DDPA Initiatives Update
 

Throughout 2019-2020, DDPA has been laying the foundation for many key advocacy and educational campaigns. Two such campaigns were developed by our amazing Action Coordinators from the Education Committee. One focus DDPA has dedicated time and resources to is informing Early Childhood Educators about dyslexia, the importance of early screening, and really laying the groundwork to build a reciprocal relationship with ECE's in PA.

The key driving force behind this initiative is the recognition that the wait-and-see approach simply does not work. Many schools, educators, and even doctors are telling parents that a child  cannot be diagnosed with dyslexia until the 3rd grade. This is unequivocally false. Dyslexia is diagnosable with a 92% accuracy at ages 5 and 6. We believe that a well-trained early childhood education system could begin to identify those children who already show many of the classic warning signs,  laying the foundation of support and education for parents as they prepare to enter the next phase of their child's academic career. Equipped with knowledge about dyslexia and their child's struggles, these well-informed parents will be able to approach their school systems with necessary data and anecdotal evidence and so begin the next best course of action for that child,  be it a quicker referral into a MTSS intervention, or further psycho-educational evaluation. Additionally, we know from researchers like Jack Fletcher, that reading intervention takes 4 times as long in 4th grade as it would in kindergarten. Dyslexia is a neurobiological condition and the brain is most malleable in early childhood. The brain's plasticity, or ability to easy build new connections, declines as kids grow. Consequently, the amount of content student's need to acquire grows each academic year and makes it very daunting for a student who is still struggling to learn to read to catch up. 

Our first action step was to develop a "Dear Colleague" letter specifically for Early Childhood Educators. You can read, print or download the letter here. It is our hope that you will share this letter and its resources with your local Early Childhood Centers, your friends or colleagues who work in ECC's.  Please share this letter far and wide on your various social media sites. DDPA needs ambassadors, like you, to help us further our mission here in PA.