Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20160511

Today is about dyslexia. One condition that affects the brain assesses, britain spoken language is considered the most important learning disability. I know senator cassidy is going into a large information in data that i want to again sad i wont say again. The reason the National Center for learning disabilities highlight the many challenges our country faces when trying to meet the needs of other learning disabilities. At following her dreams and her passions. So i want to thank you for your consistent leadership and look forward to hearing this testimony. Testimony. I will now defer to senator murphy to introduce the witness. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for thank you very much. Im eager to get a testament as well. I had to come back but im excited to introduce the expert of experts at the end of the table which is doctor Sally Shaywitz from Yale University where she is a professor in learning development at the school of medicine. Shows a long list of titles including the codirectocodirecto r of the gale said for dyslexia and creativity, one of the leading researchers in this field and has this field and as a physician a Research Focus has been on neurobiology and epidemiology providing a scientific basis for understanding dyslexia. Shes written more than 200 journal articles, chapters and books on this topic. I know she is a great source of council for both the chair of this hearing and myself so im glad to have dr. Shaywitz with a. I will introduce ameer baraka, actor and author norms, struggle to reduce the whole life. Didnt he was dyslexic until 23. In prison he earned his ged, was empowered to influence youth who struggle the same way as he. Im to hear how hes used his stardom to steer children off the path of incarceration. I will defer to you, senator mikulski for dr. Eden and dr. Mahone. I would like to introduce guinevere eden, concerted and nationally recognized expert in Dyslexia Research and one of the very first to use brain imaging and our eyes to better understand the neurological basis for dyslexia. Shes been supported both by nih and nsf and currently drugs the center for the study of after step continue to investigate while she is actively involved in teaching graduate students and really investigating all the sensory processing relating to reading and now these may be different in individuals. Shes going to bring a lot to us. He also our Sally Shaywitz who is a baltimore guy through and through, grew up in a neighborhood called dundalk which was close to the one where i grew up. He is a pediatric neuropsychologist and he is at the esteemed Kennedy Krieger institute in baltimore. This is an institution internationally recognized and dedicated to improving the lives of those particularly children with brain and other challenges. What dr. Mahone does is it provides Clinical Services for young kids with neurodevelopment disorders, works on the cutting of psychologists and educators and positions on these issues and really as an expert on involving the study of brain behaviors in children with or without these neurodevelopment disorders. Jakarta serves as the codirector for center and innovation leadership in special education your and he brings really great knowledge about what the children need but what the systems are supposed to help the children need to do. And im very proud to bring he and dr. Eden to the committees attention. David boies has been selected as one of those 100 influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2010. Is been named Global International litigator of the year by whos who legal and unprecedented seven times can receive many prestigious awards and numerous honorary degrees. Is a former hill staffer having served as chief counsel and staff director for the Senate Antitrust subcommittee and the Senate Judiciary committee. Thank you, mr. Boies. And lastly ms. April hanrath from a Small Business owner, single mom up to a doctor children from salt lake city. Ms. Hanrath has been recognized as a child advocate for work on behalf of children like her daughter jocelyn who is behind her, who has dyslexia and other learning disabilities. She was a parent advocate who understood at web that understood a word she and attended utah before taking over the family business. Thank you all and i will ask dr. Shaywitz to begin on the rest to follow in order. [inaudible] dr. Shaywitz, im not sure your microphone is on, doctor. No, no, no. We want you to be able to belt it out. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, senator cassidy, senator mikulski and other committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you about the signs of dyslexia and share with you the tremendous scientific progress that has been made in dyslexia and its important implications for education. The problem, our nation is in the midst of a National Nightmare with substantial numbers of children who are unable to read him especially boys and girls from disadvantaged families. Just released 2015 data, im going to just, if you could stop to think about going to be showing a number of slight editing would be helpful if people could see after i dont know if we are looking at it right here. We see on the tv. Are you going to give us the 2015 High School Rating scores . Weve got it. Garate. Okay. Should just release of 2015 data from the nations report card since a loud warning signal. Here outlined in yellow the lowest achievers show large declines in the most along the greatest drop in reading and to take it occurs between 20132015. Reactions of experts were stalled. We are not making progress. We need something substantially different. Increasing Scientific Evidence strongly points to dyslexia as the explanation and potential solution to our education crisis. Dyslexia put all the pieces together. Dyslexia represents 8090 of all learning disabilities and differs markedly from all others in the dyslexia is very specific and scientifically valid. Dyslexia is common affecting one at a fight. Initial descriptions of dyslexia as an unexpected difficulty reading are today and. We valid. A major step forward is resolution 275 providing a 21st century definition of dyslexia, incorporating scientific advances in dyslexia, especially its unexpected nature. And emphasizes the cognitive basis of dyslexia, getting, difficult to get into the individual sites a spoken one which. It is not seen worked backwards. Resolution 275 represents a landmark in online science and education. Dyslexia is a paradox. The same slow reader is often a very fast and able finger, giving rise to our conceptual model of dyslexia as a weakness in getting to the sounds of were surrounded by a sea of strength and higher level thinking process. Converging evidence has identified a neural signature for dyslexia. That is an inefficient function of both post inefficient posterior reading systems. The role of potential mechanisms in reading and economic consequences of dyslexia. Dyslexia israel. However, imaging cannot use to diagnose individuals. The achievement gap between typical and dyslexic readers is large, cursed as early as first grade, and persists. Dyslexia has often dire consequences. Dyslexic students drop out of school at a significant greater rate than the typically reading piers. As a consequence of their often due to higher unemployment, lower earnings and measured from senator cassidy a few minutes ago, almost 50 of Prison Inmates are dyslexic. So in Online Education with science, certain principles emerge. One, given its high prevalence in scientific validity and harsh impact, dyslexia must be given prominence in reauthorization by ge a. Schools must screen for indemnified dyslexic students early. That dyslexic student should know this diagnosis and that he is smart. Moving forward information requires a model incorporating 21st century scientific knowledge about dyslexia, as shown in this slide. School climate where everyone is on board and the word dyslexia is used, small classes, et cetera. Where can this model be found . Independent schools with the dyslexic student. For example, to Windward School in new york. However, the tuition is 52000. Out of reach of most middleclass and certainly disadvantaged children. Public charter schools, a new model serving dyslexic students, an example is the Louisiana Key Academy in baton rouge. Schools like this bring a quality and hope to all dyslexic children so that disadvantaged children are no longer left behind. On always think of people are dyslexic reminds me of an iceberg where you see 10 , and we see the people who have succeeded including by he wrote, david boies, seated at this table. But we forget about the 90 that are unseen are asking her help and could benefit from help. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Shaywitz. Mr. Baraka. Good morning, senators and panelists. I want to thank you for taking your found the time to listen to my message. We are coming up on an important president ial election and i know youre time is important. Im also not oblivious to the challenges we face as a country. One such a challenge isnt the lifelong curse of dyslexia. One out of five live with this challenge each day of their lives. So many whenever reached their full potential and enjoy this great country as you and i do. So many people have lost the will to believe because of the enemy of dyslexia has forced them into the shadows but today we found on the way to address this i enemy once and for all. For many years i am a dyslexia to control my life are robbing me of my godgiven potential. Can you imagine in my early teens never wanting to be anything but a drug dealer . Neither my mother nor my schoolteachers were able to diagnose the reasons why i had trouble learning. In my mind pursuing more formal education was irrelevant. I knew early in life that being a dentist, physical therapist or lawyer was out of my reach because i could not read. I turned to go to pathways out of new orleans projects. I so many in my committee making way for themselves without having to read, by selling drugs. My defeatist attitude seemed to outweigh the positive values my grandmother tried to teach me. There were many more ingredients that help me make my decision to sell drugs. For example, having my mother and siblings tommy names such as dumb and stupid, using names such as these can cause any child to feel hopeless and lost. You will notice i never mentioned my father in this presentation. Thats because he left when i was very to chase his dreams of finding a better grade of heroin to use. It was the perfect storm. I chose to succumb to the environment while both brothers and sisters excelled in school. I didnt care about my future or anyone else because i thought i was a dummy like my mother and my siblings and. I became a street dog and full of anger because i felt cheated