"Dyslexics, untie!" But seriously, dyslexia is also often mistaken for ADHD. Solutions for either condition are worlds apart. And when you throw a language barrier in the mix, it should be no surprise that ESL students get so far left behind they can never catch up. I agree with Rachel Levy. Solvable and crucial to kids.

Let's hope PAUSD can see the value of screening for dyslexia. Sometimes dyslexia is related to autism and there is a lot of that in Silicon Valley. A lot of kids may be dyslexic but technology will naturally fix it so they may never know they would have had an issue.

I never knew why I didn't like reading. I didn't wear glasses and my eyesight was 20/20. In elementary school I was tested for my eyesight but not dyslexia. It wasn't until I searched for resources for my high school son after Paly English teacher, Esther Wojcicki told me that he had a reading comprehension issue (we had no idea he wasn't a good reader, he got good grades). It was then that I found out out about vision therapy, something unavailable in my day. We went to the Family Vision Care in San Carlos Web Link and they started him on vision therapy. The issue was that his eye muscles needed to be strengthened because it wasn't reading line-to-line easily. So they gave him a computer program to for eye exercises, following the ball on the screen. It so happens that my reading problem was the same but with working on the computer everyday, my eyes muscles were getting the exercise, eventually solving my issue. I got a college degree but my reading issue was not solved until I was age 43! Technology may naturally fix some of the eyesight issues of students who have the same issue.

The PAUSD teachers should have a conference on recognizing dyslexia. No teacher ever said anything to us before Woj. The PAUSD nurse should inform parents of all the vision issues that can be resolved.

PAUSD adopted a dyslexia resolution in 2018 - Web Link

And started universal dyslexia screening in 2020 - Web Link