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Here's an IDEA
Earlier Help for Special Needs Children By Kelly Burgess
Underlying these "official" efforts by the NCLD is an increased push on educating parents to recognize early signs of learning disabilities – particularly in the area of reading. Reading comprehension problems are estimated to comprise up to 80 percent of all learning disabilities. There are several resources on the NCLD Web site for parents to use as a guide to possible early warning signals of a learning disability.
In addition, the NCLD is sponsoring an e-mail petition drive to urge parents to support these important changes in the IDEA legislation. To support their efforts, go to www.keepkidslearning.org and click on the "Send a Free E-mail" link.
The problems, as they always are, are funding related. Wendorf notes that the answer is a greater commitment by the federal government to special education issues. At this time, they have cut back their contributions from 40 percent of the costs in 1965 to 18 percent. And this figure is up from a few years ago. What NCLD is trying to stress is that reading is not always fundamental, and it's not an instinctual process – it has to be taught. For some children, that teaching needs to be more intense, or they won't break the reading code. In the long run, this could be more costly than any amount of educational services.