out of an education. I went to school just because i had to. Many fridays i wouldve malingerer because i couldnt pass a spelling test or i would sleep in project always until school was out to avoid embarrassment. I pushed myself into a hole and i couldnt get out. My teachers had to know that i could not read. My young mother ran the streets and didnt seem to value my education. But what became the final thing that caused me to pledge my allegiance to the lives of the street was a girl. I was in sixth grade and ago i liked was in class. It was our first week of school in english class and the teacher called upon me to read out loud. My palms begin to sweat and the like drop of blood on my forehead. I couldnt pronounce any of the words and the teacher made me continue. Knowing that it could not read. Some students laughed while others looked in amazement. From that day forward i knew that school wasnt the place for me. The young lady never really liked me much from that day forward. The streets became a classroom and looking back the lessons i learned were shameful. I shot and killed a young person because of the street talking thats how you resolve conflicts. After my release from prison at 15 years of age for manslaughter i got back into the drug game, still never learned to read, ended up doing prison time as an adult. Iran from the law for four years as a fugitive because i was facing 60 years, and i was guilty. I ended up doing for years by gods grace. A jury found guilty of a lesser charge. At age 23 i entered a prison correctional facility reading on a third grade level. I didnt feel bad because many of the men were just like me. We all read poorly. But after reading the autobiography of malcolm x i discovered that he dropped out in the seventh grade and still made something of himself. I thought for the first time i could accomplish something. I worked hard writing that each word i could pronounce. I just memorizing words and writing letters and reading short book. A ged teacher notice i was struggling with phonics. He asked if my siblings could read your i told him my siblings went to college. After testing he said i had a reading disability and it could be corrected if i was willing to work hard. I would write down, i would write words down once i sat in the front of the class to double check. I worked for four years trying to obtain my ged. My reading ability serve and is ready to take the test. I past and start helping others in math and vocabulary. Since my release i went on to model for clothing lines like nike. Ive worked, i went to acting class and work with Academy Award winner jessica lange, kathy bates, angela bisset, many others. I produced for independent films and read my book titled the life i chose, the streets life to me that it is because the others who are just like i was, hiding in the shadows and not getting a. It is all for those who believe that dealing drugs is not the way. Today there are schools available for kids to fight dyslexia. School suchlike the cassidys half. Thank you for your time. Consideration. Dr. Eden. Thank you, senator mikulski and send it to cassie for inviting me to speak today. The research i will describe it as using brain imaging technologtechnolog y to study the brain structure and function. This research as a result in tremendous advances in our instant of the human brain. How whoopsies information, how it learns, remembers knowledge and to perform skills unique to human such as we. Reading allows us to represent speech in symbolic form involves the coronation of the brain cell in which areas with visual and auditory systems. At georgetown with the support from nih and nsf we studied rain activity with him on all participants process work. This allows us to noninvasively characterize development of the gentry in children and also to understand the brain basis in different languages. Researchers have learned acquiring reading changes the brain structure and function. Its about learning to read and false coopting of brain regions involved in language and visual object recognition and that hes become a recycled into the reading network. In other words, childrens brains change as they learn to read. Brained limiting has heightened our understanding of dyslexia. The field has grown rapidly and made significant contributions. Its helped people understand the brains of chili at a tilt of dyslexia are different. Their struggles are not because they are stupid or because they are not trying hard enough. There is an explanation. There should not be a stigma. Researchers have examined the impact of intensive reading intervention. We learned children and even adults with dyslexia not only make gains in reading but also should measurable brain activity changes and plasticity. One of our studies have shown some of the same brain areas that are just reading or less engaged when children with dyslexia solve arithmetic task highlighting the consequences of dyslexia in the connection to other forms of reading disabilities. Sometimes we make novel discoveries for which there are no obvious indicators from behavioral studies. We found the brains of emails with dyslexia did not conform to the nearby logical model of dyslexia that was largely derived from studies in males. This might have important implications for diagnosing and treating females with dyslexia. Dyslexia runs in families and Genetic Research is have used imaging to examined the brains of those who carry the associated genes. Taken together researchers have made advances in characterizing the brain basis of dyslexia. However, the exact mechanism how it comes about is not yet fully understood and required for the research. Also the information gained has not been applie about as well at could be. For example, the fact that dyslexia is heritable with roughly 40 chance of your child having dyslexia is greatly underutilized when it comes to early identification. This critical information as a warning sign, and should be a place noted on the questioner of the someone entering kindergarten. This together with the chopper forms and pay for measures learned to protect later outcomes can be used to signal that a particular child is a risk or difficulty learning to read. On the other hand, imaging si just identify the child who has dyslexia. Brain imaging involving groups of participants. How the parents often ask for brain scan in their child because they see the difficulties in their child with reading and they worry that the school is not recognizing the te problem and to help a brain scan will provide some information. I understand requests for information because my own daughter had trouble reading and exhibited anxiety and avoidance of read what she described as a stupid activity. While the school was not concerned by her grabs a decline, i was in pursuit early intervention. Her improvement measured objectively by standardized tests into reading for pleasure. For parents of struggling readers its a challenge to determine if there is a problem and what to do about it. Parents had to educate themselves and navigate a complex educational system. They stay up late at night to try to make sense of the Scientific Research and how it applies to their child. Fortunately, there are resources to support families of children with learning issues such as the website understood. Org. The information is provided online, accessible to parents and educators and tied to the finest of current research. This is one example of how those involved in a distant dyslexia can engage in a common language. However, much needs to be done by researchers and educators to jointly harness the knowledge of teaching and learning to benefit the children with dyslexia. Thank you. Mr. Boies. Thank you, senator cassidy, senator mikulski, members of the committee. I know from personal experience the obstacles that dyslexia can cause in terms of early education. But i also know from personal experience, both my own and my sons, that while dyslexia is a permanent condition, it does not have to be a permanent disability. It does not have to interfere with the ability of a child to realize their full potential, to become a functioning, productive member of society. Whats critical is that dyslexia be identified and the children with dyslexia get the help that they need at the time they need that help. That help can be in several forms. It can be help in learning how to read around the disability of dyslexia. There are tutoring, training that can help people improve their reading. In addition, if they understand that they have dyslexia and they understand there is this problem of reading, they can focus on alternative ways of getting information. Dyslexia is an input problem. It makes it difficult to get information in a particular way. Theyre all alternative ways to get information. And most important of all, dyslexia is not a processing problem. It doesnt have anything to do with well you think of how good you think your judgment is. The third thing that early identification can do is can help children understand that they are not dumb, that they are not stupid. That they can achieve, and i can be sometimes the most important thing that a child can understand. That they are not consigned to being slow for the rest of their life. There comes a time and nobody cares how fast you read. Nobody comes to me as a lawyer and wants to know how fast do we read . They want to know can i analyze the law . Cannot present a case, crossexamine a witness, exercise judgment, help them solve legal problems . How well do i think . Was my integrity, Mike Carriker . How far do we worked . Dyslexia doesnt have anything to do with those qualities. Those are the qualities that make a person successful. Those are the qualities that help somebody achieve a contribute to society. And what children with dyslexia, and what parents of children with dyslexia need to understand, is that this can be a temporary problem. Its not easy. Theres an enormous amount of work that has to be done, no matter how much help we give children. They are going to have to really work harder than their peers. But that training in working hard to ensure of them very well later in life. My son christopher who was tutored four days a week, every week for 10 years, he had to learn to manage his time. He had to learn to adapt to the additional burden. But that time management skill serves him extremely well as a lawyer today. He always did well in school. If he could get in, which was hard, because he did very poorly on standardized tests. Standardized tests, tests what people who dont have dyslexia, it tests of them pretty well. It doesnt test people with dyslexia at all because what it is doing is its testing skills that they dont have, and not the skills that are important to. Reading about which information, how many facts you have accumulated may be a proxy for your intelligence in how you will succeed in life, if you dont have a disability in reading. But if youve got a difficulty in reading, those standardized tests dont test your potential at all. And we are testing, we know we are testing the wrong things. We know that when we test reading, when we test how much vocabulary you have, we know those are not really life skills but we use those as a proxy. And they are not a bad proxy for people who dont have dyslexia, but for people who have dyslexia they are a terrible proxy. So what we have to do is we have to educate the educators, and we have to have the patience and we have to get people to help that they need so they can achieve their potential. And that can be done. Thank you. Good morning senator cassidy, senator mikulski, fellow members of the panel. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this morning. Morning. Dyslexia is for the most prevalent educationally handicapping condition in the u. S. Its twice as common as adhd, 10 to 15 times as prevalent as autism. It affects and is the one in five individuals nationwide. Even more importantly many students are symptoms of dyslexia, including slow and inaccurate reading, weeks billing or poor run. Whether not a beautiful criteria for special education, most students benefit from systematic explicit instruction in reading, writing and language methods. The problem is many students are not getting access to the structured later see instruction as a result theres an alarming achievement gap. As was mentioned earlier the naep date i have results from 19982014. 13. 9 of students with disabilities scored proficient in reading compared to 26 of nondisabled peers. Both of those statistics are unacceptably low. But is it the prevalence of dyslexia is the prevalence so high that it can explain these high rates of School Failure and . I assert that no, but there are other reasons. First, it is that preservice teacher Training Programs routinely failed to provide teachers with the information based on the scientific literature about how learning occurs. And also what gets in the way of learning. Based on what we know from the neurosciences, the Behavioral Sciences and for an educational sciences. This leads to transitional gap. When teachers enter the field without prerequisite training, they must get the training on the job. They did it through supervision, mentoring and from professional development. Getting training that we is expensive, inefficient and burdensome to the schools into the teachers themselves. And places the responsibility for training teachers on the local School Systems rather than on the institutes of higher education. Secondly, a complicated factor in working with students with dyslexia is that pure dyslexia is often the exception rather than the rule. Student with dyslexia often have associated behavioral, motivation and social emotional problems and other conditions that interfere with the implementation of otherwise routine evidencebased practice of a tracing the region problem alone instead of the needs of all child please to incomplete and ineffective care. Third, individuals at the local education level in leadership positions often dont have the training, knowledge and background to effectively appropriately advocate for policy changes that will help translate what we know from the science into educational practice. At the local school level. And especially as relates to students with dyslexia. There are other additional concerns and i want to invite some of those. Despite the best efforts of our Scientific Community there is still heterogeneity in terminology that has become an impediment to achieving consensus in identification, treatment and epidemiology. We know that dyslexia is a neurobiological he raised development of disorder that occurs along a continuum rather than as a discrete entity. We define it most often by low reading achievement. In the scientific literature, however, there are differences in where the cut point comes on how those on the house to in reading therefore becomes dyslexia with differences ranging from the fifth percentile up to the 25th percentile. Not surprisingly when there are differences in the literature, the behavior, learning, the biological correlates and genetics all look a different debate on how it is defined. As we move forward with implementation, its critical for the scientific and educational communities to work toward a common language for identification and studying dyslexia. With efforts toward a more specific terminology. This consistency extends to implementation of response to intervention. Finally, Early Detection of dyslexic is critical bu by mr. E need to proceed with caution. The nation of Early Detection presents us with the conflict that requires awareness of the development of appropriateness of reading expectations and reading instruction for significant proportion of kindergarten children. We know how to identify early risk factors for dyslexia. But as a scientist, educators and policymakers we must distinguish between unexpected and unwarranted failures in reading achievement. In other words, considering Early Detection we must determine whether a problem represents to dyslexia or the risk for it, or a brain that is simply too young and not yet ready to read. This is particularly important because in the last 20 years, even before common core standards we have got a system in which kindergarten is the new first grade. The our emotional and motivational consequences of social development in premature education expectations for children who experience failure this early. This is exacerbated in boys who develop later the boys upwards of you on average by kindergarten. Thank you. Good morning senators, members of the help committee, fellow witnesses and attendees. Will you pull your microphone torture . Shirley. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to share my family story of living with dyslexia. My name is April Hanrath and im the proud mother of johnson was a senior in her hometown of salt lake city, utah. Im also a parent advocate with understood every comprehensive online resource for parents with children learning and attention issues. Im honored to share our journey with dyslexia as we navigated through the educational system in utah. I also recognize we are not alone in this journey. Over 2 million children have learning disabilities, most of them struggle with reading and the National Center for learning disability estimates another 15 of students struggle in school due to an unidentified learning or attention issue. I sit before you take her to tell our story. Hopeful you have an opportunity to meet parents from the states who faced similar challenges and successes. Through my testament i hope you will hear three messages come through loud and clear. First, it is critically important to identify learning disabilities like dyslexia and early on at the school. Second, we must support general and special education by giving them training about dyslexia and learning disabilities him a call our Current Issues and necessary accommodations. And third and most importantly, all of us must have High Expectations for students with dyslexia. Policymakers can educators and families alike must recognize students like joslyn are fully capable of excelling in school and college. My daughter is proof that we hold students with dyslexia to High Standards and provide them with the tools they need to succeed, they are able to fulfill their goals and dreams. But me tell you about joslyn who is sitting right behind me. Jocelyn is a driven bright young woman has excelled in school and soccer. And everything should the shoulders of to a High Standard and failure has never been an option for for. Yes, jocelyn has learning disabilities as she is dyslexic precious never used or challenges as an excuse to not achieve. In fact, it is only motivator to work harder. Next month jostled will graduate high school with a gpa of over 3. 7. Next year she will enroll in Community College in Washington State with a soccer scholarship and an internship with the seattle reign, professional womens soccer team. After that she plans to finish college at it for your school to earn her degree in Sports Management with a sports psychology minor. To support her goals im proud to say she received a 2016 scholarship from the National Center for learning disabilities. Thats joslyn now. But the past 13 years weve had our ups and downs. When joslyn was in fourth grade she was struggling with reading and started becoming withdrawn from school. At the end of fourth grade she was evaluated for special education about have an above average iq with significant dyslexia, poor fine motor skills. She is also a challenges with writing, keeping are so focused and managing time, known as executive function in difficulty with folksy like adhd. I wish joslyns needs were dressed fors needs were addressed with enforcement of a time when reading as an integral part of nearly every class in school. Started in fifth grade and largely containing two today, joslyn assisted accommodations like extra time, oral testing and using a computer rather than having to hand write assignments. These accommodations have made huge difference because of the allow for teachers to teach in a way that works for her. They allow her to show she knows any more accurate way. But for me as her mother what is apparent is that johnson has always been taught to the grade level she is enrolled in alongside her peers are as accommodations have allowed her to access the grade level content and even above grade level content, in fact starting as a freshman and continuing throughout her four years at east high school, joslyn to honors and ap classes in addition to her regular classes. It was an amazing special ed teacher who helped joslyn navigates in challenging situations along the way. For example, when some of her teachers were unfamiliar with dyslexia, joslyn and i hope to dispel the myth that dyslexia is a sign of low iq performance some of her teachers are reluctant to give her a accommodations joslyn used the self advocacy skills kerry helped her to develop to expand what accommodations are and why she needed them. When some of her friends joked around about been dyslexic when they made mistakes reading aloud in class, joslyn used that opportunity to show that she was dyslexic and to explain to them what it was like to be dyslexic. Throughout our journey reviews all these experiences to help others understand what dyslexia is your and more important what dyslexia is not. Resources like he understood the board at the National Center for wooden disabilities have helped us along the way. These last 13 years economy that while the educational system is not created with dyslexic in mind, with the right information, training and support, students with dyslexia can thrive. I get on a better mother and person because