction in order to succeed in the classroom and beyond. For the purposes of this discussion, it is important to note that in the case of an IEP, “accommodation” has a very specific meaning. It means supports that provide equitable access to grade-level content and allow students to demonstrate what they know. In the case of an IEP, “modification” also has a specific meaning. A modification is a change to instruction or curriculum that alters either the content of that instruction or student performance expectations. A modification can change the expectations for learning and/or reduce the requirements of a task (adapted from The Iris Center).

Appendix H lists accommodations that may benefit students with dyslexia and related conditions. When a team that supports a student (which includes the student and their family) makes decisions about which accommodations may be beneficial, that team might consider the following:

• a student may need to be explicitly taught how to use an accommodation and be provided with on-going feedback about how to use the accommodation;
• the team can collect information about how often a student uses a particular accommodation to determine whether the accommodation is benefitting a student;
• accommodations can be used and adjusted throughout a student’s career; and
• students have a voice in how they use accommodations, including learning to advocate for accommodations.  

When a student has an IEP, the IEP team determines which accommodations the student may be eligible for on state required assessments. Accommodations and modifications are documented as supplementary aids and services on the child’s IEP (34 CFR § 300.42). For more information, visit https://dpi.wi.gov/assessment. The use of accommodations on college entrance tests can be critical for students with dyslexia and related conditions. In order to qualify for accommodations on high stakes tests such as the ACT or SAT, students will need to prove a history of prior accommodations (such as extra time, quiet environment, text reader, etc.).

Professional Learning for Educators

For more information and opportunities for professional development please visit the following:

• Professional organizations: The organizations listed in Table 9 often offer professional learning opportunities. Visit their websites for current offerings.
• Your Local CESA: Visit the website for your local CESA to learn more about what is being offer near you about literacy and/or dyslexia and related conditions.
• Wisconsin RtI Center and PBIS Network: Their offerings, which include group professional learning and personalized technical assistance, support local development of an equitable multi-level system of support.
• Department of Public Instruction: DPI offers asynchronous online professional learning about literacy and supporting readers. Topics, include:
  • Wisconsin Statutory Requirements
  • Productive Partnerships: Collaborating around Reading
  • Wisconsin’s Standards for English Language Arts
  • Reading Foundational Skills 
  • Supporting Readers When They Struggle
  • Culturally Responsive Problem Solving

Wisconsin’s Literacy-Related Advocacy and/ or Professional Learning Organizations

Table 9 lists some of Wisconsin’s literacy-related advocacy and/or professional learning organizations. Visit the provided web links to learn more.

Table 9: Wisconsin’s Literacy-Related Advocacy and/or Professional Learning Organizations

Organization:

• Decoding Dyslexia, Wisconsin   
• The Reading League, Wisconsin   
• Wisconsin Branch of the International Dyslexia Association 
• Wisconsin State Reading Association 

Ideas to Consider

Use the questions in Table 10 to have conversations that lead to better support for students with dyslexia and related conditions. Find additional prompting questions in Appendix F.

Table 10. Ideas to Consider - Resources

Families	Educators	Educational Systems
What resources does the school provide for me as a parent of a child with a reading difficulty and how might I access those resources? How do I support my child’s literacy development? What have we found success with? How can I share this information with my child’s teachers?	What PD does my district offer related to developing my expertise in teaching reading? When and how often? When and how often should I be collaborating with my grade-level peers and across grade levels to ensure all students are getting what they need in order to become proficient readers/writers? Are there mentoring/ coaching opportunities? Might I watch another teacher teach a lesson? Is there a reading coach?	When and how often does the district offer continuing PD for their teachers related to reading instruction? Do the teachers have time embedded in their schedules to collaborate, review data, and plan instruction? Do teachers have access to reading coaches? What professional development opportunities are we offering our teachers and staff in relation to developing their expertise at teaching reading? How often are we utilizing PD to deepen our teachers’ expertise on reading instruction? Are we providing time for grade-level and cross grade level collaboration, data sharing, and conversations related to reading instruction? Is there a coaching system in place? What would it take to get one in place? Do we allow time for teachers to watch one another delivering instruction as a means to guide and enhance one another’s professional practices? How often are we sending teachers to PD conferences or advocating for them to watch PD webinars? What might we shift in our budget to allow for more professional development?

 

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• Kilpatrick, David A. 2020. “The Study that Prompted Tier 2 of RTI: Why aren't our Tier 2 Results as Good?” The Reading League Journal 1(1): 28-31.
• Leipzig, Diane Henry. 2001. “What Is Reading?” Reading Rockets, January 2001. 
• Minnesota Department of Education. Navigating the School System When a Child is Struggling with Reading or Dyslexia. PDF File. 2015.  
• Minnesota Department of Education. Screening and Identifying Characteristics of Dyslexia. PDF File. 2019. 
• Moje, Elizabeth. 2018. “Conversation About the Reading Wars, Sparked By A New Documentary About Literacy Instruction: Q&A With Elizabeth Moje, Dean of University of Michigan School of Education.” 1-10. 
• The New Jersey Dyslexia Handbook: A Guide to Early Literacy Development & Reading Struggles. PDF File. 2017. 
• Odegard, Timothy. 2019. “Dyslexia defined: An update with implications for practice.” Perspectives in Language and Literacy 45, no. 1: 7-14.
• Pearson, P. David. 1996. Reclaiming the Center. In M. Graves, P. van den Broek, & B. M. Taylor (Eds.). The First R: Every Child’s Right to Read. New York: Teachers College Press. 
• Pearson, P. David. 2007. “An historical analysis of the impact of educational research on policy and practice: Reading as an illustrative case.” In 56th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference edited by Deborah Wells Rowe, 14-40. Oak Creek WI: National Reading Conference.
• The Reading League. 2021. “What is the science of reading?” Accessed February 18, 2021. 
•  Science of Learning and Development Alliance. How the Science of Learning and Development Can Transform Education. May 2020. 
• Seidenberg, Mark S., Matt Cooper Borkenhagen, and Devin M. Kearns. 2020. “Lost in Translation? Challenges in Connecting Reading Science and Educational Practice.” Reading Research Quarterly 55, S1: S119-S130.
• Seidenberg, Mark. 2017. Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can't, and What Can Be Done About It.  New York, NY: Basic Books.
• Shanahan, Timothy. “The National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers.” Learning Point Associates, 2005. 
• Shaywitz, Bennett A., Sally E. Shaywitz, Benita A Blachman, Kenneth R Pugh, Robert K Fulbright, Pawel Skudlarski, W Einar Mencl, R Todd Constable, John M Holahan, Karen E Marchione, Jack M Fletcher, G Reid Lyon, and John C Gore. 2004. “Development of left occipitotemporal systems for skilled reading in children after a phonologically-based intervention.” Biological Psychiatry 55: 926-933.
• Shaywitz, Sally E., Michael D. Escobar, Bennett A. Shaywitz, Jack M. Fletcher, and Robert Makuch. 1992. “Evidence That Dyslexia May Represent the Lower Tail of a Normal Distribution of Reading Ability.” The New England Journal of Medicine 326: 145-150.
• Shaywitz, Sally E., and Bennett A. Shaywitz. 2020. Overcoming Dyslexia: Second Edition, Completely Revised and Updated. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
• Snow, Catherine. 2001. Reading for Understanding: Toward an R&D Program in Reading Comprehension. Rand Corporation.
• Spear-Swerling, Louise. 2015. The Power of RTI and Reading Profiles: A Blueprint for Solving Reading Problems. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing Company.
• Valencia, Sheila W., and Marsha R. Buly. 2004. “Behind Test Scores:  What Struggling Readers Really Need.” The Reading Teacher 57(6): 520-530.
• Vellutino, Frank R., Donna M. Scanlon, Edward R. Sipay, Sheila G. Small, Rusan Chen, Alice Pratt, and Martha B. Denckla. 1996. “Cognitive Profiles of Difficult-to-Remediate and Readily Remediated Poor Readers: Early Intervention as a Vehicle for Distinguishing Between Cognitive and Experiential Deficits as Basic Causes of Specific Reading Disability.” Journal of Educational Psychology 88(4): 601-638.
• Vellutino, Frank R., and Jack M. Fletcher. 2007. “Developmental Dyslexia.” The science of reading: A handbook (362-378). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. DOI:   
• Washington, Julie. 2020. Intersection of Poverty, Language, & Reading Among African-American Children. Lecture presented at International Dyslexia Association Annual Conference, virtually from Denver, CO.
• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Dyslexia and Specific Learning Disabilities. PDF File. 2016. 
• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Wisconsin’s Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) Rule: A Technical Guide for Determining the Eligibility of Students with Specific Learning Disabilities. PDF File. 2013. 
• Wisconsin Response to Intervention (RtI) Center. Wisconsin RtI Center Glossary. PDF File. 2017. 

