Dear editor:

There is a vital need in Georgia to increase graduation rates and literacy. Although dyslexia affects 15-20 percent of people in America, there are few who accurately understand this most common learning difference.

Individuals with dyslexia have trouble with reading, writing and spelling even though they have the ability and have had opportunities to learn.

Students with dyslexia can learn to read through research-based reading intervention, which is not how the general education classrooms teach. If students with dyslexia can be taught in the appropriate way for them to learn to read, remediation and special education could be avoided.

On the other hand, if students with dyslexia go undetected and untreated until the student is falling behind and/or failing, it is difficult to remediate and keep up with peers (but possible with a lot of work).

Avoid the heartache of remediation and teach these students to read the research-based way from the beginning. It is time for the public school system to be proactive in literacy issues. All children should be screened at an early age to identify learning differences. Research-based early intervention with students that have dyslexia is vital to prevent the need to remediate and enter into the special education arena.

Tina McGinley, Cummings, Ga.