Screening Program on the Cards for NYC Schools

Learners in the Big Apple will soon be evaluated for dyslexia as part of a broader effort to boost resources for children with the learning difference across the city, according to Mayor Eric Adams in a press briefing given just over a week ago.

Adams, who himself has dyslexia, advocated across-the-board screening for dyslexia during his successful Democratic mayoral primary bid, and more than once has spoken out about the high rates of dyslexia in the city prison population. His ongoing line on the subject is that better early education policy and a push towards diagnosis and intervention can prevent city youth from ending up engaging in criminal behaviours and leaving the education system early. He has devoted $7.4 million of his proposed budget to the cause of addressing dyslexia and the ‘literacy crisis’ evident in NYC, and stated that in the next few years, NYC is “…Going to have the largest, most comprehensive approach to supporting students with dyslexia in the country.”

According to Adams’ statements last week, there are also huge plans in motion to train all teachers in better recognising and supporting dyslexic students, and school leaders will be required to enforce school principals to adopt a phonics-based literacy curriculum if they aren’t teaching one already. This is agreed by most dyslexia professionals and language specialists as the most effective way to teach reading to most young learners, and as a method for learning can greatly benefit those in a class who have dyslexia and literacy differences.

School officials plan to screen nearly all of the city’s students for dyslexia, whilst 80 elementary schools and 80 middle schools are to benefit from additional support for addressing the needs of their learners who have dyslexia. The city also has big plans regarding the creation of specialist dyslexia programs, with plans going ahead to open one in Harlem and one in South Bronx by the end of this year and the ambition of opening one in each of the other boroughs by the end of 2023.

You can find out more about the mayoral press briefings and Adams’ plans for developing dyslexia support across the city at The New York Times.