of our journey at a joslyns future is limitless because shes on mason young woman with much to give the world. Thank you. Aikido as questions first. We will each have five minutes. Dr. Eden can you talk about how your daughter, that was a stupid test the she didnt want to do it. Theres a senio theme here thatl these children dont dyslexic will say that theres this anxiety, et cetera. But she actually read adequately so that she was not identified as needing intervention. But that one should intervention she went from 16th percentile the 75th percentile. So im struck that she could have mold around in the middle never been recognized. It was only the concerned parent then was able to do so. Would you elaborate on that . Senator cassidy, once you have children you would do things you thought you knew as a researcher at one of things i learned is the kind of testing we did in the laboratory is very different to the kind of testing that goes on in the schools. Schools. A child with strong vocab their skills can do very well in our School Systems, and a child who is hide achieving otherwise can look okay when they are reading text with pictures next to it. But when you put it on standardized tests to really understand fully all the different facets of reading of the different aspects, you can see where the our weaknesses and you can see those are the witnesses that o are anything wh her ability to learn and read the material that she is being given. So i think one of the things ive learned is it such a complicated field. And for a. No, even like me who served as the president of international dyslexic or possession who runs a brain imaging center, i was stunned at how confused i was between the difference of what i saw in my job at home and in the school, using the kinds of testing that i was familiar with. And i think people need to understand what those Different Things are and how we use all those different sources for information to identify and help our children. Dr. Shaywitz, if the woman who does the research is the president of the or possession is confused regarding her daughter, i have a daughter, so maybe thats just an issue with daughters, but that said it begs the question whether we should allow this to be discovered by a teacher observation or whether it should be something we should screen for. How difficult would it be to screen children at first grade for the presence of dyslexia . I dont think it would be difficult. I think it should be mandatory. Too many children are being missed as i showed and those like him we reported in october on the basis of the longitudinal study that the achievement gap is not only present in first grade, its very large and it doesnt go away. The are many different thats not a meeting capped a that is an achievement gap. Thats correct. And it can be done, we are just in the process of publishing a screening instrument that teachers can use and it takes a few minutes. There are other methods. I think the important thing is to think of this, its not a that moment to lag. Its not going to be outgrown. Is not because hes a boy or because he has a december birthday. Too many children are missed, eventually a tragedy. Because as we heard and what it feels like when youre in school and have to read aloud and the reactions of the other children. And teachers have to recognize that, and also listen to parents, because parents see the child and see the struggle when they get home. So i dont think it would be difficult at all, but a think the important thing is awareness, to be aware that it is already there ended to take action. Teachers, your child can you were having difficulty reading the how did your teacher intervened . Or did she or he into being . I never had a teacher to intervene. I was just sort of passed on from grade to grade. Looking back how awful that was because someone shouldve took notice that i could not read. So i see those same patterns right now. Today i deal with kids where ive talked to the principal about kids who have dyslexia and they cant do anything about it because theres no resources for those kids. So those kids are either kept back or just passed along just like i was. If we dont address this problem i think we will see a tremendous surge in violence, tremendous surge in incarceration. But if we do address this problem we can curtail the prison population. Ms. Hanrath, were your childs teachers and how did they respond . My childs teachers do not even recognized she was dyslexic. Her first three teachers were first year teachers, and so they viewed her the way she read as just the fact that she was young in her classroom. Her fourth grade teacher viewed johnson as a behavior problem and said nothing about her dyslexia. She felt that jocelyn perhaps was not as bright as the other children, and i knew that couldnt possibly be true for actually took it upon myself to have her tested and thats when i found out she was dyslexic. Gotcha. Senator mikulski. Each and every one of these testimonies were so compelling, and we could spend all morning just talking to one of the people at the table. So we want to thank you, really, for your contribution already. I would like to turn to mr. Baraka. Sir, your testimony is so much like what we see in baltimore your dr. Mahone works at the kennedy kryger, if you look at the window at care to cry over in east baltimore, on one side, 12 blocks down you look towards the harbor in people doing very well and very prosperous. But if you look on the other side is usually in our poor neighborhood where drug dealing is going on. We have real issues in baltimore were always accusing our school failing and our kids as failing. So what you lived through it is kind of what we hear every day, right, dr. Mahone . So my question to you is who you are. You are a roughandtumble guy in the streets and neighborhoods, and the streets became their friend and the streets became your teacher. What would have helped you win to make a difference a . I think in my opinion Early Detection would have definitely deterred the road i had chose. Like i said my brother and my sister excellent students. They both went off to college. If i had someone to put me in a program such as the school that senator cassidy and his wife has, i think i wouldve definitely, as i was walking from the hotel, i was telling a gentleman earlier and im walking to the campus and looking at this vast amount of property and big buildings and i said i could have been here. I couldve been sitting where you are had someone caught me early on. I always knew you are a louisiana guy. You could have been him. Spent i dont want to take his job last night but i always felt as though i was someone. But its they dont when i got to present a guy told how brilliant i was because i would tell them about who was this guy speak with his name was norman spooner. He was in a car for the person and i would tell them how i would get drugs in california and printed in the he said you are brilliant. You are somebody and to never someone tell me that i was brilliant and that i was somebody. To imprison you read malcolm x. How did you get started in prison . Was there an evaluation of you in prison speak with yes. You read malcolm x. When you are entering into a prison you have to be tested that everybody has to be tested. I was found to be on a third grade level. So i read malcolm x book. I floundered through the book quite understood what malcolm stood for and what not to. I was facing a 60 year prison system and i said. Com if i get six year years in which a skilld im going im going to educate myself someway somehow because i want to in the late malcolm x. I want to do something to what people because he did it. I saw that many people i knew was taking the same pathways, and it was a burden on me to get out of prison and to young people this is not the way, this is not the way. But did prison teach you to read speak with thats why began. Im trying to get, so were you selftaught in prison . I was selftaught in prison, yes. Soda was a program that said this guy is pretty smart, hes reading at the third grade level. So was it again low expectations, africanamerican male, drug dealer, manslaughter, we know that profile . You know how the narrative goes. Absolutely. Stereotypical. Absolutely spent getting a basic okay, weve got that, lets find out why . No. No, there was no help for me there. State prison. Do you feel, this isnt meant to be a peppering but just in my short time here, left in the questioning. Do you feel because unfortunately prison is at the end of the pipeline. We would want this early screening so much sooner, but you feel that for many of our men and women in prison, that this is one of the areas that if we want to prevent recidivism and youth Second Chance along with criminal justice reform, that really different kind of evaluation when you come into prison would be helpful . Absolutely. And a real intervention speak with his is the real titanic area. As i said many guys in prison cannot read. You can make a lot of money and you can write letters. So a lot of guys are some guys can read and write and then make a lot of money writing letters for other guys. A lot of guys in prison, i dont know if theyre dyslexic like they cannot read. What i did was i wrote down words. I recall my lawyer telling me about the circumstances of my case indicated that been any said right circumstances down. I could not spell that word every word i know, i do know about phonics. I cant break words down. I have written that were down over and said that word over and over and over again. I dont know anything about phonics. Its completely out of my mind. Its not my thing. I know words because i written that word down. I had a pile of words i would written down everyday, though over the day today. And i memorized the words. That if we could get Something Like this in a Prison Institution and help men to build on the phonics, i think that we could begin as i said earlier we can reduce that because it gives you, when i learned to read it was disjoint adult that i am somebody. I can do something. It to give you encouragement, motivation to say i can read. I think thats one of the most powerful things in the world to do is to read. To read, it is a blessing to read. Now that i read i read all the time. I am reading sallys book. Im excited about reading. Thank you very much. My time is up and that many other questions for the witnesses. I hope we get a second round. Senator bennet. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much for holding this hearing, and thank you to the panel for your excellent testimony. Mr. Boies and ms. Hanrath talked about the importance of Early Detection. And mr. Baraka shared his views about the costs of not having Early Detection. I remember extended well my parents sitting me down and telling me that i was going to repeat the second grade. Mit because of that my friends were leaving me behind, and to remember the year i spent in the second grade classroom tracing the letters in sand that were glued to cardboard cards. But in the end that hard work, as mr. Boies talked about and mr. Baraka also talked about, that hard work and intervention allowed me to compensate for my dyslexia. And im sitting here today partly i think because of that Early Detection. I wonder if the panel to talk a little bit about how we do a better job, we are doing a lousy job of detecting this, and how we share best practices across School Districts and schools. And whether a far greater commitment by this country to Early Childhood education, high quality Early Childhood education, might actually help us wrestle with this problem as well. I dont know who would like to go first. Dr. Mahone . I agree that early identification is really critical. I agree that it should be something that all School Districts have in place. The truth is that it isnt happening in many School Districts. And when it is it sometimes isnt happening effectively. So i agree that it needs to be at the level of the local School System to implement it but it also needs to be at the level of the leaders of the School Systems to make sure it is intimate with fidelity and i probably and developmentally appropriately. And to be able to translate the material that has been generated by the researchers here and at other places into the hands of the people who would be screaming fo for a five year ol. Theres also the issue that we are moving to more universal prek. The dearth of training that we see in screening for appropriate, progress screening for dyslexia at the level of five years old or six years old, it is even more challenging when you get younger. And we dont have in place as good of programs for preparing our prek teachers to be ready to screen and work with children who may be experiencing some of the risk factors in some of the early signs of dyslexia that emerge sometimes as early as four years old or before and can be detected. Our prek teachers and kindergarten teachers need to be trained in development we appropriate methods. Dr. Shaywitz . I think before we do any of that there has to be a Greater Public awareness of what dyslexia is. So its not just training people and administering a measure, but to understand the whole of the. You mentioned you dont know phonics but you read. I think it becomes very, very important for teachers, we asked some of the shooter as physicians, we go to medical school and to medical school and then we do internships and residencies when we take care of people under supervision. So i think in a way the education of educators needs to expand so that they learne learn class but also learn from experience. So they see people are dyslexic but not stupid and are not ignorant. And to be able to then use screening measures. They are available, not to look at reasons, welcome this child is at this child is of his and his job is bad, but to actually use the screen measures of themselves. Themselves. Im running out of time but as a former school superintendent, i also listen to some testimony today i think from dr. Mahone about the importance of treating the whole child. Many children with disabilities talk about how they dreaded going to school and the experience level of stress we heard about from mr. Baraka as a result of the visibility. I wonder whether you can talk all of it about what the emotional mental effects of learning disabilities are in children and how we can better support the full range of childrens needs speak with thank you. Its complicated because children with dyslexia can present with a complicated picture, including associated concerns and conditions ranging from anxiety and lack of motivation. And when you experience a failure, it gets and what other motivation. So there i know what risk factors that we know that go along with dyslexia, along with a number of conditions, real under conditions that seem to coexist with dyslexia that complicate the picture. It isnt as simple as just looking at the reading, and looking at experiences of child and what a child might be fairly. A child might be fitting for reasons that go beyond the dyslexia, including living in poverty, having poor opportunities to have real quality instruction, other kinds of psychopathology that may interfere with learning in other ways. Thats not dyslexia. It Something Different but nevertheless the result is poor achievement. On out of time, mr. Chairman so i will yield back. Thanks. Senator murphy. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman, and senator mikulski, for having this hearing. Let me just add a story to the mix. Its a constituent from newtown, connecticut. She noticed early on that her son, brians preschool years, during his preschool years that he had a speech delay and that brian struggle to learn letters and literary skills in kindergarten, first and second grades. Despite her concert and her Family History of dyslexia her son did not receive an evaluation until the end of third grade. This is standard in part because tests dont start until third grade, but at this point brians teacher told her that he did make any progress in meeting between second and third grade and he was way behind his peers already. Once he was evaluated the without have adhd, dyslexia, but also a high iq. He received specialized instruction and accommodation for learning to read was rocky. Eventually he was able to decode words everybody still struggles today. He is 19 and he is doing well. Is studying Mechanical Engineering at the Rochester School of technology that hes a competitive speedskater. Hes accomplished but he had to work experts had worked especially hard because it took so long. They had to fight so hard to give them the appropriate programming. And so im totally on board with the idea that we need to do better, that this is a crisis as dr. Shaywitz says, and i hear it every day in connecticut. And i guess heres my only question and i will post it maybe first to dr. Shaywitz and then ask dr. Eden and others to remark on this. So what we know is uninsured and said 90 of students with learning this does have dyslexia and is also often cooccurring with other disabilities. But how do we elevate and do better by way of treating dyslexia with out minimizing other disabilities that kids walk into school with . How do we make sure that we do everything that you want us to do without taking dyslexia out of the pot of disabilities that kids are struggling with and have this debate in the up a result of that robs peter to pay paul . I know that is attention, and so let me just ask in particular dr. Shaywitz and dr. Eden to just talk about that. How do we focus the attention on dyslexia while not misunderstand the fact that there are a lot of other disabilities still that we cant ignore at the expense of tackling this epidemic . Well, thats a great question. First of all let me just say that every child should get what they need. Because of their dislike yet. They were in special ed. The routines. They saw no future. So i think we have used the knowledge we have and on the other hand we have to make sure the science progresses so it teaches us what we need to know to get the batter optimal but i know in policy is the appropriate education to these children. But we shouldnt hold the dyslexic children back because we dont have the knowledge to treat the others. We have to make sure were maximizing both a mother and as a grandmother. I care about my children and grandchildren and mothers about grandchildren and fathers feel the same way. We have to use the knowledge we possess and have it make sure we do it for all disabilities. But when the knowledge is in their, we have to make sure that we work to acquire that knowledge. Quick response. Thank you, mr. Chairman. To focus on dyslexia and research has really opened a lot of eyes and some of the understanding about reading a general. Many children have benefited that the best practice of teaching reading. Also a model of understanding of what is more generally how do you work with the School System . How is the research that has shown the kind of measures you can use, why is it when the teachers are given to us and are using them, they are not using of the way with the communication and are not being implemented. On the other hand, there is some individuals getting the help they need. But they also go to programs that are expensive and it dont work. Another interesting problem in the absence of research in the absence of educating people in understanding what this says, parents will take it upon himself to try everything they can on the internet, often at a high cost of no benefit to the children. Any kind of situation where a child has been failing to reach their potential and so really a model to help us understand the full range between education, the role of the teachers and the role of private enterprise and how people need to be educated so it can be optimized to have the job. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator warren. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator mikulski for your passion of bringing this issue on behalf of those indicted. One area that all of us are very much in agreement on is that we need education for biomedical innovation and increased investments in research in this area. Weve already learned a lot about dyslexia by the department of education, National Science foundation, National Institutes of health, National Institute of child health and development which resignation of president kennedy and research through the agency means that we now have some evidencebased interventions that are leading to improved educational outcomes for our kids with dyslexia across the country. But there still is a lot that we dont know. Dr. Mark mohone, how it greater investments in Research Like yours in the neurological underpinnings of dyslexia how fast intervene earlier and improve outcomes for our kids . Thank you. I think we are on the verge of trading Educational Research and the trend elation of Biomedical Research and education in the same way we are looking at trent Additional Research in the field of medicine, meaning that we have learned a lot about the commission. Weve learned a lot about the neurobiology of the condition, genetics at the condition. The next question is how do we translate what we have learned into this that really gets at the root of the problem. I think we are on the verge of that right now. We have come a long way with a tremendous amount of support from the federal government to get to the research that we have right now. Going forward, we need continued support into the daytoday lives of our children and improve lives. Thank you. Whether we are talking about alzheimers or als or cancer or dyslexia, we know that one of the smartest things the federal