• Intervention
  • “The systematic use of a technique, practice, or program designed and shown to improve learning in specific areas of student need” (Wisconsin Response to Intervention (RtI) Center 2017).
• Diagnostic assessment
  • A series of assessments conducted to better understand an individual student’s specific strengths and needs in order to plan for responsive and targeted instruction.
• Science of reading
  • See Appendix D.
• Screening assessment
  • “Valid and reliable measures and processes used to assess students’ current level of performance in relation to grade level benchmarks” that could be used to identify a need for diagnostic assessment to better understand strengths and needs” (WI RtI 2017).
• Strategic assessment
  • “Formative, benchmark and summative assessments to provide a complete and clear picture of student progress, student achievement, and instructional effectiveness” (WI RtI Center 2017).
• Universal instruction
  • “The academic and behavioral curriculum and instruction deemed critical, delivered to all students, and expected to meet the needs of most students in a school. Also referred to as Core Instruction, Primary Level of Intervention, and Tier One instruction” (Wisconsin Response to Intervention (RtI) Center 2017). 

 

2019 Wisconsin Act 86

Retrieved 

Date of enactment: February 5, 2020
2019 Assembly Bill 110   Date of publication*: February 6, 2020
* Section 991.11, Wisconsin Statutes: Effective date of acts. “Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the governor's partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication."

2019 WISCONSIN ACT 86

An Act to create 115.28 (56) and 118.015 (4) (d) of the statutes; relating to: developing a guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

Joint Legislative Council prefatory note: This bill was prepared for the Joint Legislative Council's Study Committee on Identification and Management of Dyslexia.

Testimony before the committee indicated that parents, teachers, and administrators assisting students with dyslexia and related conditions may have difficulty finding information and resources related to dyslexia and related conditions. At its second meeting, the committee heard testimony from representatives from the Minnesota Department of Education, who created a guidebook as a resource for parents and teachers of students with dyslexia in navigating the school system. The committee discussed legislation relating to the creation of a guidebook in Wisconsin and instructed the Legislative Council to have this bill drafted.

This bill requires the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to develop a guidebook for parents, guardians, teachers, and administrators regarding dyslexia and related conditions. To develop the guidebook, the state superintendent of public instruction must establish an advisory committee, whose membership shall be determined in consultation with the International Dyslexia Association—Wisconsin Branch, Inc. (IDA), and the Wisconsin State Reading Association, Inc. (WSRA). Representatives from IDA and WSRA also serve as co-chairpersons on the advisory committee.

The advisory committee must submit to DPI a draft guidebook containing at least all of the following information: (1) a description of screening processes and tools available to identify dyslexia and related conditions, (2) a description of interventions and instructional strategies that have been shown to improve academic performance of pupils with dyslexia and related conditions, and (3) a description of resources and services related to dyslexia and related conditions that are available to pupils with dyslexia and related conditions, parents and guardians of such pupils, and educators.

The advisory committee must submit its draft guidebook to DPI within one year of appointment of all members of the advisory committee. DPI must publish the final guidebook within three months after it receives the draft guidebook from the advisory committee. Any school board that maintains an Internet site must include a link to the guidebook on its Internet site. Finally, DPI must review the guidebook once every three years, in consultation with IDA and WSRA.

Section 1. 115.28 (56) of the statutes is created to read:

115.28 (56) Guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions. (a) At least once every 3 school years, in consultation with the International Dyslexia Association – Wisconsin Branch,Inc., and the Wisconsin State Reading Association, Inc., review the guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions developed under 2019 Wisconsin Act .... (this act), section 3 (2), and, if appropriate, revise the guidebook.

(b) Publish on the department's Internet site the guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions developed under 2019 Wisconsin Act .... (this act), section 3 (2), and any revisions under par. (a). The guidebook shall be published for informational purposes only.

Section 2. 118.015 (4) (d) of the statutes is created to read:

118.015 (4) (d) If the school board maintains an Internet site for the school district, include a link to the guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions that is published on the department's Internet site under s. 115.28 (56) (b).

Section 3. Non statutory provisions.

