DYSLEXIA LEGISLATION HOUSE BILL 463

Any one can call their Representative or Senator at the Massachusetts State House
Office or the local office and ask to speak with or leave a message for their legislator.

YOU CAN DO THIS AND IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

STEP 1 Identify Your Legislators and their Contact Information
This is easy and can be done using your own address at this website:
https://malegislature.gov/People/Search
STEP 2 Contact you Legislator:
Your Legislator may have local office hours, schedule a meeting at the state house meetings, and or a staff member
answering the phone to help learn what voters want. Don be shy; any of these methods will do. Staff members will often
take the time to hear what you have to say and get back to you, that is their job! But take advantage of office hours and yes
bring the kids, its a learning experience.
STEP 3 Urge your legislators to pass House Bill 463, Dyslexia Legislation
You should take some time to say why this legislation matters to you, think ahead and plan what you might want to say.
The purpose of this legislation is to ensure equal access to a Free an Appropriate Education to students with a known and
well researched neurological condition called dyslexia.
There are a few main points that you can include when discussing Dyslexia Legislation.
1. Scientific Based Definition
The science behind dyslexia that it is neurobiological and has been studied using fMRI imagining as early as with sleeping
infants.1 So Current DOE regulations that factor in subjective information, cultural and linguistic differences are not based in
science and discriminatory. (see Mass DOE SLD flow chart.)
2. Most Common & Most Researched LD
This is not a small sub category but by many standards the most common type of learning disability as well as the most
researched. Depending on the criteria of different studies you will see an occurrence of dyslexia in 10% - 17% of the general
population and up to 80% of learning disabilities.2
3. Early Screening with Evidence Based Reading Instruction for Dyslexia
Dyslexia screening followed by Support with Explicit Sequenced Evidence-based Reading Instruction reduces reading
failure.3 Dyslexia screening in PreK, K and 1st grade can reduce reading failure and improve third grade proficiency.

Research on this can be easily found, here in MA the Gaab Lab, at Boston Childrens Hospital is one place you can find this type of research based on Neuroscience,

and how the brain learn to read.(both typical and dyslexic readers) http://www.childrenshospital.org/research-and-innovation/research/labs/gaab-laboratory
NCLD https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/dyslexia/understanding-dyslexia#item1

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/nrp/Pages/findings.aspx

YOU CAN DO THIS AND IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

STEP 4 Request that they commit to a specific action: Some legislators will be directly involved on the Education
Committee others are not:
If Your legislator is on the Joint Committee for Education:
When Representatives are on the Joint Committee for Education ask them:
How will you support this legislation? What do you need to learn more about this?
Request that you be updated to know of any hearings or actions on this bill. If possible plan to attend the hearings!
In the House:
Alice Hanlon Peisch, House Chair, Danielle W. Gregoire, House Vice Chair,
or members: Robert M. Koczera, John H. Rogers, Marcos A. Devers, Diana DiZoglio, Michael S. Day,
Rady Mom, Paul Tucker, Kimberly N. Ferguson, James M. Kelcourse
In the Senate:
Sonia Chang-Diaz, Senate Chair, Patricia D. Jehlen, Senate Vice Chair or Members: Linda Dorcena Forry, Jason M. Lewis,
Barbara LItalien, Donald F. Humason, Jr
If your legislator is not on the Committee:
Ask specifically for them to contact the Education Committee Chairs (Alice Peisch (H) or Sonia Chang-Dias (S) ) and legislative
leaders like the Speaker of the House or even the Governor to let them know how important this is. And ask if you can have
an email or confirmation to follow up after they have done that.
Request that you be updated by the staff to know of any hearings or actions on this bill. If possible plan to attend the hearings!
Important points to repeat to every one and include in written correspondence:
1.Express concern that studies show early identification is critical and screening can and should be done at school entry,
Pre K, K and 1st grade! Preschool and K are not too early!
2. The current policies wait until everything else is tried, including RTI, and exclude ELL students systematically, so that
dyslexic students across all cultural and economic backgrounds must wait to fail rather than be identified early. Some will
never be identified due to SLD exclusionary factors. No other biological based disability must wait to fail before being
recognized. Do we expect blind students to try reading text before we consider braille? Do we exclude because of linguistic
or cultural and economic differences people from any other disability? Of course not.
3. Early identification, before reading instruction, will assure that theses students receive the sequenced explicit evidence
based instruction they respond to to reduce reading failure and learn to read on schedule with peers who learn more
typically.
4.Respectfully request that biology and neuroscience guide the definition and not educational theories or previous
misguided educational regulations. Teachers and Educational Administrators and policy makers should be guided by
facts and science in matters of students with well researched disabilities like dyslexia.