Assemblymember Robert Carroll has welcomed a move by NYC Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the Dyslexia Task Force Act into law. In a press statement on Wednesday, Carroll said Hochul signed the bill on Friday.
Carroll said he introduced the bill in 2019.
The bill requires the New York State Education Department Commissioner to establish a task force that hosts public hearings in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, including speech pathologists, reading specialists, teachers, school administrators and parents, to deliberate and assess evidence-based suitable methods for screening and supporting students with dyslexia and dysgraphia.
According to the proposed bill, task force members must be “experts in fields or disciplines related to the identification of students with learning disabilities, including the unique educational needs of students with dyslexia or dysgraphia.”
The experts will be required to screen students for phonics skills, receptive vocabulary, oral reading fluency, phonological awareness decoding and encoding real and pseudo words.
After one year, the team will submit a report with recommendations to the Governor and legislature.
Carroll commended the parents, students, advocacy groups and teachers who lobbied for the signing of the bill into law. He said the move by Governor Hochul was a significant step towards ensuring the needs of dyslexic students.
“This is an important first step to ensuring a consistent and effective approach statewide to meeting the needs of students with dyslexia and dysgraphia. I am confident that under State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa’s leadership, the task force will arrive at substantive recommendations for evidence-based screening methods, interventions and support for students with dyslexia and dysgraphia,” said Carroll.