government can do is invest in research. The neuroscience and learning Intervention Research determined how to identify dyslexia early on and support the needs of students with learning disability. Over the last 10 years, congress has decimated the budget, cutting its purchasing power by nearly 20 . Researchers are limited because congress will give us the resources that they need. The senate faces a critical choice whether to come together in a bipartisan way with sustained stable and targeted increases for medical research or just to say its too hard. Senator cassidy and i have talked a lot about the importance of nih funding and they both agree on the urgency to find a bipartisan way. I hope we can get there because todays hearing is just one more example of why fixing are Research Funded problem is too important to walk away. Mr. Chairman, and i plan to put it off and wait my turn to. Were going to have a second round. Village of backing out of my next round. Thank you can a senator cassidy for having this hearing. Senator mikulski, we are grateful to have this opportunity. We dont often have the opportunity to focus on one issue in a very intense way and have a lot of great panelists here, but this is an allstar panel for a lot of different reasons. We are grateful for the opportunity. I wanted to reach of eyewitnesses, but i did want to start with you, ms. Hanrath for taking the time to be here, your testimony and to bring your own personal story to this committee. We learned a lot when we learned about Public Policy and analyze data. That is part of the learning process for us. I want to say to you, congratulations for your academic and epic achievement. I always wanted an athletic scholarship in college. It just wasnt in the cards. Im grateful. Its difficult to do one versus the other, but to have academic and athletic achievement is significant. I want to ask a more technical question about transition to college, transition to higher education. I did want kirkus first of all in your birth is that we leave here and we learn about over time. Its important to remember those three concepts to identify, train and set High Expectations. All three are critically important. I know that some children never have that opportunity to have a mom or dad or a caregiver who is so engaged as you have been to be that advocate. You have turned her into her own self advocate. We are grateful for that. We do want to bear in mind those three core messages of identifying, training and set high expert patients. My question is more technical about this. My staff and i have heard from folks in pennsylvania about this transition from high school to college and having strong Transition Services important to students with a learning disability. What is your experience with that . What can you tell us about what we would hope to do is fill in some of the gaps if there are some. First of all, our experience is a bit different because jocelyn is an act way too is wanted, transition has been sent out. We immediately started talking to the special Education Department he was very open to whatever joslyn needed. They were going to accept or idp from high school, which is not common. As so many colleges, the students are asked to go back and retest in order to receive accommodations in college, which was shocking to me because i am not a doctor, but when joslyn received her diagnosis, one of my first questions was if i get jocelyn a lot of help, will she stop being dyslexic . And she said no. She will always be dyslexic. I wouldnt understand why an iep and in high school would not be adequate or college to accept that as a disability. In utah, for example, jocelyn special educator has a caseload of 40s and. Her transition work is basically a check box did once hear someone comes in someone comes in a tax joslyn for 10 cents a week college, taking classes, check the box that not all. There is not anything given as far as transitioning to college. Once again because of jocelyns athletic accomplishments, when we talk to the athletic department, whatever she needed she could have. It was very simple. But its not that simple for most kids and its impossible for them too many times retest because the test costs so much money to be able to access special education in college. I appreciate that day because what we often try to use your by way of legislation, but also by way of censoring much more substantial is every student succeed, theres a great effort by the committee to take no child left behind and reform it, shake it up, change it. A lot got done. I was looking at a list of things that might be applicable here. A senator developed an Assessment Tool to support the identification of the disabilities including dyslexia, evidencebased instruction material, professional development. We have the outlines of it. I want to make sure we are not missing a piece when it comes to that transition, but in particular not having that iep not be adequate and having no evaluations done, which might be difficult for a lot of families. I am out of time. Maybe what we ought to do is pose a question for the record to the other witnesses to get at this issue. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. Second round and i will begin. Mr. Boies, page four bottom of your paragraph, first im struck that your written testimony to speak about how your dad was verbally teach the matter. So you do need to read and you could just kind of download everything your dad knew about history. Then you describe how your son for 10 years had or hours of tutoring every day. So your last paragraph, some students can afford the best dyslexia early. The vast majority is not so important in their future and their future contributions. This is really an issue of middleclass economic opportunity. Any thoughts on this . I think the right to an education is one of the most basic civil right that we have. I think back right should not be inhibited by economic circumstances of the childs family. I was very fortunate and i could give my children the opportunity to be tested early to get tutoring, to have all of the advantages that modern science can give. Most children are not that fortunate. We of the country are terribly wasting those resources. It is unfair to the child in the global world to lose those resources by identifying people early and by giving them for help in the hope they need to succeed. We can give them that a fixable right a decent education. We are not doing that now. Someone like mr. Ameer baraka who obviously also dr. Edens daughter is going to be allowed to achieve class because they did not know. Mr. Mahone said theres not many districts screening. Im not sure theres any district screening. If you have a condition effect in 20 in one way or another. You are an attorney. You spoke of civil rights. Its inexcusable we are not screening . This is not 1 or 2 . Senator, we have the technique to do that. We could do that in a Cost Effective way. Its a question of education. Its a question of commitment, but we could do this for action about we spend on lots of other things that are much less import and much less critical to children in our country. We have the ability to screen. We know how to do it. We could implement it in a costeffective way. We are just not doing it. I think i know it costs 50,000 a year to incarcerate somebody. So if you broke down the silos and somehow sad look at redirection dollars and make quite a different, it is the definition of penny wise and pound foolish. Your child, was he identified early by a teacher arrested just because your Family History new to watch. It wasnt so much as the family has eerie, but he was a twin and his brother jonathan was very verbal in kindergarten was reading and very facile and christopher was struggling terribly. And the sharpness of that comparison led us to have christopher tested. When christopher was tested, that was the time i was first diagnosed with dyslexia. Back testing led to the tutoring, led to the help, led to the hope because he knew what it was. He knew it didnt affect his intelligence. He knew he could conquer this and he did. As they say, he performed well in high school, performed well in College Although he had a of a time getting into it. He performed great outlaw school. Again, his standardized test because he did not get accommodations predicted that he would fail. He graduated from Yale Law School with honors, but his lsat would have predicted that he couldnt have succeeded. To standardized testing option is very provocative. I will do for now to senator murkowski. Thank you very much. I want to associate my remarks to senator warren in terms of the need for more Biomedical Research. But also i want to go back to my original remark when we need to put that research into action. When you look at the way we do not find programs like adea, then groups with learning challenges are pitted against each oth and researched the very things we just talked about earlier. We need a multifaceted approach here like we do the children. I was struck by the different biological aspects to girls compared to boys. Could you elaborate on that . I was in my early days in the senate when i came here, women were not included in the protocol for nih. This was 1986, not 1886. And working together across the aisle. This validates. Tell us what you are finding. The brain is the brain. The brain is genderneutral. Thank you, senator mikulski. This is an example the brains of women and boys and girls are different. They are different in anatomy, different in that different in the areas of basic tissue and other differences we observe in boys and girls to developers going on. I think the important part is to recognize that Early Research for reasons im not fully clear off and focus on boys in these were findings that were true for all individuals with dyslexia and a generalized to all with dyslexia. Now we are beginning to focus more on differences in the nih now requires that you submit Research Grants that we consider and have very different question than the hypothesis in the research. Are they also addressing the issues about specific differences and thats part of the hypothesis. It manifested itself. I think what the real point here is we dont really fully understand. We know from neuroscience that sometimes we observe performance demand in males and females that appear to be equal. The mechanisms are invoked to do those tasks and then you ask the question what happens if the mechanisms, how did the female brain respond . We dont have the answer because they havent done the research. Did my research in the area is critical and it will be about for research. Well, thank you. I want to turn [inaudible] im going to call you like it and i talk because that is what you and other mothers stay up at night kind of a resume internet, avoiding scams and schemes and you tried to come up with the