RHINELANDER, WI (WSAU-WXPR) — Legislation authored by state Representative Bob Kulp will be heard this week to provide help for teachers working with students with the reading disorder dyslexia.
The Stratford Republican says, if approved, the measure would put Wisconsin in line with many other states.
“The bill being heard on Thursday will address putting a committee together to make a guidebook for parents, teachers, administrators, superintendents, relating to dyslexia. At this point we don’t have anything like that in our state, many other states around us do. I think we have to continue to bring this to the forefront and give people the guidance they would like in terms of where to go for help.”
Kulp says more than a year ago he was asked to chair a committee to see if such a guidebook would be feasible. He says the committee was comprised of five legislators on the Senate and Assembly side and outside experts, including reading specialists.
Kulp says studies show dyslexia is a larger problem than the public knows. “Recently there was a study done, I think it was a prison in Texas, but you could extrapolate it out to the rest of the country that 48 percent of the inmates in Texas were diagnosed with dyslexia.”
Kulp says young students with dyslexia tend to struggle in school unless they get extra help and that losing out can translate into social problems. He says that shows why prisons have more people with dyslexia and it gives the person with the issue a disadvantage in life.
A companion bill is also in the Wisconsin Senate.