1. Definition of dyslexia. In subs. (2) to (5), “dyslexia” means a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties with accurate and 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 growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.
2. Guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions. The department of public instruction, in consultation with the advisory committee established under sub. (3), shall develop a guidebook that provides information for parents, guardians, teachers, and administrators on the subject of dyslexia and related conditions. The department shall publish the guidebook developed under this subsection on the department's Internet site no later than the first day of the 4th month after the date on which the department receives a draft guidebook under sub. (5). The guidebook shall be published for informational purposes only. In the guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions, the department shall include at least a description of all of the following:
   • Screening processes and tools available to identify dyslexia and related conditions.
   • Interventions and instructional strategies that have been shown to improve academic performance of pupils with dyslexia and related conditions.
   • Resources and services related to dyslexia and related conditions that are available to all of the following:
     • Pupils with dyslexia and related conditions.
     • Parents and guardians of pupils with dyslexia and related conditions.
     • Educators.
3. Advisory committee.  The state superintendent of public instruction shall establish an advisory committee to develop a draft guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions. The advisory committee shall be comprised of 19 members appointed under sub. (4).
   •  Advisory committee members; recommendation restrictions.
     •  In this subsection, “financial interest in an entity” includes all of the following:
       •  A direct or indirect ownership interest in the entity.
       • That the individual received income from the entity during the 12 months preceding the submission of the individual's name to the state superintendent under sub. (4).  
   • Neither the International Dyslexia Association – Wisconsin Branch, Inc., nor the Wisconsin State Reading Association, Inc., may include an individual on a list submitted to the state superintendent of public instruction under sub. (4) (a), (b), or (c) if any of the following apply to the individual:
     • The individual has a financial interest in an entity that develops, sells, or markets a product for screening risk factors for reading difficulties.
     • The individual has a financial interest in an entity that develops, sells, or markets a product to assess reading ability.
     • The individual has a financial interest in an entity that develops, sells, or markets a product specifically intended to be used to teach reading.
     • The individual has a financial interest in an entity that develops, sells, or markets a product to treat reading difficulties.
     • The individual received income from any entity to provide training on a product described in subds. 1. to 4. and the training occurred during the 12 months preceding the submission of the individual's name to the state superintendent under sub.
4.  Appointment of advisory committee members. The state superintendent of public instruction shall appoint the members of the advisory committee under sub. (3) as follows:
   • By no later than 30 days after the effective date of this paragraph, the International Dyslexia Association – Wisconsin Branch, Inc., shall submit to the state superintendent of public instruction a list of 3 individuals it recommends serving as a co-chairperson of the advisory committee. By no later than 60 days after the effective date of this paragraph, the state superintendent of public instruction shall appoint one individual from the list submitted under this paragraph to serve as a co-chairperson of the advisory committee.
   • By no later than 30 days after the effective date of this paragraph, the Wisconsin State Reading Association, Inc., shall submit to the state superintendent of public instruction a list of 3 individuals it recommends serving as a co-chairperson of the advisory committee. By no later than 60 days after the effective date of this paragraph, the state superintendent of public instruction shall appoint one individual from the list submitted under this paragraph to serve as a co-chairperson of the advisory committee.
   • By no later than 90 days after the effective date of this paragraph, the International Dyslexia Association – Wisconsin Branch, Inc., and the Wisconsin State Reading Association, Inc., shall each submit a list of 8 individuals that the organization recommends being a member of the advisory committee.
   • By no later than the first day of the 7th month after the effective date of this paragraph, in addition to the co-chairpersons appointed under pars. (a) and (b), the state superintendent shall appoint to the advisory committee all of the following:
     • One member who is a representative of the department of public instruction. The state superintendent may not appoint an individual to the advisory committee under this subdivision if sub. (3m) (b) 1., 2., 3., 4., or 5. applies to the individual, unless the disqualifying provision applies to the individual solely because of the individual's employment at the department of public instruction.
     • Eight members from the recommendations provided by International Dyslexia Association – Wisconsin Branch, Inc., under par. (c).
     • Eight members from the recommendations provided by the Wisconsin State Reading Association, Inc., under par. (c). 
5. Draft guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions. By no later than the first day of the 12th month after the date on which all members of the advisory committee have been appointed under sub. (4) (d), the advisory committee shall submit a draft guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions that includes the information required under sub. (2 ) (a) to (c) to the department of public instruction and the appropriate standing committee of each house of the legislature.

Section 4. Initial applicability.

1. Guidebook review process. The treatment of s. 115.28 (56) (a) first applies beginning on the date the guidebook related to dyslexia and related conditions is published on the department of public instruction's Internet site under Section 3 (2) of this act. 

Wisconsin Statute and Policy Relevant to Reading Instruction  

Wisconsin’s requirements for reading instruction include the following:

• Each school district shall maintain a written, sequential curriculum plan in reading and language arts;
• Each school district shall provide regular instruction in reading and language arts;
• Each school district shall employ a district reading specialist;
• And if the school district has a website, they will include a link to the Informational Guidebook for Dyslexia and Related Conditions published on DPI’s site.

This information is found in state statutes 118.015, 121.02 , and 2019 Wisconsin Act 86.

Wisconsin Teacher Certificates and Licenses  

Wisconsin requires applicants for a Wisconsin teaching license to successfully complete instruction from an approved educator preparation program. This includes instruction in appropriate instructional methods, including phonics, defined in state statute as “a method of teaching beginners to read and pronounce words by learning the phonetic values of letters, letter groups, and syllables.”  

Applicants for a Wisconsin teaching license in grades kindergarten to 5, special education, an initial license as a reading teacher, or an initial license as a reading specialist are required to pass the Foundations of Reading Test (an examination identical to the Foundations of Reading test administered in 2012 as part of the Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure) with a passing score no lower than the level recommended by the developer of the test, based on Wisconsin’s standards.  

The requirement of passing the Foundations of Reading Test may be waived for applicants seeking an initial teaching license in special education if the applicant can demonstrate that they have successfully completed a course of study that includes the following

• Rigorous instruction in the teaching of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency;
• Feedback and coaching from an individual deemed an expert in reading instruction;
• And the student provides a portfolio demonstrating their competence in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency.

This information is found in state statute 118.19.

In addition to teaching licenses defined by grade levels, Wisconsin offers a specialized teaching license in reading. This supplementary teaching license requires successful completion of graduate coursework in reading that meets Wisconsin’s Content Guidelines for Reading Teacher Licensure Programs. Having this reading teacher license is required in specific teaching contexts.

 As noted above, each school district is required to employ a district reading specialist, whose duties are defined in state statute and who must hold a Wisconsin District Reading Specialist license. The duties of a district reading specialist are to: 

• Develop and implement a reading curriculum in grades kindergarten to 12;
• Act as a resource person to classroom teachers to implement the reading curriculum;
• Work with administrators to support and implement the reading curriculum;
• Conduct an annual evaluation of the reading curriculum;
• And coordinate the reading curriculum with other reading programs and support services.

This information is found in state statute 118.015.

Assessment of Reading Readiness

Wisconsin’s requirement for assessing the reading readiness of all children enrolled in four-year old kindergarten to second grade has been in place since the 2012-13 school year. Beginning in the 2016-17 school year, districts can select an assessment of reading readiness for use with each child enrolled in four-year-old kindergarten to second grade. This screener must evaluate whether each student possesses phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge. The intent is for teachers to use screener results to inform reading instruction and student grouping. School districts are required to report these screener results to each child’s parent or guardian.  

Find additional resources and information.  

Reading Interventions

Wisconsin requires the identification of students in kindergarten to grade 4 experiencing challenges in reading and providing them with appropriate interventions and support. The intent of this administrative rule is to: 1. identify students with weaknesses in language and background experiences that may result in reading failure; 2. prevent and remedy reading failures by providing instruction appropriate to the developmental stage of the child; and 3. provide instruction in grades K-4 that builds upon the child's oral language, reading, and writing. Identification of students requiring additional interventions and support in reading is based on their progress towards district reading curriculum goals and objectives, reading readiness screener results, state summative assessment results, or agreement between the child’s teacher and parent or guardian that the child needs such services.  This information is found in state statute 121.02.

Additional resources

Wisconsin also offers guidance on the licensure that provides individuals with the knowledge to provide reading interventions and additional challenges. 

