Jackson —
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill Wednesday that requires kindergarteners or first-graders to be tested for dyslexia, a reading disorder that can sometimes go undiagnosed for years and leave children struggling to learn.
The matter is intensely personal for Bryant. He was in fourth grade before a caring teacher discovered that dyslexia was the reason he saw scrambled words and had trouble putting the right sounds with letters that appeared in print.
“I repeated the third grade. What a difficult, horrible experience that was for a young child,” Bryant, 57, recalled during a bill signing ceremony in his Capitol office.
House Bill 1031, which requires the early dyslexia screening, also allows a limited amount of school choice. If a dyslexic student in grades 1 through 6 is in a school that lacks programs specifically to help with the reading disorder, the new law will allow the student to transfer to a different public school or district that offers the services, or to get a scholarship to a private school that offers them.
Bryant on Wednesday also signed:
— House Bill 1032, which creates a college scholarship program for people who want to study dyslexia therapy.
— Senate Bill 2776, which creates a ratings system that gives each school and school district a letter grade like a report card: A, B, C, D or F.
— Senate Bill 2461, which allows any honorably discharged veteran to have a driver’s license marked with a tiny American flag and the word VET.
The driver’s license bill became law immediately and the three education bills become law July 1.
Bryant said dyslexic students who don’t receive help are more likely to drop out of school.
“It can be treated. You can overcome this,” he said. “And one of my great joys and passions today is reading.”
Joseph South, who just completed 11th grade at Canton Academy, was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was a first-grader in a Clinton public school. He recalled struggling with assignments that should’ve taken 30 minutes and took him two or three hours. Watching other children read easily was frustrating.
“Seeing everybody else doing that and you not being able to, it’s like a mountain you can’t climb,” said South, 17.
After Bryant signed the dyslexia bills, he chatted with South and other dyslexic students invited to attend the ceremony. The students nodded as the governor recalled some of his own childhood frustrations.
“You’re always the first one to sit down at the spelling bee,” Bryant said.
Joseph South’s mother, Cathy South, fought tears as she told Bryant: “Early identification is key — kindergarten, first grade — if we can catch them early, then they don’t have some of the struggles that you experienced. It makes a big difference.”
Stephanie Powell teaches dyslexic students at Canton Academy and hopes to earn a master’s degree in dyslexia therapy. She said by the time many children are diagnosed with dyslexia, “they want to quit.”
“They have a wall built up,” Powell said. “And teachers for the most part don’t understand what dyslexia is. There’s a lot more to it than just making their B’s and their D’s backward. It’s hard to figure out what that is. It’s different for different children.”
During the bill signing, Bryant displayed a small framed photograph of Josephine Henley, the fourth grade teacher who helped him at south Jackson’s Marshall Elementary School.
“Mrs. Henley ... was kind enough and had the wonderful heart of a teacher to explain to me that I was not dumb, that I simply had a challenge seeing the words,” he said.
Henley’s daughter sent Bryant the photo after the governor mentioned her mother during his State of the State address early this year.
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Bryant signs laws affecting students and veterans
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