News | April 16, 2026

NCLD Response to Senate HELP Committee Roundtable on Supporting Students with Dyslexia

Washington, D.C. — April 16, 2026 — National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) appreciates Chairman Cassidy’s leadership in holding a roundtable discussion on how to better support students with dyslexia. We would also like to thank the families, educators, and pediatricians that shared their perspectives and lived experiences. Too many families experience the challenges outlined in the roundtable. The courage to share and call on policymakers to enact change is significant and necessary.

NCLD supports a strong federal role in ensuring early screening, accurate identification, intervention, and sufficient resources for schools to support students with dyslexia and other Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs). We appreciate Senator Hassan’s remarks that highlighted the importance of family engagement in schools, the role of intervention and reading specialists who are experts in SLDs, and the overarching discussion about strengthening supports in public schools, including better alignment between early screening and evaluation for an SLD.

Throughout the discussion, Chairman Cassidy heavily pushed for passage of the 21st Century Dyslexia Act as the primary solution to the challenges raised by participants. NCLD remains concerned that this bill is not the way to address the implementation issues shared in this discussion, and instead would have unintended negative consequences, if passed. NCLD and partners have stated previously that dyslexia should not be removed from the SLD category under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and become a new disability category. The research on SLDs does not support this action and doing so would not achieve the desired goals of the bill.

It is important to note that current federal policy does not prevent Individualized Education Programs (IEP) teams from specifying a dyslexia identification on IEPs. Dyslexia is already named as a subtype within the SLD category under IDEA. The U.S. Department of Education recognized and reiterated that dyslexia is a type of SLD in 2015 and stated that districts can use the term dyslexia in an IEP. In addition to the aforementioned concerns regarding the 21st Century Dyslexia Act, dyslexia does not account for all reading disability subtypes. As mentioned in the roundtable, dyslexia is the most common reading disability. However, adding dyslexia as a distinct disability category distinguishes itself from reading comprehension deficits that are not primarily word-reading deficits. Decoupling dyslexia from other reading disabilities by removing it from an SLD category would be detrimental to the education of students with and at risk for dyslexia.

An identified disability is a starting point for schools to take action under IDEA, not a prescription for specific interventions or services. Identification alone does not tell educators which approaches will improve academic performance. The definition of dyslexia in this legislation is not aligned with the current, field-recognized definition from the International Dyslexia Association. That misalignment would cause confusion for both educators and families navigating an identification of dyslexia.

While we agree with Chairman Cassidy and the participants of the roundtable that more should be done to support students with dyslexia and other SLDs, the issues identified are a result of insufficient implementation of federal law and a lack of resources at the school level. We call on Congress to fully fund the programs within IDEA and maintain the critical role of the U.S. Department of Education, including oversight and guidance, in order to address the challenges millions of students and families face every day. We look forward to working with Chairman Cassidy and the rest of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to make education better for students with dyslexia.

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