Informational Guidebook on Dyslexia and Related Conditions

Required by Wisconsin Act 86 (Act 86), signed by the Governor in February 2020, each Wisconsin school district must include a link on their website to Wisconsin’s informational guidebook on dyslexia and related conditions. Act 86 includes a definition of dyslexia, details a process and timeline for creating and updating the guidebook, and specifies what topics the guidebook must include. 

Special Education Services

Wisconsin requires a specific evaluation process for determining whether a child has a specific learning disability and is eligible for Special Education services. Specific learning disability (SLD) means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or perform mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, motor disabilities, cognitive disabilities, emotional disturbance, cultural factors, environmental, or economic disadvantage.

A referral for a special education evaluation is made when someone suspects a student has a SLD. A team, which includes the student's parents, conducts the evaluation and decides if the student meets state and federal eligibility criteria for special education.

Before an IEP team can determine whether a student may receive special education services under the category of specific learning disability (SLD), it must document that the student, after intensive intervention, demonstrates inadequate achievement and insufficient progress in one or more of the following areas: oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skill, reading fluency skills, reading comprehension, mathematics calculation, and mathematics problem solving.  

The IEP team may not identify a student as having SLD if the student's achievement problems are primarily due to one or more exclusionary factors. If the SLD criteria are met, the IEP team goes on to determine whether the student needs special education services. SLD eligibility criteria are outlined in PI 11.36(6).

Additional information and resources.

Wisconsin also has guidance to clarify the relationship between dyslexia and specific learning disabilities (SLD) as defined by state and federal special education law. This includes a reminder to the IEP team to consider additional evidence, such as an outside diagnosis of dyslexia, and a reminder not to delay referrals for determining whether a child has a specific learning disability and is eligible for Special Education programming. 

Wisconsin school districts are required to locate, identify, and refer as early as possible all young children with disabilities and their families who need an Early Intervention Program or Early Childhood Special Education services. This is commonly known as Child Find. Resources and information   

If a child is not eligible to receive Special Education services, they may be eligible for a Section 504 plan. Section 504 is a federal law that states that school districts are required to provide aids and services designed to meet a student’s individual educational needs as adequately as the needs of nondisabled students are met. Information about Section 504    

Wisconsin also has an equitable services requirement that ensures Special Education services for parentally placed private school students.    

Elaboration of the Definition of Dyslexia

The definition of dyslexia used in this guidebook and in 2019 Wisconsin Act 86 is:  “a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties with accurate and 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 growth of vocabulary and background knowledge” 

Statement from Definition	Elaboration
Specific learning disability	Wisconsin statute (PI 11.36(6)(a)) defines specific learning disability (SLD). The criteria for diagnosing a reading disorder, such as dyslexia, used during an outside evaluation do not necessarily correspond with state and federal special education eligibility criteria. Therefore, a student may be diagnosed with dyslexia, but may or may not be determined to be a student with a disability under state and federal special education law.
Neurobiological in origin	“Decades of research have yielded considerable progress in our understanding of the brain of individuals with dyslexia. We now have knowledge of the specific regions of the brain mapped to characteristic difficulties, of the identified differences in young children’s brains prior to any reading instruction, and a greater understanding of the underlying genetic features. This research has contributed to the shaping of effective interventions while revealing new areas for research and exploration” (The New Jersey Dyslexia Handbook 2017). Another perspective on including “neurobiological” in the definition is from Julian Elliot (2020) who believes that distinguishing the neurobiological origin in dyslexia “neither offers explanatory power nor serves a diagnostic function...Given the reciprocal interaction between environmental and biological components in human development, it is impossible to differentiate clinically (i.e., for a particular individual) between dyslexia and other decoding difficulties on the basis of nature versus nurture.”  It is for this reason that “related conditions” was added to the guidebook. Tim Odegard (2019) said, “research implicates multiple genes that impact the development of the brain, which interacts with a child’s environment to give rise to differences in how he or she acquires written language skills.  However, being a complex multifactor [sic] condition does not invalidate the construct...They are pervasively poor responders.  They are real, and we call them dyslexic” (p. 8). He also said that distinguishing between a garden-variety poor reader from those students with dyslexia is difficult if we are not providing “quality core reading instruction to all children” (p. 8).
Accurate and fluent word recognition	Is the person’s ability to read single printed words accurately and quickly and to read aloud with sufficient speed to support understanding?
Spelling and decoding abilities A deficit in the phonological component of language	Spelling and decoding abilities refer to the person’s ability to spell accurately and to read unknown words by using phonics or letter sound correspondences and recognizing syllable patterns and other chunks of longer words. Difficulty pronouncing, remembering, or thinking about the individual speech sounds that make up words.
Often Unexpected	The word “unexpected” can be problematic because of the fear that if a child is “expected” to have difficulties learning to read, educators may not provide the appropriate instruction or interventions because they are not expecting that child to become a capable reader.     “There are serious risks for equity here” (Elliot, 2020, S63). For example, because of bias, educators might “expect” that children with disadvantages can’t learn to read, and therefore, the educator may not recognize the importance of providing appropriate instruction and intervention. Dyslexia literature offers the following definitions or explanations of “unexpected”: “When children have good oral language comprehension and no obvious disabilities such as sensory or broad intellectual impairments, one would not expect them to have reading difficulties” (SpearSwerling 2004, 533-34). Dyslexia is “conceptualized as an unexpected deficit in reading.  Today, exceptionality is flagged in two ways.  First, a child with dyslexia has a profound lack of ability to develop proficiency in word recognition and spelling in spite of demonstrating a capacity to learn.  Second, the child does not respond to effective reading instruction” (Odegard 2019, 12).

 

          

Profiles of Students with Reading Difficulties including Students with Dyslexia and Related Conditions

Students with reading difficulties can present with varied profiles of strengths and needs. These profiles vary between students and can actually vary or emerge over time for each individual depending on instruction, reading progress, and grade-level expectations (Spear-Swerling, 2015).  As stated before, instruction for students must meet their needs when they need it.  An effective, comprehensive assessment system can illuminate a student’s individual profile and guide subsequent instructional decisions (Buly & Valencia, 2004; Spear-Swerling, 2013; 2015).  

Below are two different sets of reading profiles for students with reading difficulties as determined by research (Buly & Valencia, 2004; Spear-Swerling, 2013; 2015).  Information from these charts highlight the importance of attending to individual differences when designing instruction to meet student needs. Additionally, “distinctions between different profiles and patterns of reading difficulties also should not be too rigidly drawn” (Spear-Swerling, 2015, p. 71) due to the fact that children with similar profiles may have subtle differences in their difficulties.

Dyslexia “is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities” (from the definition of dyslexia required by Act 86).  Therefore, most students with dyslexia and related conditions will fall into the Word Recognition Difficulty groups outlined below.  However, it’s important to note that not all children who have word-level difficulties have dyslexia. The differences between the profiles outlined below indicate that students with dyslexia and related conditions will not necessarily need the exact same instruction.  An effective, comprehensive assessment system will help tease out their specific and unique needs.  

