An Andover mother and her son are working to decode dyslexia on a national level.
Melissa Marquis’ desire to help create change began when her son, 9-year-old Ethan Toubes-Marquis, was diagnosed with the condition while in first grade.
“We noticed he wasn’t only struggling to read but struggling to remember what he just read,” she said. “We would struggle to read the word ‘cat.’ Then, we would flip the page and he would be unable to read the same word again. It was as if he had never seen it.” Despite its commonness, affecting one in every five children, dyslexia remains a largely unknown neurological-based language disorder, Marquis said. It is compared by many to being blind, for you can physically see the words but your brain is unable to make sense of them. In witnessing the care that the condition mandates firsthand, Marquis has worked to create national change by taking to Washington, D.C. Their June 24 to 27 trip was to lobby for House Resolution 456, a bipartisan bill that would call for all schools, as well as state and local educational agencies, to recognize that dyslexia has significant implications on education and must be addressed.
Originally given just a 5 percent chance of progressing to the House and Senate for consideration, the resolution now has 111 co-sponsors. If it passes the House and Senate, it will become a law. Marquis and Ethan went with an organization they have been a part of for three years called Decoding Dyslexia. “Decoding Dyslexia is a grassroots parents’ organization formed three years ago,” she said. “I joined almost at its inception. Since then, the group grew to 46 states, with 32 new states added this year alone from all across the country.”
SOURCE:- EAGLE TRIBUNE
No comments:
Post a Comment