purchase. Could you tell us what worked for you as her mother, even to know what to do. You mentioned the group understood. Also, you paid for your own testing for your daughter, which was honestly extremely expensive. How can we help at least a pathway for moms and dads regard to a social class or whatever to do this . Could you elaborate on your personal exploration here and how to help your daughter . What were the obstacles and what was your best friend . Was it the internet . Certainly. At the very beginning when my daughter was actually tested by the School District at the end of fourth grade. Her grandmother had died the week is when they tested her. They came back with the results that she had an i. Q. Of about 80 she would not ever succeed in school because she was not very bright. I said that is absolutely not true and i sent her to a neuropsychologist to redo the testing. Once that happened i had to go through that phase of idea was that dyslexia manage unix that providers. I had no idea that it was if i may, the senate, neuroscientist did you dont go to craigslist for that. Tell me in other words, how did you do that . I did that because i have an older son who has learning disabilities and he had a specialized tutor. So i went to the tutoring i said who is it that i should have my daughter it was on my own. You have anywhere you live in a tutu should you couldve turn to . Now, there really isnt anything in topic it is a place at the university of utah graduate students, but i wasnt comfortable with that. Here we have georgetown, Kennedy Krieger, they yell sinner. But you are on your own and you did this through a tutor. Then you got the results. And then i decided that i had to come up with a solution. The neuropsychologist was wonderful pitch he gave me 23 pages of accommodations. So when i went to my first meeting i took those 23 pages and i said i want you to accept all of these. And no one argued with me. So it was immediately attached to joss funds iep and i kept this accommodations and whenever jocelyn needed a specific one, we have both iep. I was fortunate enough to have the money to have her tested it unfortunately i was not wealthy enough to have fatally tutoring so i had to rely upon the School System, but mostly myself, my inventiveness. Can we ask about understood and what that meant . What we have here is that pat. Look at the struggle. I would love to tell you about understood. Im a single mom. At night i would wake up. I didnt know what to do. Im a night out. I had to be because i found this incredible website called understood. Com. I could read about it and then the repair of farms and i could talk to somebody at 3 00 in the morning. Somebody who understood rose coming from. I could watch videos from max ernst. I could listen to archived sessions on dyslexia. I started to become educated in education is the source of all power and that is where my education came from. Senator cassidy come youre very generous. Thank you. Senator warren. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The importance of making sure we have nih funding and also thank you for reminding us more reasons why this research is important. I want to turn to a slightly different issue and talk a little bit more about what we are learning from the research into training futures for the classroom. This is a special topic for me because i was a special needs teacher a long time ago. Ms. Hanrath, but me start with you. Im your impending graduation from high school, youre very granite, jocelyn, way to go. In your testimony, utah about the importance of supporting educators by training about dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Can you talk a little bit more about how important it has been to you and to your daughter to have special education teachers with the tools and training they need to support your daughters learning . Thank you, senator. Without kerry shatners key, theres no way we could have navigated through high school. She talked to jocelyns teachers. She gave jocelyn, events. She went to meetings with to meetings to jocelyn at night. She stood up for jocelyns rights. She knew some things i didnt know. If we did not have kerry, if kerry was not educated. As i said, i do not believe success would it have been for joss on the way that it did. I find a really frightening that so many teachers are not educated about dyslexia, that they assume dyslexics are people, that they shouldnt expect much of them. They need the education. They need to understand that dyslexic kids can do amazing things. They think outside the box. They are leaders by nature. It doesnt take much for accommodations. They dont have to cost a lot of money. Everything isnt hightech. So please, please find a way to let all teachers understand what dyslexia is and how they can help. It doesnt take much, but once again it requires education. Thank you. Thats very important. Maybe that means i can turn to you, dr. Eden. How do we equip all teachers in all School Leaders with the training and development they need to serve students with dyslexia . We will be if the last few minutes of this hearing on Dyslexia Research. You can see it in its entirety on our website, cspan. Org. Only mike to the u. S. Senate where lawmakers will continue working on water spending at 10 30 a. M. Eastern this morning, they will advance an amendment. The amendment would block the u. S. Had the water from iran. 60 votes will be needed to move forward. Live now for the u. S. Senate here on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. O god, our refuge and strength, give us reverence for your greatness. Guide our senators around the pitfalls of their work, enabling them to have hearts sustained by your peace. May they surrender their will to you, as they trust you to direct their path. Lord, give them the wisdom to receive your reproof with the understanding that you chastise those whom you love for their good. Undergird them with your enabling might, as you make their lives productive for the glory of your name. Amen. The president pro tempore pleae join me in reciting the pledge f allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i want to say a few words about the Severe Weather that hit my home state of kentucky yesterday. A large tornado touched down in mayfield in graves quoints in western in Graves County in western kentucky. In damaged homes and injured 10 people. Tornadoes were also reported in two other counties. Thankfully no deaths have been reported in kentucky as of the latest news reports. And kentuckians are, as always, reaching out to help their neighbors. Reports that local churches and businesses have opened their doors to those displaced by the tornadoes, as they recover. So were thinking today of all the kentuckians who have been hurt by this Severe Weather. We continue to monitor the situation and were thankful that the damage thats been reported so far was not worse. On another matter, after much hard work and research, deliberation from both sides of the aisle, were closer to having an opportunity to pass the first funding bill of the appropriations season, the Energy Security and Water Infrastructure funding bill. I know members have some differences of opinion about an amendment authored by senator cotton, but this is how the legislative process is supposed to work. Senator cottons amendment, which would prevent future funds from being used to purchase heavy water from iran, is germane to this funding bill, and it deserves a vote. So were going 0 have that vote today, allowing senators from both sides to have their say on this issue and allowing us to move forward on this important measure. The Energy Security and Water Infrastructure funding bill will positively impact every state in america. We know it includes important measures to support Energy Research and innovation, to promote public safety, to maintain waterways infrastructure, and to promote nuclear security. So lets work to advance this bill and keep the appropriations process moving forward in a responsible manner. And on yet another matter, yesterday the Senate Passed the American Manufacturing competitiveness act, a bipartisan bill that, as my friend the chairman of the finance committee observed, shows our commitment to helping our economy with more jobs, bigger paychecks, and a stronger American Manufacturing base. And later today, the president will sign into law the defend trade screat secrets act, anothl that promotes our economy and helps create and retain american jobs. Both of these bills are the result of the work of two dedicated committee chairmen, senator hatch and senator grassley. Theyre also result of a senate thats back to work for the American People. I want to thank the finance and Judiciary Committee chairmen for their efforts to advance thats ll, just as i want to thank senators burr, portman, toomey and flake for their diligent work to help support american businesses and the economy through their efforts to pass the act. And now on one final matter, president obama recently bragged to the New York Times magazine about his performance on the economy. He boasted about his economic legacy and actually claimed that by his estimation the administration managed the economic recovery better than any peer economy facing a financial crisis quote now listen to this on earth, in modern history. Thats a quote to remember. The same day this story hit, the bureau of Economic Analysis released its First Quarter report showing. 