From Spear-Swerling (2013; 2015):  

• Specific word-recognition difficulties (SWRD) Children in this group have at least average oral vocabularies and average listening comprehension:  
  • Nonalphabetic word reader--“No grasp of alphabetic principle, very impaired word recognition and comprehension” (2013, p. 418).
  • Inaccurate word reader--“Inaccurate recognition of many common words, impaired reading comprehension” (2013, p. 418).  
  • Nonautomatic word reader--“Accurate but effortful recognition of most common words; may have difficulty reading multisyllabic or complex words; impaired reading comprehension “(2013, p. 418
• Specific reading comprehension difficulties (SRCD)--children in this group have at least average word recognition abilities but have weaker vocabularies or listening comprehension
  • Nonstrategic comprehender--“Normal prior word recognition development, impaired use of strategies and reading comprehension” (2013, p. 418).
  • Suboptimal comprehender--“Normal prior development of word recognition, impaired higher order reading comprehension” (2013, p. 418).  69 Wisconsin’s Informational Guidebook on Dyslexia and Related Conditions
• Mixed reading difficulties” (MRD)--children have a combination of word recognition and comprehension difficulties.  

From: Buly and Valencia (2004):

1. Word Recognition Difficulties:  
   • Struggling Word Callers:  Struggle with both reading comprehension and word identification      
   • Word Stumblers:  Some difficulty with word identification but have surprisingly good reading comprehension (they rely heavily on comprehension skills to compensate for poor word identification)
2. Reading Comprehension Difficulties
   • Automatic Word Callers:  decode words quickly, and read with accuracy and fluency, but are unable to comprehend what they are reading
   • Slow Comprehenders:  Strong decoding skills (although with slow fluency or weak decoding of multisyllabic words) and weak reading comprehension  
   • Slow Word Callers:  Slow but accurate readers who have difficulty with reading comprehension
3. Mixed Reading Difficulties
   • Disabled Readers:  are challenged by word identification, fluency and reading comprehension 

Definitions of the Science of Reading

The term “science of reading” is referenced in academic literature, in the popular press, and on social media. It is important to understand what researchers mean by this term.  Below are three definitions to help people better understand what the “science of reading” refers to.  

“The science of reading is a vast, interdisciplinary body of scientifically-based research about reading and issues related to reading and writing.  This research has been conducted over the last five decades across the world, and it is derived from thousands of studies conducted in multiple languages. The science of reading has culminated in a preponderance of evidence to inform how proficient reading and writing develop; why some have difficulty; and how we can most effectively assess and teach and, therefore, improve student outcomes through prevention of and intervention for reading difficulties. The Science of Reading is derived from researchers from multiple fields:  

• cognitive psychology
• communication sciences
• developmental psychology
• education
• implementation science
• linguistics
• neuroscience
• school psychology” (The Reading League 2021)

The science of reading is “a corpus of objective investigation and accumulation of reliable evidence about how humans learn to read and how reading should be taught” (International Literacy Association 2020).

“The science of reading involves studying how reading operates, develops, is taught, shapes academic and cognitive growth, affects motivation and emotion, interacts with context, and impacts context in turn.  It includes genetic, biological, environment, contextual, social, political, historical, and cultural factors that influence the acquisition and use of reading” (Graham 2020).

It is also important to know that building upon the body of scientific reading research (the science of reading) is an ongoing process as more and more research studies are conducted to answer ongoing questions that have yet to be answered.  Seidenberg et al. (2020) offered six recommendations for “future steps in relating the science of reading to educational practice” (Seidenberg et al. 2020, S127).  They suggest the following:

1. “Pursue cross-disciplinary collaborations:” Create interdisciplinary teams to help increase everyone’s understanding of reading science and how to use the information effectively in classrooms.
2. “Work toward a new science of teaching” so that research would be conducted to test instructional practices to determine which are most effective.
3. “Avoid a narrow focus on phonics” because in addition to the research that has demonstrated the necessity of phonics instruction, there is a body of research that has “addressed the many other elements of skilled reading and its development” (Seidenberg et al. 2020, S127).
4. “Invest in early learning” and also in more research to determine effective strategies for improving a child’s readiness before they reach school age.
5. “Develop a science of reading that applies to all readers,” including racial/ethnic minorities and students with low-socioeconomic backgrounds.
6. “Examine existing systems of learning:” “Existing systems, from formal curricula to informal practices, should be examined and augmented in ways that move them closer to what we know about how learners learn” (Seidenberg et al. 2020, S127).

Another body of research, the Science of Learning and Development (Science of Learning and Development Alliance, 2020), has reported the following findings that apply to all students:

• Every child, no matter their background, has the potential to succeed in school and life.
• No two young people learn in precisely the same ways.
• Children's ability to learn is strongly intertwined with their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical needs.
• The environments, experiences, and cultures of a young person's life are more influential than their genes.
• The human brain is remarkably malleable and can be changed by strong, supportive relationships and conditions they create.
• For the full report  

Prompts for Refining an Equitable Multi-Level System of Supports That Serves Students with Dyslexia and Related Conditions

The following prompting questions are meant to be used by families, educators, and school or district teams in order to better support students with dyslexia and students who struggle with reading.  

Relevant questions are duplicated at the end of each chapter.

Screening Processes and Tools

See Chapter 1 for additional information about screening processes and tools relevant to dyslexia and related conditions.  

