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THE SCIENCE OF DYSLEXIA 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND 

TECHNOLOGY 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

September 18, 2014 

Serial No. 113–95 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

HON. LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas, Chair 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

RALPH M. HALL, Texas 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., 

Wisconsin 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia 

STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois 

LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

BILL POSEY, Florida 

CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming 

DAVID SCHWEIKERT, Arizona 

THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky 

KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota 

JIM BRIDENSTINE, Oklahoma 

RANDY WEBER, Texas 

CHRIS COLLINS, New York 

BILL JOHNSON, Ohio 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida 

SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon 

ERIC SWALWELL, California 

DAN MAFFEI, New York 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JOSEPH KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

SCOTT PETERS, California 

DEREK KILMER, Washington 

AMI BERA, California 

ELIZABETH ESTY, Connecticut 

MARC VEASEY, Texas 

JULIA BROWNLEY, California 

ROBIN KELLY, Illinois 

KATHERINE CLARK, Massachusetts 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

September 18, 2014 

Page 

Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 

Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 

Opening Statements 

Statement by Representative Lamar S. Smith, Chairman, Committee on 

Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ..................... 6 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 7 

Statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ranking Member, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .... 9 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 10 

Witnesses: 

PANEL I 

Hon. Bill Cassidy, Member, U.S. House of Representatives 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 11 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 14 

Hon. Julia Brownley, Member, U.S. House of Representatives 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 16 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 18 

PANEL II 

Dr. Sally Shaywitz, Audrey G. Ratner Professor in Learning Development, 

Yale University School of Medicine and Co-Director, Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, Yale University 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 21 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 23 

Mr. Max Brooks, Author and Screenwriter 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 37 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 39 

Ms. Stacy Antie, Parent and Advocate 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 44 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 44 

Dr. Peter Eden, President, Landmark College 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 51 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 53 

Dr. Guinevere Eden, Director, Center for the Study of Learning (CSL) and 

Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 73 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 75 

Discussion ................................................................................................................. 83 
Page

IV 

Appendix I: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions 

Dr. Sally Shaywitz, Audrey G. Ratner Professor in Learning Development, 

Yale University School of Medicine and Co-Director, Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, Yale University ................................................................. 96 

Mr. Max Brooks, Author and Screenwriter ........................................................... 98 

Ms. Stacy Antie, Parent and Advocate .................................................................. 99 

Dr. Peter Eden, President, Landmark College ...................................................... 101 

Dr. Guinevere Eden, Director, Center for the Study of Learning (CSL) and 

Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center .......................................................................................................................... 105 

Appendix II: Additional Material for the Record 

Written statement submitted by Matt Mountain Director, Space Telescope 

Science Institute, and Professor, Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University ..................................................................................................... 108 
(1) 

THE SCIENCE OF DYSLEXIA 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, 

Washington, D.C. 

The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:21 a.m., in Room 

2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Lamar Smith 

[Chairman of the Committee] presiding. 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 

Chairman SMITH. The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology will come to order. Good morning to everyone, and welcome 

to today’s hearing titled ‘‘The Science of Dyslexia,’’ and I want to 

say at the outset, it is nice to see such interest. This is one of the 

best attended hearings we have had, and there is almost a festive 

atmosphere in the room, and I think that is because we all hope 

some good will come out of this hearing. There is certainly a common bond that unites all of us in this room as well, and we have 

no adverse witnesses, so it all adds up to what we expect to be a 

very productive hearing. 

And before we start, too, and before I recognize myself and the 

Ranking Member for an opening statement, as much work and effort has gone into this hearing as I think with any other hearing 

we have possibly had, and I want to thank those who have done 

so much and worked so hard to get us all here and to focus on such 

an important subject, so I want to recognize our Chief of Staff, Jennifer Brown, to my left, Chris Shank to my left over here, Richard 

Yamada, who is sitting next to me, Kirsten Duncan and Christian 

Rice as well, who I think are to the left here too, but they have 

put in a great amount of time and effort, and we thank them for 

their contributions. 

Well, welcome everyone to today’s hearing on the science of dyslexia. One out of every five people struggle with dyslexia in its various forms. In fact, it is the most common reading disability in 

America. Yet many Americans remain undiagnosed, untreated, and 

silently struggle with school or work. 

