State joins effort to spot signs of dyslexia early on

California will evaluate kids in kindergarten, first and second grades to help identify learning difficulties and improve low reading scores

- BY JENNY GOLD

LIINA, 9, works on an enunciation exercise with Silver, a tutor who helps children with dyslexia. The state's new screening is not intended to formally diagnose a learning difference.

This year, for the first time, California schools will be screening kindergartners, first and second-graders for reading difficulties, including dyslexia, under a state mandate signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023.

Such early identification of reading struggles is key to getting young children the needed interventions before they fall too far behind. California — with reading scores below the national average — is the 40th state to mandate such a screening.

But can a 5-year-old, who can’t read yet, be screened?

Although reading itself is a learned skill, research has found that the brain structures connected to literacy begin developing right after birth and continue across the first few years of life. The earliest signs of reading differences and dyslexia can be spotted in preschool—and perhaps even earlier.

The new California screening is intended to identify children with reading difficulties who could benefit from additional help. It can also flag children for early signs of dyslexia, but is not intended to formally diagnose a learning difference.

Instead, the screeners are carefully crafted to test the pre-reading skills that form the building blocks for literacy, including a child’s ability to manipulate sounds, name objects and remember a list of words.

“The earlier, the more plastic the brain is, and the better the response will be, so you can avoid problems down the line,” said Dr. Marilu Gorno-Tempini, a behavioral neurologist at UC San Francisco who helped develop one of the four state-approved screeners. “It’s preventative medicine.”