One Newtown parent spoke at a roughly seven-hour-long Education Committee public hearing on March 18 to support the creation of a state-level task force for dyslexia.

Resident and parent Alissa Heizler-Mendoza was just one of the people who spoke in favor of the proposed Senate Bill 1067 (SB 1067), which would establish a task force to “analyze and make recommendations on the implementation of the laws governing dyslexia instruction and training,” according to the Connecticut General Assembly’s website, cga.ct.gov.

“We really need to make sure all teachers receive dyslexia education in higher education,” Ms Heizler-Mendoza said following the hearing.

Ms Heizler-Mendoza explained legislation is not being implemented systemically across the state “at a district level.” The task force, she hopes, would ensure teacher training is included in higher education programs so teachers can assess current practices, identify students with dyslexia, and make sure students receive structural literacy supports.

Ms Heizler-Mendoza is the senior director of advocacy and government affairs for Insulet. She has also been working closely with Decoding Dyslexia Connecticut, a grassroots movement concerned with the limited identification and access to educational interventions for dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities within public schools, according to the group. Ms Heizler-Mendoza said she is committed to making sure families with children with dyslexia have the resources they need.

“It’s not acceptable that just because you can’t read, you can’t go to college or you can’t go to technical school,” said Ms Heizler-Mendoza.

With Yale University located in Connecticut, Ms Heizler-Mendoza said the state has experts available to make sure evidence-based supports are implemented.

State Representative Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) is a member of the Education Committee, and he questioned Ms Heizler-Mendoza after she spoke at the public hearing.

Rep Bolinsky noted at the public hearing that legislation was passed in the last three years, and he asked Ms Heizler-Mendoza if she had noticed changes during her efforts as an advocate. Ms Heizler-Mendoza reacted by saying the changes sought through legislation are not “systemic in nature. Kids are still not being identified early. They are not getting the structural literacy that we know could benefit them early on, when they may be getting diagnosed.” Some districts across the state are “pockets” representing how the legislation can be implemented, and, she added, in other districts, advocates are needed to support evidence-based services being implemented. In Newtown, she noted, parents joined together to advocate for their children recently.

“I do not know where my child would be if he did not have me as an advocate,” Ms Heizler-Mendoza said.

Noting that not all parents can work as advocates for their children, Rep Bolinsky said at the hearing that the Education Committee’s leadership knows it is time to “move the ball forward” on dyslexia. He also said that once a student falls behind, it is difficult for them to catch up without greater interventions.

“I feel pretty strongly about our role here in defining the policy,” said Rep Bolinsky at the hearing.

Other Decoding Dyslexia Connecticut representatives and parents spoke at the hearing, and Harvey Hubbell V, a Newtown native and Emmy Award-winning director, also voiced his support for the bill at the hearing.

“From my experience as a dyslexic documentary filmmaker, the task force would help us steer the latest evidenced-based information and get programs into the schools and be able to implement it with fidelity,” Mr Hubbell said.

Following the hearing, SB 1067 was unanimously voted on by the Education Committee members present on March 25. Rep Bolinsky explained on March 27 that the bill will go through the “legislative process” and may “end up on the Senate calendar” within the next week. Rep Bolinsky said he was a late cosponsor of SB 1067, after he proposed another bill, House Bill 6224 (HB 6224), “An Act Concerning the Development of Standards for Early-Detection of Dyslexia and the Administration of Instructionally Robust, Evidence-Based Reading And Writing Strategies.” HB 6224, Rep Bolinsky said, was “very aggressive” and he wishes SB 1067 was “stronger.”

“But it is a start,” he said about SB 1067.

Noting that roughly 20 percent of students could be helped by earlier detection and resources for dyslexia, Rep Bolinsky said implementation of legislation would pay for itself “dollars and dollars and dollars down the line” for districts by helping to avoid allocating spending for litigation. He believes dyslexia can be mitigated before students are referred to special education programs.

After saying many parents can become frustrated and can end up settling for less than they find ideal, he said Ms Heizler-Mendoza is a “very special advocate” and “very good to work with.”