People with dyslexia think in a way that others do not. But typically in our school systems today, there is not recognition, early detection, or enough teachers who are trained to spot symptoms of 

dyslexia early enough to get the students the intervention they 

need. 

That is why we have recently seen grassroots groups, like Decoding Dyslexia, form nationwide and more specialized schools started 

to fill the gap. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to these 

types of schools and the learning strategies they instill in their students to help them become successful. 

I hope today’s hearing will serve two purposes: first, contribute 

to our understanding as policymakers about the neuroscience of 

dyslexia, and secondly, build awareness of dyslexia’s effect on those 

of all ages if we fail to diagnose it. 

Some may ask why the Science Committee chooses to tackle the 

issue of dyslexia. My response is simple: many scientists, 

innovators and other outside-the-box thinkers are dyslexic, such as 

Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Galileo, to name a few. 

Many who have dyslexia have used their unique outlook on the 

world to their advantage. Filmmakers, actors and entertainers such 

as Steven Spielberg, Henry Winkler, and Jay Leno use their gift 

to create one-of-a-kind entertainment for us all to enjoy. 

In modern times, Dr. Carol Greider of the Johns Hopkins School 

of Medicine, who won the Nobel Prize in 2009, has dyslexia. John 

Chambers, the long-time CEO of Cisco Systems, also has dyslexia. 

In a recent interview, Chambers spoke about his struggles: ‘‘It 

would surprise you how many government and business leaders 

have dyslexia. Some people view it as a weakness and maybe it is, 
7 

but because of my weakness I have learned other ways to accomplish the same goal with faster speed. So in math, I can do equations faster by eliminating the wrong answers quicker than I can 

get the right answer. It is one of the reasons I talk to young people 

with dyslexia pretty regularly. You have to have role models.’’ 

We need to unleash the intelligence of people with dyslexia, like 

Einstein, da Vinci, Carol Greider, and John Chambers. We cannot 

afford for young, talented students not to reach their potential. 

And I am glad to see the National Science Foundation fund studies in how astrophysicists with dyslexia view the universe differently due to the visual-spatial skills common in dyslexics. In 

fact, Matt Mountain, the Lead Astronomer and Director of the 

Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute, has dyslexia, and without an objection, we will insert his testimony into the record at this 

point. 

[The information appears in Appendix II] 

Chairman SMITH. Also, the National Institutes of Health is 

studying the neuroscience of dyslexia, including the work of our 

witnesses, Dr. Sally Shaywitz and Dr. Guinevere Eden, as well as 

funding studies on how dyslexic students can best learn. Beyond 

the research, we will hear from someone with dyslexia, the parent 

of a dyslexic student, and an educator for those with learning disabilities like dyslexia. 

I have a personal connection with dyslexia since my niece is 

dyslexic. And a favorite, young 10-year-old named Leighton, a 

young friend who has dyslexia, has been with me on a Texas ranch. 

He may be challenged by language arts but he makes up for it with 

perfect eyesight and exceptional accuracy with his BB gun. And 

you don’t want to compete with him playing Minecraft on his iPad. 

Over 80 Members of Congress have joined the bipartisan Congressional Dyslexia Caucus co-chaired by Representative Bill 

Cassidy and Science Committee Member Julia Brownley. I thank 

them both for their work in helping educate the public about dyslexia and for advocating policies that support those individuals who 

have dyslexia. 

I also want to acknowledge one of my constituents, Robbi Cooper, 

who is to my left, who traveled from Austin, Texas, to be here 

today. She has shared many stories with me about her son Ben 

who has dyslexia. 

More parents as well as other experts on dyslexia will be sharing 

their stories at a luncheon next door in Rayburn Room 2325 immediately following this hearing, and we welcome all of you all to attend that luncheon. 

For most people, dyslexia is a disability. But if we change the 

way we approach it, we can turn disability into possibility and give 

millions of individuals a brighter and more productive future. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Smith follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN LAMAR S. SMITH

Welcome everyone to today’s hearing on the Science of Dyslexia. One out of every 

five people struggle with dyslexia in its various forms. In fact, it is the most common reading disability in America. Yet many Americans remain undiagnosed, untreated, and silently struggle with school or work. 
8 

People with dyslexia think in a way that others do not. But typically in our school 

systems today there is not recognition, early detection, or enough teachers who are 

trained to spot symptoms of dyslexia early enough to get the students the intervention they need. 

