July 24, 2024, Gold Country, Auburn, CA: The Dark Underbelly of Your American School District, part 5: The failure of 'Child Find'
One in five kids has dyslexia. That’s 20 percent of schoolchildren.
Across the country, only 13-15 percent of schoolchildren get special education. Hmmm. Something’s not adding up right. That 13-15 percent of students includes kids with dyslexia and students with dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADHD, autism spectrum, sensory processing, auditory processing disorder and visual processing disorders. The average classroom has closer to 30 percent neuro-atypical learners.
Remember, for learning disorders, we’re talking normal IQ or higher. That’s part of the definition of a learning disorder. So, we are failing to find 15-20 percent of kids who need intervention to learn.
We are failing to “Child Find.”
The IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and Child Find Federal law 300.111 states:
“All children with disabilities residing in (a) State, including children with disabilities who are homeless children or are wards of the State, and children with disabilities attending private schools, regardless of the severity of their disability, and who are in need of special education and related services, are identified, located, and evaluated.” The obligation to find falls on the school districts.
Unfortunately, how states and schools must “find” kids with disabilities is left very vague by the federal law. As a result, districts will do things like provide “information outreach to the community.” Or say they “find” kids by accepting referrals for kids that others have concerns about. Forty states do at least conduct dyslexia screening in early grades, but it’s not nationwide. . . .
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