In order to identify dyslexia and other reading impairments early, we need your help to develop and deploy a system of detection which does not exist today.

The scope of this national tragedy is staggering . . .

• 25 million Americans are functionally illiterate (1 out of 10)
  
• 44 million American adults are either illiterate or at the lowest level of functional literacy (NALS* Level One)
  
• an additional 52 million adults have only low literacy skills (NALS* Level Two)
  
• in a survey of twelve countries, the U.S. ranked next-to-last in adult literacy, which has implications for our ability to compete in a global economy
  
• over 60% of adults with severe literacy problems have undetected, untreated learning disabilities
  
• 20% of children entering school do not perceive and process the sounds of language well and are at high risk of developing poor reading skills
  
• in some parts of the U.S., up to 50% of students are not reading at grade level
  
• 15% of the U.S. school population has a learning disability and 85% of this group has dyslexia; some studies estimate that dyslexia affects as many as 1 out of every 5 children in the U.S.
  
• 35% of children with learning disabilities drop out of high school, twice the normal rate (this does not include learning-impaired students who are not identified and drop out)
  
• of those who do graduate, less than 2% attend a four-year college, despite the fact that many are of above-average intelligence; only 14% attend any postsecondary school program, compared to 53% of students in the general population
  
• 44% of parents who noticed a child exhibiting signs of learning deficiencies waited a year or more before acknowledging that there might be a serious problem; 48% fear that having a child labeled "learning disabled" is more harmful than struggling privately with an undiagnosed learning disability; 63% worry that such a label would have a negative effect on the child's self-esteem
  
  

The implications are far-reaching and enormously expensive . . .

• approximately 60% of individuals diagnosed with attention deficit disorders (ADD) are also dyslexic; in these cases, while the behavioral aspects of ADD are addressed, the language-based learning disabilities are rarely recognized or treated
  
• up to 60% of adolescents in treatment for substance abuse have learning disabilities
  
• 50% of juvenile delinquents who are tested are found to have previously undetected learning disabilities; 85% of all juvenile offenders have reading problems
  
• 31% of adolescents with learning disabilities will be arrested within 3-5 years of leaving high school
  
• 60% of America's prison inmates are illiterate
  
• 62% of learning-impaired students are unemployed one year after graduation
  
• approximately 50% of the nation's unemployed youth ages 16-21 are functionally illiterate, with virtually no prospect of obtaining a good job
  
• only 30% of adults with very low literacy skills have full-time jobs
  
• while equal numbers of girls and boys have been found to have reading disabilities, boys are three times more likely to be evaluated and treated
  
• 50% of females with learning disabilities will be mothers (many of them single) within 3-5 years of leaving high school
  
• 43% of people with low (NALS* Level One) literacy skills live in poverty
  
• over 75% of current welfare recipients have very low or low reading skills
  
• the annual cost of illiteracy to U.S. businesses and taxpayers is at least $20 billion
  
• each year, U.S. parents directly spend over $2 billion on students who repeat a grade due to reading problems
  
  

We are failing to catch —and solve— the problem early on . . .

• only 5% of dyslexics are ever properly diagnosed and given appropriate help
  
• 75% of children who do not receive proper help by the age of nine will have learning difficulties throughout life
  
• 74% of children who are poor readers in the third grade remain poor readers in the ninth grade
  
• dyslexia and ADD or ADHD so frequently coexist within the same child that it is always best to test for both
  
• existing legislation, particularly the Disabilities Education Act, compels U.S. public schools to utilize "discrepancy criteria" testing to establish eligibility for special education services —but this is not a useful concept for identifying dyslexic children
  
• dyslexia is identifiable, with 90% accuracy, at ages 5 to 5 _; dyslexia can be determined, with 92% accuracy, at ages 5 _ to 6 _
  
• 90-95% of reading-impaired children can overcome this difficulty if they receive appropriate treatment at an early age
  
• over 90% of children reading below the 15th percentile at the beginning of first grade read at or above grade level by the end of the first grade with appropriate intervention
  

Reading failure caused by dyslexia is totally preventable through direct, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness Literacy used to be loosely defined by government as the ability to read. However, information and technology have changed the landscape and the world has become far more complex over the past fifty years. In The National Literacy Act of 1991, Congress expanded the definition of literacy: "an individual's ability to read, write, speak in English, compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals and to develop one's knowledge and potential."

Dyslexia occurs in people from all backgrounds and of all abilities, throughout the world. The great news is that dyslexic people of all ages can learn effectively with a different teaching approach. "Phonemic awareness", that is, the ability to efficiently convert written words into sounds and, therefore, to meaning (and not other factors such as general intelligence or listening comprehension) is the crucial determinant of a child's ability to read. Decades of research have determined that "phonemic awareness is the most important core and causal factor separating normal and disabled readers." (National Institutes of Health)

Phonemic awareness skills can and must be taught, directly and explicitly, to dyslexic children . . . and this can only be accomplished with a system of early detection.