That is why we have recently seen grass roots groups, like Decoding Dyslexia, 

form nationwide and more specialized schools started to fill the void. Unfortunately, 

not everyone has access to these types of schools and the learning strategies they 

instill in their students to help them become successful. 

I hope today’s hearing will serve two purposes. First, contribute to our understanding as policy-makers about the neuroscience of dyslexia. And secondly, build 

awareness of dyslexia’s effect on those of all ages if we fail to diagnose it. 

Some may ask why the Science Committee chooses to tackle the issue of dyslexia. 

My response is simple: many scientists, innovators and other outside-the-box thinkers are dyslexic, such as Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Galileo, to name 

a few. 

Many who have dyslexia have used their unique outlook on the world to their advantage. Filmmakers, actors and entertainers such as Steven Spielberg, Henry 

Winkler, and Jay Leno used their gift to create one-of-a-kind entertainment for us 

all to enjoy. 

In modern times, Dr. Carol Greider of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who 

won the Nobel Prize in 2009, has dyslexia. John Chambers, the long-time CEO of 

Cisco Systems, also has dyslexia. In a recent interview, Chambers spoke about his 

struggles with dyslexia, saying: 

‘‘It would surprise you how many government and business leaders [have] dyslexia. Some people view it as a weakness and maybe it is. Because of my weakness I’ve learned other ways to accomplish the same goal with faster speed. So 

in math, I can do equations faster by eliminating the wrong answers quicker 

than I can get the right answer. It’s one of the reasons I talk to young people 

with dyslexia pretty regularly. You have to have role models.’’ 

We need to unleash the intelligence of people with dyslexia, like Einstein, da 

Vinci, Carol Greider, and John Chambers. We cannot afford for young, talented students not to reach their potential. 

I am glad to see the National Science Foundation fund studies in how astrophysicists with dyslexia view the universe differently due to the visual-spatial skills common in dyslexics. In fact, Matt Mountain, the lead astronomer and director of the 

Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute, has dyslexia. 

Also, the National Institutes of Health is studying the neuroscience of dyslexia, 

including the work of our witnesses, Dr. Sally Shaywitz and Dr. Guinevere Eden, 

as well as funding studies on how dyslexic students can best learn. 

Beyond the research, we will hear from someone with dyslexia, the parent of a 

dyslexic student, and an educator for those with learning disabilities like dyslexia. 

I have a personal connection with dyslexia since my niece is dyslexic. And a favorite, young 10 year old friend named Leighton, who has dyslexia, has been with me 

on a Texas ranch. He may be challenged by language arts but he makes up for it 

with perfect eyesight and exceptional accuracy with his bb gun. And you don’t want 

to compete with him playing Minecraft on his Ipad. 

Over 80 members of Congress have joined the bipartisan Congressional Dyslexia 

Caucus co-chaired by Rep. Bill Cassidy and Science Committee member Julia 

Brownley. I thank them both for their work in helping educate the public about dyslexia and for advocating policies that support those individuals who have dyslexia. 

I also want to acknowledge one of my constituents, Robbi Cooper, who traveled 

from Austin, Texas, to be here today. She has shared many stories with me about 

her son Ben who has dyslexia. 

More parents as well as other experts on dyslexia will be sharing their stories at 

a luncheon next door in Rayburn room 2325 immediately following this hearing. All 

are welcome to attend. 

For most people, dyslexia is a disability. But if we change the way we approach 

it, we can turn disability into possibility—and give millions of individuals a brighter 

and more productive future. 

Chairman SMITH. That concludes my remarks, and the gentlewoman from Texas, the Ranking Member of the Committee, is recognized for hers. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank 

you for holding this hearing, and I want to thank the two Co- 
9 

Chairs of the Congressional Dyslexia Caucus, Representative 

Brownley and Representative Cassidy, for being here today, and I 

look forward to your testimony. 

I have known a number of people who have dyslexia. None of 

them I have found to be dumb. Even though dyslexia is a lifelong 

condition, with proper diagnosis and instruction, individuals with 

dyslexia can succeed in school and go on to have successful careers. 

We have an example of someone with dyslexia who has a successful 

career with us here today, and I look forward to hearing his story, 

Mr. Brooks. 

As the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, we oversee 

agencies that fund research from the very basic to development and 

deployment across nearly the entire portfolio of the Federal R&D. 

We don’t directly oversee the lead agency for dyslexia research, 

which is NIH. However, we have the important responsibility for 

oversight of the National Science Foundation, which supports fundamental research across a number of scientific fields that provide 

a foundation for dyslexia research. The National Science Foundation, as a leader in educational research, also funds learning 

science directly and indirectly related to dyslexia. 

A significant amount of the National Science Foundation research relevant to dyslexia is funded out of the Social, Behavioral, 

and Economic Sciences Directorate and the Education and Human 

Resources Directorate. This is why I have fought hard against efforts in this Committee to slash funding for these important NSF 

directorates, which fund valuable research that turns out to have 

broader, and often unanticipated, applications to other high-priority research as we are seeing here today. 

Now, I know that the Chairman has asked me not to mention 

this because he didn’t want this to be a partisan hearing. It is not 

partisan with me, it is reality. Additionally, research funding by Biological Sciences Directorate also contributes to funding 

foundational knowledge about the neuroscience behind dyslexia. 

The National Science Foundation Science of Learning Centers Program supports interdisciplinary centers that advance learning research, and I look forward to hearing from Dr. Guinevere Eden 

about the Gallaudet University Center, of which she is a part. That 

center focuses on visual information learning research. 

Additionally, I am interested in hearing from Dr. Peter Eden 

about the National Science Foundation-funded research that is 

being conducted at Landmark College. This research is investigating important questions, including how students with learning 

disabilities best learn STEM, and how online educational environments could be adapted for students’ learning disabilities. This research has the potential to improve educational outcomes of students with learning disabilities, including dyslexia, and perhaps for 

all students. 

This learning demonstrates how important it is to fund our research agencies at appropriate levels. We have learned so much 

about dyslexia, but have so much more to learn. Without learning 

and—without funding research into this area, including the 

foundational research that underlies the more applied work, we 

will not discover the biological basis for dyslexia, we will not create 

the next generation of treatments for dyslexia, and we will not de-
10 

termine the educational environments and techniques that are best 

for individuals with dyslexia. 

I want to thank our witnesses. I am sorry that Ms. Brownley had 

to change her testimony but I hope we will keep in mind as you 

make your statements that the only way we reach these goals is 

to fund the research. 

Thank you, and I yield back, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Johnson follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

Thank you, Mr. Chairman for holding this hearing. 

And I want to thank the two co-chairs of the Congressional Dyslexia Caucus, Representatives Brownley and Cassidy, for being here today. I look forward to hearing 

your testimony. 

I have known a number of people who have dyslexia. Even though dyslexia is a 

lifelong condition, with proper diagnosis and instruction, individuals with dyslexia 

can succeed in school and go on to have successful careers. We have an example 

of someone with dyslexia who has a successful career here with us today. I look forward to hearing your story, Mr. Brooks. 

As the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, we oversee agencies that fund 

research from the very basic to development and deployment across nearly the entire portfolio of federal R&D. We don’t directly oversee the lead agency for dyslexia 

research, which is NIH. However, we do have the important responsibility for oversight of the National Science Foundation, which supports fundamental research 

across a number of scientific fields that provide a foundation for dyslexia research. 

The National Science Foundation, as a leader in educational research, also funds 

learning science directly and indirectly related to dyslexia. 

A significant amount of the NSF research relevant to dyslexia is funded out of 

the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate and the Education and 

Human Resources Directorate. That is why I have fought efforts in this Committee 

to slash funding for these important NSF Directorates, which fund valuable research that turns out to have broader, and often unanticipated, applications to other 

high-priority research—as we are seeing here today. Additionally, research funded 

by the Biological Sciences Directorate also contributes to foundational knowledge 

about the neuroscience behind dyslexia. 

The NSF’s Science of Learning Centers Program supports interdisciplinary centers that advance learning research. I look forward to hearing from Dr. Guinevere 

Eden about the Gallaudet University Center of which she is a part; that center focuses on visual information learning research. 

Additionally, I am interested in hearing from Dr. Peter Eden about the NSF-funded research that is being conducted at Landmark College. This research is investigating important questions, including how students with learning disabilities best 

learn STEM, and how online educational environments could be adapted for students with learning disabilities. This research has the potential to improve educational outcomes for students with learning disabilities, including dyslexia, and 

perhaps for all students. 

This hearing demonstrates how important it is to fund our research agencies at 

appropriate levels. We have learned so much about dyslexia, but have much more 

to learn. Without funding research into this area, including the foundational research that underlies the more applied work, we will not discover the biological 

basis for dyslexia. We will not create the next generation of treatments for dyslexia. 

And we will not determine the educational environments and techniques that are 

best for individuals with dyslexia. 

I want to thank the witnesses on both panels for being here today. I look forward 

to their testimony and the Q&A. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and I yield back the balance of my time. 

Chairman SMITH. I think it is safe to say that everyone in this 

room favors more money for research in regard to dyslexia. It is 

clearly in the national interest for us to do so. 

I would like to recognize our two witnesses, and both are Members of Congress, on our first panel, and our first witness is the 

Hon. Bill Cassidy, who represents Louisiana’s 6th Congressional 
11 

District. Prior to his election to Congress, Representative Cassidy 

served in the Louisiana State Senate. He also served as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Louisiana State University and 

taught doctors-in-training at the Earl Long Hospital in Baton 

Rouge. Representative Cassidy serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and is a Co-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional 

Dyslexia Caucus. Representative Cassidy received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Louisiana State University. 

Our next witness is a Science Committee Member herself, Representative Julie Brownley, who represents California’s 26th Congressional District. Representative Brownley began her career in 

public service as a school board member in California. She also 

served in the California State Legislature. Prior to her career in 

public service, Representative Brownley worked in marketing in 

private industry. In addition to her being a Member of the Science 

Committee, she also serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee and 

is a Co-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Dyslexia Caucus. 

Representative Brownley graduated from George Washington University and earned an MBA from American University. 

We welcome both of you, of course, for many reasons, and Dr. 

Cassidy, if you will begin? 

TESTIMONY OF THE HON. BILL CASSIDY, 

MEMBER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

Dr. CASSIDY. Thank you, Chairman Smith and Ranking Member 

Johnson, for inviting me to speak, for us to be here for this bipartisan meeting to bring attention to the science of dyslexia. 

As you said, Mr. Chairman, 20 percent of the U.S. population is 

dyslexic, dyslexia affects as many as 10 million children, boys, 

girls, all ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic regions of our country. 

It is an important issue to me as a parent and as a Congressman. A couple of years ago, my youngest daughter was diagnosed 

with dyslexia. I shouldn’t be upset because it is only a diagnosis. 

On the other hand, the struggles we had to do to have my daughter 

accommodated were something that I wouldn’t care for other parents. So again, I thank you. 

Now, prompted by concerns about my daughter and my constituents’ children, my wife and I set out to learn as much as we could 

about dyslexia, and we were amazed at how much is known and 

yet not incorporated into public policy. Once more, thank you for 

highlighting the science. 

Debra Stark is here, and you know, Debra has a child with Pete 

Stark with dyslexia, and my wife came to a conference that she 

sponsored here with the Shaywitzes, and Pete and are I are good 

husbands. We did exactly what our wives told us to do. We cofounded the Congressional Dyslexia Caucus. Pete has left Congress 

and so now Julia is also the Co-Chair, and I appreciate that. And 

the purpose of the caucus is to educate other Members of Congress 

and advance policies, to break down barriers faced by dyslexics. 

Now, I firmly believe by raising awareness of dyslexia we can 

change the way we educate our children and assist millions of children to get onto the pathway of success. Now, part of this is the 

resolution that the two of us introduced. It urges the House of Rep-
12 

resentatives to call upon schools along with state and local educational agencies to address the implications that dyslexia has on 

a student’s education, and we now have over 100 Members of Congress on this resolution. 

Now, dyslexia robs an individual of the ability to read quickly 

and automatically and to retrieve spoken words easily but it does 

not dampen their creativity and ingenuity. As you mentioned, some 

of the best and brightest among us are dyslexics. A few examples: 

Charles Schwab and the late Steve Jobs. 

Now, if dyslexia is identified in elementary school and appropriate resources are made available, America can have more teachers, scientists, entrepreneurs, Charles Schwabs and Steve Jobs. 

Now, science shows the reading pathway in the brain of those 

who are dyslexic is different. MRIs show a specific disruption of the 

reading system. Those affected need an evidence-based curriculum 

addressing this reading disruption. Now, unless accommodations 

are made, curriculums and trained teachers are applied that correspond to the science of dyslexia, children will languish in the 

classroom. A one-size-fits-all approach does not meet the needs of 

a dyslexic. 

Now, for those with money, there are excellent schools in areas 

of the country where your child will learn to read and have all the 

opportunities that reading allows. But if a family cannot afford a 

$10,000 to $50,000 annual tuition, the option is often a traditional 

public school in which dyslexics are mainstreamed, which is to say, 

they don’t have this particular curriculum, will not likely receive 

the remediation they need and have the future that the inability 

to read predicts. 

So I applaud schools and educators who have embraced science 

by providing students with the proper educational environment and 

curriculum that allows them to thrive personally and academically. 

There are schools in Louisiana, like the Louisiana Key Academy— 

we will hear from a parent whose child attends that school—in 

Baton Rouge and the Max Charter School in Thibodaux, Louisiana, 

that specialize in teaching dyslexic students. But these schools are 

too few and far between. We need more schools to embrace and replicate this model so that students can achieve their fullest potential. 

You mentioned there was a festive attitude. There is a festive attitude. If you are a parent or a child who has had this condition 

and no one ever seemed to acknowledge it, the science was hocus 

pocus, they didn’t accept it, even though the science is real, you are 

celebrating that this Committee is elevating the status of that 

science. So I believe that we can come together on behalf of the 

children we love and the Nation we serve and work in a bipartisan 

and bicameral capacity. Greater strides need to be made in ensuring that every dyslexic child and adult has a chance to read, to 

learn, to demonstrate and to realize his or her full potential. 

So thank you again for holding this hearing and giving the 

science behind dyslexia the attention it deserves. Hopefully, our 

work with the resolution, the caucus, and this hearing will have a 

positive impact upon society and everyone striving to learn with 

dyslexia. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Cassidy follows:] 
13 
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Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Dr. Cassidy, and Representative 

Brownley. 

TESTIMONY OF THE HON. JULIA BROWNLEY, 

MEMBER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

Ms. BROWNLEY. Thank you, and good morning to you all, and I 

too want to begin by thanking Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Johnson for your leadership, and for inviting me to testify this 

morning about dyslexia. I also want to thank the witnesses who 

have come here to discuss their research and experiences with dyslexia. 

When my daughter Hannah struggled to learn to read in third 

grade, then fourth grade and fifth grade, like any parent I was 

completely panicked about what to do next. It was really Hannah’s 

dyslexia, and my own learning to navigate the school system, 

where I frankly witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly that surely led me to public service, first, as you mentioned, as a school 

board member, then as a member of the California State Legislature, and now in Congress. 

This spring, Hannah received her master’s degree in international studies and is now overseas saving the world with a NGO 

in Kenya, Africa. She speaks three languages and, not surprisingly, 

she still misspells in each one of them. I could not be prouder of 

her. But for every success story like my daughter Hannah, there 

are countless others who do not succeed. 

Learning disabilities like dyslexia and attention-related disorders 

affect as many as one in five children in the United States. According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, nearly half of 

secondary students with learning disabilities like dyslexia perform 

more than three grade levels below their enrolled grade in essential 

academic skills—45 percent in reading, 44 percent in math. Twenty 

percent of students with a learning disability drop out of high 

school, compared to just eight percent of students in the general 

population. That is millions of American children who aren’t reaching their full potential. 

However, advancements in cognitive science are teaching us 

much more about how the brain develops and how children learn. 

My hope is that today’s hearing will inform lawmakers about how 

to better translate groundbreaking research to innovative education policy that will make a difference in the lives of millions of 

Americans with dyslexia. Our education system needs to do a better job training teachers to recognize and effectively educate students with dyslexia. We need to provide our schools with the resources to incorporate assistive technologies, such as audiobooks 

and speech-to-text interfaces, in the classroom, as well as support 

services to ensure every child has an equal opportunity to succeed. 

The Federal Government also needs to meet its obligations to our 

schools. For decades, Congress has failed to meet its 40 percent financial commitment for special education costs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, placing a heavier and heavier 

burden on states and local schools. Congress also needs to increase 

its investment in scientific research on dyslexia. 

I am sure many of my colleagues have heard from frustrated parents in their districts who are very concerned about their children 
16 

with dyslexia—will they be allowed to take advanced placement 

courses, or pursue a passion like music or science? Will they get 

reasonable accommodations on state tests and college entrance 

exams? What will happen when their children graduate from high 

school and make the transition to college? 

One of our Committee’s most important missions is creating a 

21st century workforce of engineers, scientists, and STEM professionals. To accomplish that goal, we need to make sure every student has the support they need from their educators, parents, their 

communities to succeed. Students with dyslexia are smart and capable and perhaps uniquely qualified because of their out-of-thebox way of attacking problems and processing information, but misconceptions about dyslexia too often result in a focus on a disability 

rather than an ability. Today’s panelists will demonstrate that this 

community of young people have extraordinary strengths, and that 

ignoring dyslexics costs us all. 

If you think that more should be done to address dyslexia, as my 

Dyslexia Caucus Co-Chair has already mentioned, please cosponsor 

our Dyslexia Caucus bipartisan resolution, H.R. 456. We already 

have 107 cosponsors, and we would welcome your support. 

And with that, I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back the 

balance of my time. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Brownley follows:] 
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Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Representative Brownley, and I 

hope every Member of the Science Committee will cosponsor that 

resolution and we will urge them to do so. 

Thank you both for your testimony. We will have some questions 

that will be submitted perhaps by Members that will be in writing 

and perhaps you can get back to us when they submit those questions. 

We will now move to our next panel. Of course, Ms. Brownley is 

a Member of this Committee, and Dr. Cassidy, if you would like to 

join us up here, you are welcome to do that as well, and again, 

thank you both. 

Let me introduce our second panel of witnesses, and our first 

witness is Dr. Sally Shaywitz, an Audrey G. Ratner Professor in 

Learning Development at the Yale University School of Medicine 

and Co-Director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. Dr. 

Shaywitz has authored more than 200 scientific articles and books, 

and together with her husband, Dr. Bennett Shaywitz, she is the 

originator of the Sea of Strength’s model of dyslexia. Dr. Shaywitz 

is also an elected Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. She received her bachelor’s degree 

from the City University and her M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. 

Our second witness is Max Brooks, a New York Times bestselling 

author and actor and a screenwriter. He is known for his popular 

books, the Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z as well as for 

his roles in television shows such as Rosanne, Pacific Blue and Seventh Heaven. He also worked as a member of the writing team of 

Saturday Night Live. Mr. Brooks received his bachelor’s degree 

from American University. 

Our next witness is Stacy Antie, a parent advocate for educational interventions for dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities within our schools. Ms. Antie is the mother of a 9- 

year-old boy who was diagnosed with dyslexia and who currently 

attends Louisiana Key Academy. She has been spreading her son’s 

story for the past year to help other families in similar situations. 

She is a lifelong Louisiana native. 

Our next witness is Dr. Peter Eden, the President of Landmark 

College. Previously, Dr. Eden served as the Dean of Arts and 

Sciences and Professor of Biotechnology at Endicott College, Associate Professor and Chair of the Science Department at Marywood 

University and Research Fellow at the Jackson Laboratory. He has 

also worked as a molecular biologist and Research Project Director 

at Biomeasure Inc. Dr. Eden has published more than 20 scientific 

articles and has received funding for his research from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. 

Dr. Eden received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts and his Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire. 

Our final witness, Dr. Guinevere Eden, is an Associate Professor 

in the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Psychology 

at Georgetown University and an Adjunct in the Department of Pediatrics at George Washington University. She also serves as an 

advisor of Great Schools Inc. and directs the Center for the Study 

of Learning. Dr. Eden previously served as President of the Board 

of the International Dyslexia Association where she now serves as 
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the Director, and on the editorial boards of the scientific journals 

Annals of Dyslexia and Human Brain Mapping. Dr. Eden received 

her bachelor’s degree from University College London and her 

Ph.D. from Oxford University. 

We welcome you all, and Dr. Shaywitz, if you will lead us off? 

TESTIMONY OF DR. SALLY SHAYWITZ, 

AUDREY G. RATNER PROFESSOR IN 

LEARNING DEVELOPMENT, 

YALE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND CO-DIRECTOR, 

YALE CENTER FOR DYSLEXIA AND CREATIVITY, 

YALE UNIVERSITY 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. Good morning, Chairman Smith, Ranking Member 

Johnson and other Committee Members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you about the science of dyslexia and share 

with you the tremendous scientific progress that has been made in 

dyslexia. 