Families	Educators	Educational Systems
What does the reading screener tell you about my child’s strengths and needs in reading? How is my child performing on classroom assessments? What does the reading screener tell you about my child’s strengths and needs in reading? What do you know about my child’s development of phonemic awareness? Phonics? Reading comprehension? Engagement with reading? Based on current data, what additional supports or challenges is my student engaged in?  (i.e., Is my child receiving reading intervention?) If additional support is needed:	What is the reading readiness screener we use for students in 4K through grade 2 to meet the requirements for phonemic awareness and alphabet and letter-sound knowledge? In grades 3 through 12: What reading screener do we use? Who administers the screener and how do I get the results?  In 4K through grade 2: What information does the screener tell me about my students’ strengths and needs related to phonemic awareness and letter sound knowledge, other foundational reading skills, and reading comprehension? Based on screening results, what diagnostic assessment may be needed? What support do I have to create an effective action plan to address specific children’s’ needs based on the data received?	What reading readiness screener do we use for students in 4K through grade 2 to meet the requirements for phonemic awareness and alphabet and letter-sound knowledge?  In grades 3 through 12: What reading screener do we use? What information does the reading screener tell us about learners’ strengths and needs related to phonemic awareness, letter sound knowledge, other foundational reading skills, and reading comprehension?   What diagnostic assessments are available? How are the results communicated to teachers?  How are the results communicated to families?   How are teachers supported in using the results to inform student grouping and instruction? How are teachers supported in using the results to inform decision-making about instructional context, content, time, and intensity?
What will reading intervention focus on? When will we meet again to discuss progress and/or next steps?	What professional learning do I need in order to meet the needs of all my students within the EMLSS?  Based on the reading screener results, in what reading areas do I need to provide more explicit instruction to all students?  To some students? Based on the reading screener results, how can I group students to provide them with the explicit reading instruction they need? Based on the reading screener results, in what reading areas do I need to provide more explicit instruction to all students? To some students? Based on the reading screener results, how can I group students to provide them with the explicit reading instruction they need?	How does our district use screening and diagnostic information to help students struggling with literacy? Does our current screening practice provide the information for us to meet federal Child Find requirements to identify all students in our district with a suspected learning disability? Do we administer additional reading assessments?   What additional information do they tell us about learners’ strengths and needs related to reading?  How are the results communicated to teachers?  How are the results communicated to families? How are teachers supported in using the results to inform student grouping and instruction? Do we administer additional reading assessments?   What additional information do they tell us about learners’ strengths and needs related to reading?  How are the results communicated to teachers?   How are the results communicated to families? How are teachers supported in using the results to inform student grouping and instruction?
Do you need to administer diagnostic assessments to better understand my child’s needs in reading?   What will you use?   What information will it give you?	If students need an additional diagnostic assessment to better understand their reading needs, what is the diagnostic assessment?  Who administers diagnostic assessments?  How do I get the results?  Based on the diagnostic assessments, in what reading areas do I need to provide more explicit instruction to particular students?  How can I group students to provide them with the explicit reading instruction they need?	If reading readiness screener results indicate an area of concern, what diagnostic assessments do we administer to further diagnose and identify a learner’s needs?  How are those results communicated to teachers?  How are those results communicated to families?  How are teachers supported in using those results to inform student grouping and instruction?
What other reading assessments does my child take?   What do those assessments tell you about their reading strengths and needs?	What formative, benchmark or interim, and summative reading data do I have about my students?  Who can help me interpret the data?  Based on that data, how do I need to adjust my reading instruction?	A strategic assessment system includes formative, benchmark or interim, and summative assessments.  What are the formative assessments teachers administer that give them information about learners’ strengths and needs related to reading? How are teachers supported in using formative assessment results to inform and adjust student grouping and instruction? What are the benchmark or interim assessments we administer?   How are results communicated to teachers?  How are we using benchmark or interim assessment data to inform reading instruction?  What are the summative assessments we administer?   How are the results communicated to teachers?   How are we using summative assessment data to inform our reading curriculum or scope and sequence?
What additional data do you have about my child as a reader?   What does it tell you about their reading strengths and needs?	What additional data do I have about my students as readers?  Is there data collected from families about outside of school reading behaviors?  What does that information tell me about the reading interests, strengths, and challenges of my students?	Do we have access to additional data and information about our learners as readers?   What is it?  How is it shared with teachers to inform instruction?

Instruction

See Chapter 2 for additional information about instruction for individuals with dyslexia and related conditions.

Families	Educators	Educational Systems
What are my child’s unique reading strengths and needs?   How are these being addressed in universal instruction?	How do I structure reading instructional time so that there is time for whole group instruction, small group instruction, and independent practice in order to provide instruction, additional support, and targeted feedback to each learner as necessary?	How do we structure our reading instructional time so that there is time for whole group instruction, small group instruction, and independent practice in order to provide instruction, additional support, and targeted feedback as necessary?   What support do teachers receive in effectively using the instructional time they have for reading instruction to meet each learner’s needs?
What materials (purchased or created) are used for universal instruction?  How do these meet the grade level standards, including (in K - 5) reading foundational skills?	What materials (purchased or created) are used for universal instruction?  How do these meet the grade level standards, including (in K - 5) reading foundational skills? What are the different types of texts that I have access to and what purpose do they serve?	What materials (purchased or created) are used for universal instruction?  How do these meet the grade-level standards, including (in K - 5) reading foundational skills?  What is the evidence that these materials are aligned to Wisconsin’s academic standards, and therefore, state summative assessments?   What support do teachers receive in effectively and appropriately using the instructional materials they have?
Are there specific prompts I should use at home when reading with my child?	Explicit instruction means providing clear, memorable information with a rationale and a clear, memorable model, followed with supported guided practice, while using precise language that enables learners to practice the skill or complete the task successfully.  How is the instruction I deliver in reading foundational skills explicit? Do I use the same language for reading skills as my colleagues?	Explicit instruction means providing clear, memorable information with a rationale and a clear, memorable model, followed with supported guided practice, while using precise language that enables learners to practice the skill or complete the task successfully.  How is the instruction we deliver in reading foundational skills explicit?   Do all teachers across the system use the same language for reading  skills to better support students and reduce confusion? What can we do to strengthen our explicit instruction in reading foundational concepts, skills, and strategies? What support do teachers have in delivering or supplementing reading instruction?
What reading concepts, skills, and strategies are you practicing in the classroom right now?	Systematic instruction means intentionally ensuring all reading concepts, skills, and strategies are learned using a scope and sequence as a guide for teachers to make individual decisions for all students. How is the instruction I deliver in reading foundational skills systematic?  What is the identified scope and sequence of reading foundational skills being used in my district and how do I use it to address the needs of all students (those who have already learned foundational skills and those who still need further instruction)?  Why are we using this identified scope and sequence?  How do supplementary reading activities I design or provide fit within the scope and sequence?	Systematic instruction means intentionally ensuring all reading concepts, skills, and strategies are learned using a scope and sequence as a guide for teachers to make individual decisions for all students. How is the instruction we deliver in reading foundational skills systematic?  Do all teachers know the identified scope and sequence of reading foundational skills and how to use it to address the needs of all students (those who have already learned foundational skills and those who still need further instruction)?   Why are we using this identified scope and sequence? What support do teachers have in delivering or supplementing reading instruction?
What reading goals do you have for my child? What reading goals does my child have for themself? The reading goals I have for my child are…	The goals of instruction are for students to engage in self regulated, independent practice of foundational skills, and for students to transfer their skills across learning settings to promote consolidation of learned skills. For example: learners receive instruction in a specific phonics skill, can practice that skill by reading a decodable text  focused on that skill, and then apply that skill to reading of connected literary or informational text).   What opportunities do I provide learners to engage in monitored independent reading to apply their reading concepts, skills, and strategies and transfer across learning settings? What reading goals does each student have for themself?  What additional reading goals do the families of my students have for their children?	The goals of instruction are for students to engage in self-regulated, independent practice of foundational skills, and for students to transfer their skills across learning settings to promote consolidation of learned skills. For example:  learners receive instruction in a specific phonics skill, can practice that skill by reading a decodable text focused on that skill, and then apply that skill to reading of connected literary or informational text).   What opportunities do we provide learners to engage in monitored independent reading to apply their reading concepts, skills, and strategies and transfer across learning settings?
Are there other educators who will provide additional reading instruction to my child?   How will all of the educators supporting my child collaborate? How will you make sure that my child still has access to grade level, standards based instruction?	Are there other educators who will provide additional reading instruction to some of my students?  Who are they? How will we collaborate to make sure that the additional reading instruction can be applied in my classroom?	Are there other educators who will provide additional reading instruction to some students? Who are they? What are the systems and structures in place to make sure that all educators providing reading instruction are able to collaborate to provide cohesive instruction that meets the needs of each learner?
How are you providing access to complex texts to my child?  What opportunities does my child have to read what they want? Right now my child is most interested in/excited about…	How are we providing access to appropriately complex texts to all learners?  How are we providing opportunities for choice in text selection to all learners? What opportunities do I have to learn more about reading and providing effective and appropriate reading instruction to meet the needs of each learner?	How are we providing access to appropriately complex texts to all learners? How are we providing opportunities for choice in text selection to all learners? What professional learning opportunities are we providing to teachers to support them in delivering effective and appropriate reading instruction?

