Newtown was represented at the October 11 Dyslexia Legislation Forum in Hartford, which was one of multiple Dyslexia Awareness Month events.

Parent Alissa Heizler-Mendoza and Harvey Hubbell V, a Newtown native and Emmy Award-winning director, both spoke at the forum, sharing insights and stories.

Others spoke at the forum, including Allison Quirion, founder of Decoding Dyslexia-CT, who opened the event by explaining her group’s efforts to empower families to advocate for their students with dyslexia and to create public policy changes.

“I’ve been dyslexic for darn-near 60 years,” said Mr Hubbell when he spoke at the forum, “and I’m planning on retiring dyslexic.”

Mr Hubbell shared scenes from his documentary Dislecksia: The Movie, and he spoke about his own experience growing up as a dyslexic learner in Newtown.

People learn differently. From kindergarten to third grade, he said, students learn to read, but from third and fourth grade on, “students read to learn.”

“We are humans. We aren’t machines: We don’t roll off the assembly line,” he added.

Following the forum, Mr Hubbell said that if students do not learn to read by third grade, they do not have a learning foundation, and they can become learning disabled. When parents and school districts fight, they are not helping the children, Mr Hubbell explained. Instead, he said, there is scientific research and resources available that provide interventions to help students.

“Dyslexia has been around... since before the written language. Before then, we didn’t know if someone learned differently or not,” he shared.

Mr Hubbell is also the founder and executive producer of seedling.tv of Captured Time Productions. He said seedling.tv is interested in hearing people’s stories, and it can also help direct people to where they can find support. For more information about sharing stories or to contact seedling.tv for information about support, see its website, where a contact form is available by clicking “Contact.”

Accountability, Implementation Lacking

Ms Heizler-Mendoza spoke after Mr Hubbell. Legislation is in place to support dyslexic learners, but Ms Heizler-Mendoza said accountability and implementation is lacking in districts across the state. She attended the forum to share insights on how to advocate as a parent. She has been advocating locally for her son, and she said support from fellow parents like Newtown parent Liza Mecca, who was also in attendance at the forum, has meant a lot.

The lack of implementation in districts means, she said, “Our kids are not learning to read, and this impacts them extremely negatively, not only academically, but as we have seen, socially and emotionally. And it can lead to long-term consequences, and it is really detrimental for our society.”

Both Ms Heizler-Mendoza and Mr Hubbell spoke to the juxtaposition of districts seeming to not want to pay for supports, when that could save money for the state from supporting those same students as adults. Early detection, interventions, and proper teaching methods can help dyslexic learners, they both shared.

“In our district, we have certified teachers: They are in the middle school. We’re hearing up to third grade is key. So what that means, in our district — children need to fail, go to middle school, and then they will get the services. I’m sorry: I could not let my child fail,” said Ms Heizler-Mendoza.

As a result of children not getting supports in schools, Ms Heizler-Mendoza said families like hers are paying thousands of dollars to get services “that should be provided in public schools.” They also pay “exorbitant amounts” for attorney fees when micromanaging school districts is needed.

“We need to advocate, and we need to do it fiercely and collaboratively,” she told the forum. “Our voices are extremely powerful. Reading should not be a privilege, and our kids, by law, have the right to a free and appropriate education.”

One step Ms Heizler-Mendoza recommended those at the forum take is to generate awareness. Until two years ago, she said she did not know what dyslexia was. Then her son began telling her that words move or disappear. She found online simulators, and “it blew my mind.”

“We want to create change: We have the ability to do it,” she said, adding one in five children are dyslexic. “We need to condition the environment at all levels. I can tell you no act is too small.”

She called for mandatory dyslexia teacher training, early intervention, and continuing education programs on comprehensive intervention strategies. Teachers mean well, she added, but teachers are not being provided with the tools they need to help students.

She encouraged collaborating with school districts, working with communities and nonprofits, and inspiring and supporting others. In Newtown, she said, parents have worked “incredibly close” with the Board of Education, and Board of Education Vice Chair Rebekah Harriman-Stites was in attendance at the forum.

After the forum, Ms Heizler-Mendoza said she thought it went “extremely well.” Hearing Mr Hubbell speak made her cry, she said.

“I’m surprised this is such a huge issue in our society, that we have tons of research… and these kids are not getting the help they need to be successful in high school,” she said.

Next Steps

Locally, Ms Heizler-Mendoza said next steps will include continuing to work with the school district, continuing to advocate for her son, and working to start support groups for parents. She is also working to collaborate a Dyslexia Awareness Month display for C.H. Booth Library.

With Decoding Dyslexia, Ms Heizler-Mendoza said a next effort will be to introduce 2019 legislation to create a task force. According to her presentation at the forum, the task force will analyze the standards of practice for teachers required to meet the needs of students with dyslexia, ensure Connecticut institutes of higher education are implementing structured literacy standards in compliance with dyslexia legislation and accountability measures, and assess local district implementation of dyslexia legislative requirements with recommendations provided to the General Assembly.

Both Ms Heizler-Mendoza and Mr Hubbell shared that the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is set to hold its annual conference on Reading, Literacy, and Learning at Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, October 24 to 27.

“I don’t think people realize what a big issue this is,” Ms Heizler-Mendoza said.