BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Starting in the fall of this year, Massachusetts Public School students will be screened for dyslexia.
It's part of a new state law that hopes to catch the reading disorder early before it becomes a learning crisis.
Massachusetts State Senator Bruce Tarr sponsored the legislation, citing that dyslexia affects one in six students.
"The guidance from the law particularly focuses on students in kindergarten through third grade," Tarr said. "Because early intervention we know is not only effective in being able to address these challenges for students, but it's also very cost-effective."
Until now there has been no state framework to screen kids with learning disabilities -- something that Nancy Duggan, Executive Director of Decoding Dyslexia Massachusetts, has been fighting for.
"The experience of many kids with learning disabilities is they go to school, they watch all their peers, and whatever is going on -- it looks real easy to all the other kids in the class -- it looks like it's going smoothly for everyone else but [them]."
Tarr is hoping the law lays the groundwork for more testing for other learning disabilities in the future, as he says no kid should struggle unnecessarily.
WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal (@Karynregal) reports.
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Written by Rachel Armany
(Photo: Getty Images)