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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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(6/26/04 Baltimore AFRO-American Newspaper)
John can read
by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
I ask you to consider the inspiring, if challenging, true story of a promising young man whom I will call "John." We all should know about his long struggle to learn how to read – and about the millions of other young people like John whom we must also help to succeed.
John graduated from high school this month, and he plans to begin college this fall. This accomplishment is worthy of applause for anyone, but, at first glance, it may not seem extraordinary.
What makes John's graduation so inspiring is the fact that he once struggled to decipher even the most simple reading material, receiving little special help until he was nine years old.
John, you see, is a young man with a "learning disability" called dyslexia.
His reading difficulties are not unique. For millions of American children like John, learning to read is a daily battle.
The source of their challenge is neither their intelligence nor any lack of motivation. Like John, nearly one in every five young people processes visual and auditory information differently than most of their classmates.
We also know, however, that when learning disabilities like John's dyslexia are identified at an early age, individualized educational strategies can help these children succeed.
That is the ideal. The reality, however, is that, all too often, children with dyslexia must fail repeatedly before we begin to give them appropriate teaching.
We are waiting too long to identify their different learning strengths and limitations – and, as a result, we are missing the most effective age to begin the specialized instruction that will allow them to learn how to read most effectively.
The consequences of that failure are appalling. We are condemning millions of children to "mis-education" and illiteracy. Too many will suffer all of the harsh consequences that are likely to follow in their lives.
John could have been one of those failures. At the age of nine, he already was well past the age when specialized reading instruction should have begun.
Yet, this young man is a person of remarkable determination – and he also was fortunate.
After struggling with his reading difficulties for several years, John was referred to the Dyslexia Tutoring Program – a free service that provides well-trained reading tutors to young people and adults who could not otherwise afford the help that they need.
The Dyslexia Tutoring Program connected John with a wonderful volunteer tutor, Mrs. S., who worked with John every week for more than eight years. Today, his tutor speaks of John as if she were talking about her own child.
Today, John can read – and, this month, he walked across his high school graduation stage.
John's success is an inspiration to everyone. However, personal determination and luck cannot be the foundations of our national educational policy.
Millions of other young people with dyslexia are not sharing in John's success this month. They are caught in a larger educational system in which reading failure among our children has reached epidemic proportions.
I have mentioned that nearly one in five children exhibits some degree of dyslexia. I must also note that almost two out of every five 4th graders (and more than one out of every four 8th graders) are testing below the basic level for reading.
This is an educational failure of staggering proportions – a tragedy that is especially pronounced among children of color.
In his 2003 Abel Foundation report, The Invisible Dyslexics, educator Kalman R. Hettleman argued quite convincingly that this nation's failure to diagnose and effectively teach children with early reading difficulties is disproportionately harming poor and minority students. Our current "wait and fail" process of identification is a recipe for widespread failure.
We should be screening every child at an early age to determine if special instruction is needed to allow that child to learn how to read effectively. That is why I have introduced the Reading Failure Prevention Act of 2004 [H.R. 4261], proposed federal legislation that would authorize the Secretary of Education to fund statewide screening programs for children, ages 5 to 7, and to pay for the cost of training the educators who will administer that testing.
I am heartened that my proposal has already gained the active support of 28 co-sponsors – including Maryland Congressmen Ben Cardin, Dutch Ruppersberger, Chris Van Hollen and Albert Wynn, and a majority of the Congressional Black Caucus. I believe that, eventually, we will succeed in discarding the current "wait and fail" policy and establish universal testing of children's reading abilities at an early, developmentally-appropriate age.
Nevertheless, we must also face the reality that millions of children and adults are struggling to learn how to read today. They cannot afford to wait for the federal government and the states to do the right thing.
These children are engaged in their own civil rights struggle, and they are looking to us for help.
Here in Baltimore, we can guide any low-income children (or adults) whom we believe could be helped in their reading to the Dyslexia Tutoring Program, which provides its services free of charge. The Program is located at The Rotunda, Suite 310, 711 West 40th Street (410-889-5487).
Each church and other organization to which we belong can encourage at least one committed person to volunteer for the extensive, free training and tutoring opportunities that the Dyslexia Tutoring Program offers.
Each public school principal can invite the Program's experts to give their teachers further training in identifying children with dyslexia.
Children struggling to read in our community cannot wait for the government to act. If enough of us do our part, however, more of them can join John on their own graduation stage some day.
-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.