5 economic growth. Its the latest reminder of the actual economy that americans are forced to confront day in and day out. President obama has presided over the worst economic recovery since world war ii. Growth is anemic, wages are stagnant for too many, poverty is up for too many, jobs are scarce for too many, and americans are losing faith in the future. And somehow president obama doesnt seem to think any of this is his problem. Or a problem at all. The issue isnt his policies or his refusal to work across the aisle with solutions. No, to him its just a messaging problem. Its just that he was too busy to take victory lapse or explain things properly. He believes the u. S. Economy is in much better shape than the public appreciates. As the magazine story i mentioned previously observes, in fact, he claims by almost every economic measure were significantly better off. Well, many in the middle class feel quite differently. Just dont take my word for it. Heres what bill clinton thinks of the obama economy heres what he said. Millions and millions and millions and millions of people look at that pretty picture he painted and they cant find himself in it to save their lives. Thats bill clinton on the obama economy. Hardworking middleclass families simply cannot find themselves in the picture, this president has painted of the American Economy. Median Household Incomes have shrunk under this president. Too Many Americans have given up even looking for work. Altogether, after years of failed attempts. One survey found more than half of americans say in the next generation will be worse off than them. Financially. The middle class has now shrunk to such an extent under president obama that it no longer contains a majority of americans. Thats something none of us should take comfort in. Id like to read you a quote from the president. Im not sure he intended it, but president obama said something a few months ago that seemed to sum up his economic legacy. Heres what he said there was a time i think when upward mobility was the hallmark of mobility, he said. Hes right. There was a time. There can be a time again. We dont have to accept the obama economy as the new normal in our country. Democrats may want middleclass families to keep their gaze down and their expectations tempered, but we have to right to expect more, we have to right to believe in our future. Its clear we need a change to get america moving again. The Republicanled Senate will continue to look for and pass Real Solutions that aim to get our economy back on track, solutions to help foster economic growth, solutions to help create jobs and strengthen our workforce, solutions to help america prosper once more. If president obama wants to actually build an economic legacy for himself, not just try to spin americans on one, then i invite him to finally join us. My republican colleagues will have more to say on the economy this afternoon. I want to thank my colleague, senator sullivan, who has been outspoken on this important matter. I also want to thank senator coats for his work to strengthen our economic policies as chairman of the joint Economic Committee as well as a member of the finance comeelt. These senators the finance committee. These senators know the costly toll the obama economy has had on people in their home states, and theyre working to address it. It. Mr. Reid mr. President . The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent that brad hatcher, whos been a legislative fellow for me for the past year, be granted privileges on the senate floor. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid mr. President , hes done a terrific job. Wooer so fortunate to have the military we do and he exemplifies that. Mr. President , its interesting to hear my friend fictionalize whats going on in the world economy, in our American Economy especially. We all know that when president obama took office, the year the month after he was elect, in november the month after he was elected, in november eight years ago, the economy lost 100,000 jobs. And when president obama took over the economy, we had a surplus of 10 trillion over ten years, a surplus. My friend, the presiding officer, he frankly and his good father have talked about money that is being spent by this country that shouldnt be. However, when bush took office, we had a surplus. We had a balanced budget under bilbill clinton, balanced budge. We didnt need to legislate it. It happened. Of course, with his leadership and that deficitreduction act we passed, it worked out really well. But that was all wiped out by the spending of the bush administration. Eight years of two wars unpaid for, trillions of dollars not hundreds of billions trillions of dollars paid for with a credit card. Tax cuts paid for with a credit card. And what did that bring to us . Collapse of wall street. President obama went to work. It was difficult. But we passed the american recovery act, or the stimulus, as its known. But for that, who knows how difficult our situation would be. In nevada, we had the experience of what happened when the wall street collapsed. We werent the only state. It happened all over this economy. For my friend to talk about great the economy was in the bush years, intimating that is simply fictional. Now, are things perfect now . Of course not. Weve had no help here in the senate. Weve had very little help in the house. For seven and a half years, all republicans have done is try to try theyve opposed everything president obama has tried to do. Weve been able to overcome sowsm that. Some of that. Since obama took office, the United States economy saw the longest stretch of privatesector growth in history, and its still ongoing. Now, there were some complaints last month, only 10,000 new 160,000 new jobs were created. We need to do more. Theres no question about that. But we need some help. Republicans are doing everything they can and theyve proven that in the last seven and a half years to make it tough for obama. Questiowe have a lot of people t arent being paid enough. How about those people working on minimum wage trying to survive . Republicans refuse to help us raise that. How about paycheck fairness, so that my daughter, my granddaughters will be paid the same amount of money for the same work that they do, that a man does . Student debt is unbearable. Im seeing it now with my grandchildren. Incredible. Theyre going to have to go borrow money. The republican way to recovery in so many different ways. So lets talk about the real world, not a fictional world. Mr. President , on another subject, last week the senator from iowa, the senior senator from iowa, confirmed to democrats what weve said all along. Senate republicans want donald trump to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. Mr. President , im sorry to direct attention to the presiding officer, but i cant imagine how the presiding officer must feel with donald trump being the leader of the republican party. I cant imagine. I cant imagine what your good father thinks of donald trump leading the republican party. But i can imagine it. In an interview with the des moines register, senator grassley said of trump and i quote based on the type of people donald trump would be looking for, i think we would expect the right type of people to be nominated to the Supreme Court. This is fairly shocking for a senator who should know better. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee trusts donald trump to pick quote the right type of people for the Supreme Court. I cant think of a worse idea than placing the power to pick the next Supreme Court justice in the hands of someone who derides women, calls them dogs and pigs. Look at the front page of the New York Times how he and howard stern decide how they would treat women. Read it. Its demeaning to my wife, my daughter, and my nine or ten granddaughters. I have them mixed up. Theres 19, so theres not an even number but theyre close. I cant think of a worse idea than placing the power of the next Supreme Court justice in the hands of this unhinged individual. He calls latinos racists rapists and murderers. This is the Supreme Court of the United States were talking about, the court that decided madison vs. Marbury, brown vs. Board of education whose verse is coming whose anniversary is coming next tuesday. This isnt a donald trump reality show. This is the real, real world, no game. This is not a choice about whether meat loaf or gary busey makes the better art project. It is a choice about the future of america. The balance of the Supreme Court has reallife, reallife consequences for all of us. Rational people dont want donald trump filling the Supreme Court vacancy. The American People dont. But Senate Republicans obviously do and senator grassley does, or i should say he does now. Two weeks ago before donald trump had wrapped up the republican nomination, to my dismay, the senior senator from iowa was singing a much different tune. Back then, all 13 days ago, before donald trump was his standardbearer, senator grassley said it would be a risk to let donald trump pick a Supreme Court nominee, less than two weeks ago. Heres what he said, a direct quo if trump is elected president , i have have to admit its a gamble. Close quote. It is a gamble. And its not at a las vegas crap table or a slot machine. That its a gamble is an understatement. Trump picking a Supreme Court nominee is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. But now that trump is the nominee, republicans are marching in lock step with him on the Supreme Court vacancy. Republicans want to put the Supreme Court in the hands of an unbalanced, evil maniac. Senator grassley and his colleagues say they want the future of the highest court to be determined by an antiwoman, antilatino, antimiddle class billionaire. He demeans women every day. Yesterday grassley told a reporter and i quote theres no problem with trump appointing people to the Supreme Court. What did he say a few days earlier . Its a gamble. Donald trump wants to ban all muslims from even coming into our country. Thats who republicans want picking justices to work out the judicial system, decide questions about civil liberties, somebody who says muslims shouldnt even come into this country. Trump encourages supporters to physically assault protesters. Heres what he said knock the crap out of them. Close quote. Thats who the republicans want to assert justice interpreting the law. Its insane my republican colleagues are willing to entrust such an important responsibility to this egomaniac. He inherited his money, by the way, the Senate Republicans should trust in the time honored process of considering Supreme Court nominees. Republicans should start by reviewing judge garlands nominee questionnaire that the senate got yesterday. After that, the Senate Judiciary committee and chairman grassley should do their job and hold a hearing. Then the republican leader needs to bring merrick garlands nomination to the floor for a vote. A hearing and a vote, thats what we need to get. And thats how well get im sorry, in senator grassleys words, the right type of people on the Supreme Court. Meet with the man, hold hearings, and vote. This year the Republican Senate is on pace to work fewer days than any senate in the past six decades. 60plus years. So in that were not doing much anyway, couldnt we just work in a little time to have a Supreme Court nominee . Senator grassley was right the first time. Letting donald trump pick a Supreme Court justice is indeed a gamble. Its a risk that the American People cant afford and shouldnt afford. Instead of waiting for donald trump, republicans should just do their job and let the court have a full complement of nine justices. Mr. President , i see no one here on the floor, so i would ask the chair to announce what were going to do today. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h. R. 2028, which the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 96, h. R. 2028, an act making appropriations for energy and Water Development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2016, and for other purposes. Mr. Reid i suggest the absence of a quorum but i ask consent that the time be charged equally between both sides. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call