Schools will not test for dyslexia

Parents often ask why their child's school will not test for dyslexia

Except in Texas, public schools tend to test for a learning disability and not dyslexia-- the two conditions are often the same, but dyslexia creates a great deal of emotion and states have tended to avoid using the word -- just have the school test for a learning disability

At present the states are still using the discrepancy formula -- is there a 15 point differential between the child's potential and performance (e.g. a student with a 112 IQ and a 103 performance would not qualify and a student with a 122 IQ and a 103 performance, or 19 point differential would qualify)

Congress has passed a new law, IDEA 2004, that should move the country towards an RTI Approach (Response to Intervention) where the student will be given one intervention and if they do not respond a second intervention and if they do not respond a third -- after three interventions if their performance is still lagging they will qualify with a learning disability

The regulations guiding the new law should be published later this year and then states will have time to put the new regulations into practice -- we will keep you posted