reprinted from courant.com
April 17, 2007

Jake Abbott was a miserable speller, a disorganized student with poor grades who would end up in tears over his homework in third, fourth and fifth grades." He needs to put in that extra effort if he wants to do well," a teacher wrote in third grade. "Study spelling words," was the advice after a D- in fifth grade.

You know the type. Lazy.

There is an "underlying concern about his consistency and motivation," a school psychologist wrote. "Jake may lack the appropriate study skills." And again with the attitude: "Jake ... will need to put forth effort."

In the jargon, he was "below proficient." Eventually, a likely dropout.

"They would always just shake their heads," Jake's mother, Janine Mangan, told me, when I asked about the years of frustration. "It was like I was crazy and Jake was lazy and unmotivated."

Except that Jake wasn't - isn't - some indolent dullard. Jake has dyslexia, a disability that affects how the brain processes language. If we believe the researchers, there are thousands of children like Jake in Connecticut.

"Dyslexia is a difficulty with processing of the sounds system of language that impacts word reading and spelling," said Margie Gillis, a senior scientist with the Haskins Lab, a New Haven research institute that specializes in language and literacy. "The teachers coming out of the schools of education don't have the training."

Jake went through fifth grade in Milford without anyone picking up on his specific problem, despite regular evaluations. It took a move to Texas, which assesses struggling students specifically for dyslexia, before Janine Mangan found educators who saw something else and her son got help.

"How many other kids has this happened to?" she asked in a letter to Gov. M. Jodi Rell. "How many have dropped out? [Or are] in jail? On drugs?"

Researchers estimate that as much as 15 percent of the population might be dyslexic. It's been called a disorder of the affluent, because it takes parents with resources to force school districts to recognize the problem - and spend the money to hire teachers and tutors.

"We've made a lot of progress scientifically," said Sally Shaywitz, a Yale pediatrician and principal investigator in a study that for nearly 25 years has tracked dyslexic children into adulthood.

"There seems to be a reluctance to accept there is such a thing as dyslexia," said Shaywitz, whose work has demonstrated that poor readers - often dyslexics - are underutilizing portions of the brain that are active with children who read well.

These children - like Jake - might have difficulty with pronouncing or mixing up words, with reading fluently or spelling accurately. They need intensive instruction in phonics, spelling and understanding the construction of words.

"When children fall behind, we begin to start doing a more complex diagnosis," acting Milford Superintendent Larry Schaefer told me when I called to ask about Jake. "We spend a lot of time training our teachers."

"Why didn't we pick up this kid with a learning disability earlier? If there were any indications, we would have."

That's just the point. School districts - and Milford shouldn't be singled out - haven't trained teachers to identify reading disabilities, especially with dyslexic kids.

We spend millions of dollars on school "reform," yet we fail to make sure that teachers have the training to recognize one of the biggest problems.

Jake's mother knew he wasn't just a lazy kid. Others aren't so fortunate.

Rick Green's column appears on Tuesdays and Fridays. He can be reached at rgreen@courant.com.

E-mail: rgreen@courant.com