Intervention and Additional Support  

See Chapter 2 for additional information about intervention and additional support for individuals with dyslexia and related conditions.  

Families	Educators	Educational Systems
What are my child’s unique reading strengths and needs? How are these being addressed in intervention?	How do I structure reading instructional time so that there is time for whole group instruction, small group instruction, and independent practice in order to provide additional instruction, supports, and appropriate feedback to each learner as necessary?	How do we provide intervention and additional reading support within the universal/core reading instruction time?   How do we ensure that learners receiving pull-out reading intervention and support still have access to the universal/core reading instruction?
How do you decide if a child requires additional reading support or intervention? How do you provide those supports or interventions?	How do I identify which students need additional support in reading? What are the structures that exist to provide additional reading support or intervention to those who need it?   How do we identify which students need additional support in reading?   What are the structures that exist to provide additional reading support or intervention to those who need it?	How do we identify which students need additional support in reading?   What are the structures that exist to provide additional reading support or intervention to those who need it?
What materials (purchased or created) are used for intervention?   How do you know those materials are aligned with my child’s reading needs?	What materials (purchased or created) are used for intervention?   What is the research base for these materials?   How do we use assessment data to provide learners with the reading intervention and support they need?	What materials (purchased or created) are used for reading intervention?   What is the research base for these materials?   How do we use assessment data to provide learners with the reading intervention and support they need?
What is the research base for these materials?	How do these materials align with the student’s reading needs?	How do we ensure that students receive the intervention that is aligned to their reading needs?
Are there other educators who will provide additional reading instruction to my child?   How will all of the educators supporting my child collaborate?  How will you make sure that my child still has access to gradelevel, standardsbased instruction?	Are there other educators who will provide additional reading instruction to some students?   Who are they?   How will we collaborate to make sure that the reading skills being learned in intervention can be transferred and applied to the universal instruction in my classroom?  Does the method of reading instruction provided in intervention differ from the method of reading instruction that I provide in universal instruction? If so, how? What opportunities do I have to learn more about reading and providing effective and appropriate reading instruction to meet the needs of each learner?	Who is providing reading intervention and additional support?   Are they the educators with the greatest reading expertise?   What are the systems and structures in place to make sure that all educators providing reading instruction are able to collaborate to provide cohesive instruction that meets the needs of each learner? If the method of reading instruction in universal/core instruction time is not supporting all learners, are we providing an alternative approach to reading instruction to students with dyslexia or students who struggle with reading?     What professional learning opportunities are we providing to interventionists to support them in delivering effective and appropriate reading intervention and support?

Resources:

Ideas to Consider See Chapter 3 for additional information about resources about individuals with dyslexia and related conditions.  

Families	Educators	Educational Systems
What resources does the school provide for me as a parent of a child with a reading difficulty and how might I access those resources?  How do I support my child’s literacy development? What have we found success with? How can I share this information with my child’s teachers?	What PD does my district offer related to developing my expertise in teaching reading? When and how often?When and how often should I be collaborating with my grade-level peers and across grade levels to ensure all students are getting what they need in order to become proficient readers/writers? Are there mentoring/ coaching opportunities? Might I watch another teacher teach a lesson? Is there a reading coach?	When and how often does the district offer continuing PD for their teachers related to reading instruction? Do the teachers have time embedded in their schedules to  collaborate, review data, and plan instruction? Do the teachers have access to reading coaches? What professional development opportunities are we offering our teachers and staff in relation to developing their expertise at teaching reading? How often are we utilizing PD to deepen our teachers’ expertise on reading instruction? Are we providing time for grade level and cross grade level collaboration, data sharing, and conversations related to reading instruction? Is there a coaching system in place? What would it take to get on in place? Do we allow time for teachers to watch one another delivering instruction as a means to guide and enhance one another’s professional practices? How often are we sending teachers to PD conferences or advocating for them to watch PD webinars? What might we shift in our budget to allow for more professional development?

Special Education, Section 504, and Dyslexia and Related Conditions

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), school districts are responsible for providing a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to students found eligible for special education.  

Special education is defined as specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of a student with a disability which is provided at no cost to the student or the student’s parent by appropriately licensed staff. It is provided in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings (34 C.F.R § 300.39 and Wis. Stat. § 115.76 (15)). Special education services must enable the student to advance appropriately toward the annual goals in the individualized education program (IEP), to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum, to participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities, and to be educated and participate with their nondisabled peers (34 C.F.R § 300.320(a)(4)).  

In order for a student to receive special education, an evaluation must be conducted by the local education agency (LEA), and the IEP team must meet to determine whether the student meets state disability category criteria and requires specially designed instruction. If a student is determined to be a student with a disability, an IEP is developed and implemented, if parent consent is provided, to provide the student with services and supports based on the student’s unique needs. School districts meet their obligation to provide FAPE to each student with a disability, in part, by developing and implementing each student’s IEP.

A student with dyslexia who has qualified for special education is able to receive services and supports beyond what is provided to all students based on their unique disability-related needs as determined by an IEP team. Wisconsin statute (PI 11.36(6)(a)) defines specific learning disability (SLD).  

Criteria used for diagnosing a reading disorder such as dyslexia during an outside evaluation do not necessarily correspond with state disability category criteria (such as criteria for specific learning disability or other health impairment). Therefore, a student may be diagnosed with dyslexia, but may or may not be determined to be a student with a disability under special education law. This is further explained in 2015 guidance from DPI and the federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction 2016).

A student who is suspected of a disability may also be considered for a Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 regulations require a school district to provide a "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability who is in the school district's jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability. Under Section 504, FAPE consists of the provision of appropriate educational services designed to meet the student's individual educational needs as adequately as the needs of nondisabled students are met. As a student with a disability under Section 504, a student with dyslexia would have their specific needs addressed as determined through the 504 plan.

More information.   

How Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiation Can Be Used to Meet the Needs of Students with Dyslexia and Related Conditions Universal Design for Learning

UDL anticipates and appreciates variety in learners. UDL is applied through careful planning and collaboration in anticipation of variety in learners whereas differentiation happens intentionally but more in-the-moment as educators work with students.  UDL can be used to provide all students with access to complex, grade-level texts. For students with dyslexia and related conditions, this could include:

• Interactive read-a louds of grade level texts
• Shared reading of grade-level text
•  Audio books
• Collaboratively constructed book discussion notes

Differentiation

Differentiation is “the dynamic adjustment of curriculum and instructional practices based on the learning needs of students” (Wisconsin Response to Intervention (RtI) Center 2017).

In both universal instruction and intervention, curriculum and instructional practices can be adjusted based on the learning needs of students. Adjustments can be based on data from assessments or observations, student and teacher interactions, and preferences or needs expressed by students.  

