Assembly Bill 1369

 

On October 12, 2015, Governor Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 1369 which for the first time recognizes dyslexia as a learning disability and requires that teachers be provided with information about effectively teaching students who have dyslexia. California joins other states with similar legislation about education for children who have dyslexia.

This new law requires schools to assess struggling readers specifically for dyslexia, the most prevalent learning disability in the U.S. and a disorder that affects as many as 80 percent of California students with learning disabilities in special education, according to Kathy Futterman, a supervisor in educational psychology and teacher education at California State University East Bay.

In addition, the law requires the California Department of Education, by the start of the 2017-18 school year, to post information on its website to help teachers find a proven, evidence-based approach for teaching reading to students with dyslexia. Such approaches, which include Orton-Gillingham and Wilson Language Training, involve direct instruction in breaking the “code” of letters and sounds.

As a teacher with two boys who have dyslexia, I am very happy about the signing of this law. I have used Orton-Gillingham practices in my kindergarten and first grade classrooms for years and this method for teaching reading really does work for all students.

Fisher Hill has an English literacy program for Spanish-speaking teens and adults that uses Orton-Gillingham methods. This English literacy program includes four different workbook series. These series can be used in conjunction with each other.  How does the program work? English Reading and Spelling Book 1 introduces students to reading in English. The English Reading and Spelling series uses a very systematic and excplict approach to teaching the forty-four speech sounds used in the English language. Learning these sounds will help students read and spell. When English Reading and Spelling Book 1 is completed, students are ready to practice their beginning reading skills with English Reading Comprehension for the Spanish Speaker Book 1 and their beginning writing skills with English Writing Composition for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. Vocabulary presented in the first books of each series is reviewed in English Vocabulary for the Spanish Speaker Book 1. The four series each with six workbooks, were written to be used together to give students a good foundation in English literally.  Adults like our workbooks because the pace is reasonable, print is large, directions are in Sapnish, there are lots of pictures but the content is for older students. Teachers like our books beause everything is ready to go! There is an answer key at the end of each lesson and an English translation of the Spanish directions at the end of each book.

     

 Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to learn more about our English literacy program that uses Orton-Gillingham methods.