It’s incredibly important to resource these young people with the skills to be successful, but it’s also important in another way. It’s important to improving the environment in our classrooms. One of the most powerful things I heard when talking to kids who struggled with dyslexia is when a young man said to me, When I was a student and I was struggling to read, I acted out and I did that because it was easier to be a bad kid than a stupid kid. We need to help these kids.
Senator Shink’s statement is as follows:
I rise today in support of Senate Bill Nos. 567 and 568. I want to thank all the people and Senators who’ve worked on this, especially my colleague from Washtenaw County who I know has been working on this for quite a few years. My husband and children are dyslexic and although my husband would not want me to be saying this here today, I think it’s important. When I met him, he said he could not read until he was in the 8th grade. He grew up in the ’60s and ’70s so that was then; we can do better now. My children are dyslexic, and I knew from a very young age that they would be because of signs they showed, even before they attained the age where we would expect them to read. School screening did not detect their dyslexia. The screening happened because of my advocacy and thousands of dollars. They were relieved when they had an official diagnosis when they were school age. For years I didn’t work out of the home to make sure they got the support they needed, and now they are all-A students at U of M, one in undergrad and one in grad school.
I know that when kids get what they need, they can succeed, but other kids were left to struggle. Some kids weren’t screened, and some didn’t get the help they needed. They struggled on, essentially alone. Sometimes this resulted in bad behavior. Others grew up thinking they were dumb. It leads to poor education and other outcomes when kids aren’t screened. They appreciate it. Dyslexia is something we can solve with proper intervention. Screening is the first step and I appreciate my colleagues’ work on this.
Senator Runestad’s statement is as follows:
I’m very pleased that we have come to this point when we’re having an opportunity to pass a bill package that is going to make, I believe, a difference. It isn’t a perfect bill package. I talked to activists. I’ve been working on this for years and years and years, and they’ve all said that Michigan is by far the worst state in the nation for a dyslexic student and the numbers never seem to move. In fact, as long as I’ve been here, they seem to be going down. If we don’t deal with dyslexia by identifying which students have an issue and then get the intervention, nothing is going to change. This is, even with an imperfect package, it’s a huge improvement over what we currently have. I can’t thank enough the Senator from the 15th District. We have had more discussions than I can remember over years and years about, What are the obstacles, and he has worked relentlessly to overcome those.
I remember back when I was in 4th grade, I had a very difficult time reading. Fortunately for me, there was a traveling troupe of college students who came into town. I have no idea who paid for it, but they were all college freshmen and sophomores. All of us who had identified as having a reading problem got, over the entire summer, intensive reading intervention that went on four hours per day for the entire summer. It was all phonics-based. I immediately began to decode and figure this out. It was such a—important thing for me, so I’m very pleased we’re doing it. Thank you.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 568, entitled
A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled “The revised school code,” (MCL 380.1 to 380.1852) by adding section 1531e.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: