Since dyslexia can frequently be avoided with effective instruction, early intervention is crucial. Early screening is part of it because we need to identify children who are at risk early and implement effective instruction when we can best maximize their access to print. Since remediation is clearly less effective, it is far preferable to act now rather than waiting until the child truly fails.
According to a recent study by Maureen Lovett, for instance, results were nearly twice as good if they were given in the first, second, and third grades. We have a good understanding of why that occurs. Reading is an acquired skill, so in order to learn it, you must allow the brain to experience the connection between the sounds and appearances of words.
In the end, we want readers to read words in their entirety. In order for them to recognize the entire word based on the statistical characteristics of the letter, we want them to be lexical readers. To accomplish that, you must have early access to print and gain a significant amount of print exposure, which enables the brain to program the systems required for automatic reading.
Those brain systems don't develop well if you don't receive early intervention and you wait to fail, or if you receive early intervention and you still struggle, and it's very hard to get the exposure required to get those brain systems functioning.
In reality, children are identified in schools at a relatively late stage of development. I believe that the average age of identification in special education, for instance, is ten years old. Furthermore, a large number of children are identified even later. That's simply not what we ought to be doing. As early as possible, we should identify children who struggle with reading and behavior in order to prevent the emergence of a number of ancillary issues, including anxiety.
A major characteristic of kids who don't react well to reading lessons is the emergence of anxiety.
Submitted by: Schools & Districts | Topic: Dyslexia, Interventions
References
Lovett, Maureen & Frijters, Jan & Wolf, Maryanne & A. Steinbach, Karen & Sevcik, Rose & D. Morris, Robin. (2016). Early Intervention for Children at Risk for Reading Disabilities: The Impact of Grade at Intervention and Individual Differences on Intervention Outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology.1037/edu0000181.
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