Giving Compass' Take:

• School districts in Arkansas, Virginia, and Maryland are working to disrupt dyslexia by  focusing on science and research-based methods of how students learn to read.

• How can donors support more research that analyzes how students grow their reading comprehension skills?

• Read about a variety of tools that will help students with dyslexia.

Arkansas is working to provide support for students with dyslexia through efforts to retrain teachers and change the way reading instruction is delivered, with a focus on methods based on the science of how students learn to read.

That shift to change how reading instruction is served isn't happening in every state, however, despite dyslexia affecting one in 10 people worldwide, according to a 2014 report from Dyslexia International. In some cases, parents say they can’t even use the word when speaking with their child’s school, Nancy Duggan, executive director of Decoding Dyslexia Massachusetts, told Education Dive.

But many districts, from Arkansas to Virginia and Maryland, feel differently. There, lawmakers, district leaders and educators are working to change how students are supported and disrupt the way they've been taught to read.

In Virginia's Loudoun County Public Schools, a pilot using the multi-sensory Orton-Gillingham structured language approach is making its way not just to students who've been identified as dyslexic, but to their peers, Lorraine Hightower, a certified dyslexia advocate and consultant based in Lansdowne, Virginia, told Education Dive.

Orton-Gillingham is an approach that is steeped in phonics but incorporates multiple inputs, from visual to tactile, in teaching students to read. Facilitators first trained reading specialists and special education teachers in the approach, which uses multiple methods including visual and auditory keys.

A different approach is in play at St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) in Maryland. The state adopted guidance in 2016 that told schools that they could actually start saying the word "dyslexia" while also giving direction on how to identify it and support students through instruction.

Read the full article about disrupting dyslexia by Lauren Barack at Education Dive.