The following are examples of differentiation that might be beneficial to students with dyslexia:

• Use of multimodality techniques in instruction and practice.
  • “Learning is enhanced when all sensory modalities are engaged.  For example, when learning the word ‘desk,’ students benefit from:
    • Hearing the word pronounced (auditory)
    • Seeing the word (visual)
    • Saying the sounds and the whole word aloud (auditory plus tactile)
    • Writing the word desk (tactile/kinesthetic)” (Hasbrouck 2020, 111).
• Use of assistive technology (such as text-to-speech) to access texts that cannot yet be read independently.
• In small groups or individually, targeted intervention with additional modeling and guided practice of skills that a student has not yet mastered.
• Student choice of text for independent reading or topics for independent writing to allow a student to explore their areas of interest with teacher monitoring 

Licensing and Reading

When considering how best to serve students with dyslexia and related conditions, matching the student with the most highly qualified educator can be a way to accelerate student learning. Educator licensing is one way to measure an educator’ s qualifications.

Wisconsin has two licenses unique to reading: reading teacher and reading specialist. Both licenses require a path to licensure (often graduate coursework) beyond initial certification.  

A reading teacher license requires two years of full-time teaching experience. A reading teacher has training beyond initial certification about reading instruction and assessment.  

A reading specialist license requires three years of full-time teaching experience. A reading specialist has training beyond that of a reading teacher, which includes working with adults and building K - 12 systems.

Licensing for Reading Intervention

Both universal instruction and intervention must be taught by appropriately licensed educators.

An individual who teaches reading intervention for more than one period per day and/or to students who are not assigned to that teacher for the rest of the day must hold a reading teacher license. A reading teacher license can be added to a teaching license after one has taught full-time for two years and completed an approved path to licensure (such as a preparation program or preparation through a district-sponsored process). The following should be considered:

• At the secondary level, only individuals with a reading license may provide reading intervention.  An individual with a license to teach content at the secondary level (such as a license to teach English language arts or mathematics in grades 4 - 12) is not licensed to teach reading or reading intervention; and
• For students with IEPs, specially designed instruction for reading can be delivered by someone who holds a special education and/or a reading teacher license.
• In addition to the appropriate licensure, universal instruction and intervention relies on educator expertise. Educators need on-going professional learning related to grade-level standards, literacy assessments, effective instructional strategies, and use of information from a comprehensive assessment system so they can make responsive teaching decisions unique to each child.

Licensing for Reading Specialist

Wis. State 118.015 requires each school district to have a district reading specialist. The duties of a district reading specialist, as defined by statute are:

•  Develop and implement a reading curriculum in grades kindergarten to 12;
• Act as a resource person to classroom teachers to implement the reading curriculum;
• Work with administrators to support and implement the reading curriculum;
• Conduct an annual evaluation of the reading curriculum; and
• And coordinate the reading curriculum with other reading programs and support. See Statute 118.015 in Appendix B for further information.

Parent Resource: Questions to ask if seeking an evaluation outside your child’s school  

This list is from Arkansas Dyslexia Resource Guide (2017, 57). If you seek an outside evaluation, consider asking the following questions:

1. How long have you been testing children for dyslexia?
2. Where did you get trained to do this?
3. What does the term dyslexia mean to you?
4.  Will you use the term dyslexia in your report? Why or why not?
5. What are some of the tests you will use?
6. What do you charge for testing a child?
7. What is the process like? How long will it take?
8. Will you meet with us when the testing is done and explain the results?
9. Will you be able to refer us to an appropriate and qualified interventionist with experience in performing an evidenced-based program for dyslexia?
10. How do you know the interventionist is qualified?
11. Will you provide a written report as part of your fee? What will be in that report?
12. If my child has dyslexia, will your recommendations section be written with legal terminology that will make it easy to get a 504 Plan?
13. (If the child is in high school) Will your report include recommendations for accommodations for high stakes testing such as extra time for the ACT
14. Will your report include recommendations for accommodations such as assistive technology to help access reading and writing materials?
15. Will you meet with my child’s teacher(s) and explain the results? Is that included in your fee? If not, what would you charge?
16. Can you provide me with a list of references -- parents who have hired you to test their child? 

Educational Technology to Support Access to Written Text

The information in this appendix was taken from Arizona’s Dyslexia Handbook (Arizona Department of Education 2018, 28-29).

Some students with dyslexia may find it easier to read when the spacing between lines, between words, or even between the characters within words is increased. Here are some easy, free ways to change these parameters:

• use the formatting features to change the spacing in Word and Google documents;
• use Chrome extensions such as Readability and AT Bar to change spacing on webpages; and
• use Settings when reading on mobile devices such as smart phones or tablets to change spacing.

For students who have word-level difficulties, technology can allow a student to access the content by listening to text instead of (or in addition to) reading it. Here are some examples:

• Audio Books are recorded books that are narrated by human readers. Audio books do not display text.
• Text-Synched Audio Books are audiobooks that are read aloud by the computer’s voice while the words that are being spoken are highlighted. Tools that allow for this feature include these:  Voice Dream Reader (from Bookshare, available as an iOS app).
• E-books are electronic versions of printed books displayed on a computer or handheld device designed specifically for this purpose. Some, but not all, e-books may be read aloud by a computerized (synthesized) voice.
• Freeware that will read text from Word docs and PDFs aloud, such as Balabolka
• iOS and Android OCR and text-to-speech apps that will read text aloud, such 29 as Prizmo, TextGrabber, Voice Dream Reader.  

Students are often expected to read information from the Internet independently. There are many technology tools that will read text from webpages aloud. These include:

• Chrome extensions such as SpeakIt;  
• Snap&Read Universal Chrome extension; and
• Read & Write Gold Chrome extension.

Processing issues and vocabulary deficits make it difficult for some students to understand grade-level text, even when they are listening to it. Technology tools that either decrease the complexity of the text, or define words in accessible ways include:

• Snap&Read Universal software and app with text leveling  
• Rewordify.com website  
• Text Compactor website
•  NewsELA website
• Dictionary.com website with synonym complexity slider
• Crack the Books digital textbooks that present science content at five reading levels  
• • Simple Wikipedia

The following suggestions were added by Wisconsin educators and families:

• Open dyslexic app
• Onemorestory.com
• Storylineonline.com 

Possible Accommodations for Individuals with Dyslexia and Related Conditions

This list was taken from the Arkansas Dyslexia Resource Guide (2017, 52-53). Listed below are some accommodations to be considered for a student exhibiting the characteristics of dyslexia. Specific accommodations should be selected based on individual student needs.

Reading

• Allow audio books and/or text-to-speech software • Utilize outlines, summaries
• Preview questions and vocabulary
• Allow shared reading or buddy reading

Writing

• Grade for content rather than spelling 
• Allow students to dictate work to an adult
• Substitute alternative projects for written reports
• Utilize speech-to-text software
• Reduce written work
• Minimize copying
• Accept oral responses, reports, and presentations

Testing

• Provide extra time
• Review directions orally
• Read tests orally
• Allow dictated responses

Homework

• Reduce reading and writing requirements
• Limit time spent on homework
• Provide extra time

Instruction

• Break tasks into small steps
• Give directions in small steps
• Give examples and model behavior
• Emphasize daily review
• Provide copies of lecture notes

Classroom

• Post schedules and maintain routines
• Chart assignments on a calendar
• Use color-coding to organize materials and information
• Coordinate preferential seating
• Avoid requiring students to read aloud in front of a group