In dyslexia, there is an abundance of high-quality scientific 

knowledges so that we do not have a knowledge gap but an action 

gap. It is our hope hearing the depth and breadth of the scientific 

knowledge of dyslexia will alert policymakers to act and to act with 

a sense of urgency. 

Resolution 456 submitted by Representative Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Representative Brownley provides an up-to-date universal definition of dyslexia, incorporating scientific advances and 

understanding of dyslexia, especially its unexpected nature, and 

represents a landmark in aligning science and education. 

Dyslexia represents 80 to 90 percent of all learning disabilities 

and differs markedly from all others in that dyslexia is very specific and scientifically validated. We know its prevalence, cognitive 

and neurobiologic origins, symptoms and effective interventions. 

Learning disabilities is a general term, referring to a range of difficulties, most of which have not yet been delineated or scientifically validated. 

Data from sample surveys indicate dyslexia is very common, affecting, as you have heard, one out of five. Yes, you heard correctly. 

It is not the prevalence often quoted by schools. Why? The why is 

the reason we are here today. Schools far too often fail to acknowledge, much less identify, students who are dyslexic. Initial descriptions of dyslexia as an unexpected difficulty in reading are empirically validated as demonstrated in this slide. Slide, please. 

In typical readers, IQ and reading track together over time. As 

you can see on the left, in typical readers’ IQ and reading go together. In contrast, in dyslexic readers, reading and intelligence 

are not linked so a child can have a very high IQ, and unexpectedly 

read at a much lower level. Dyslexia reflects a difficulty within the 

language system, more specifically, the phonologic component of 

language. It is not seeing words backwards. 

Dyslexia is a paradox. The same slow reader is often a very fast 

and able thinker, giving rise to our conceptual model of dyslexia as 

a weakness in getting to the sounds of spoken words surrounded 

by a sea of strengths in higher-level thinking processes such as reasoning and problem-solving. Reflecting this paradox are many emi-
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nent dyslexics, as you have heard, Charles Schwab, David Boies 

and Dr. Toby Cosgrove, who is CEO of the Cleveland Clinic and a 

cardiac surgeon. 

On the other side of the coin, though, are many who are not 

identified and do not receive evidence-based instruction, struggle to 

read and come to see themselves as a failure. Converging evidence 

from our own and other laboratories has identified a neural signature for dyslexia. Slide, please. 

[Slide.] 

That is an inefficient functioning of those posterior left hemisphere language and reading systems. 

Recent data—slide—from our laboratory indicate that the gap between typical and dyslexic readers is already present by first grade, 

and persists, a very clear message: we have to get to these children 

very early and not wait. 

Yes, dyslexic children can learn to read and must be taught to 

read. It is imperative that teachers and parents learn about the 

powerful science of dyslexia, know how to identify dyslexia early 

on, and provide evidence-based methods to teach dyslexic children 

to read. We must not give up on teaching reading and limit a 

child’s future options. Education must and can be aligned with 

science. 

We must ensure that scientific knowledge is translated into policy and practice and that ignorance and injustice do not prevail. We 

know better and we must act better. 

I cannot look into the face of one more child who has lost faith 

in himself and the world. I cannot look into the face of a child’s father who is desperately trying to hold back tears. I cannot hear 

once again about how a school told a mother, we do not believe in 

dyslexia. 

As shown in this next slide, an iceberg is 90 percent underwater 

with only ten percent visible. Similarly, in dyslexia, we hear about 

the ten percent like Max Brooks who have made it. Let us not give 

up on the invisible 90 percent still underwater asking, indeed begging, to be helped. 

I am optimistic, though. Once this Committee is aware of the 

strong science of dyslexia, educators will want to align their practices and policies with 21st century science. It is good for the children, for their families and for our Nation. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Shaywitz follows:] 
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Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Dr. Shaywitz, and Mr. Brooks. 

TESTIMONY OF MR. MAX BROOKS, 

AUTHOR AND SCREENWRITER 

Mr. BROOKS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I was asked here to talk about what it was like being dyslexic. 

I will say that for me, first of all, let me just say that I didn’t prepare a statement because the last time I tried to read aloud from 

a prepared statement, my whole fifth-grade class laughed at me. 

Thank you. 

So I am just going to be brief and speak from the heart. Dr. 

Shaywitz asked me to come here to talk about what it was like, 

and I will define it in one phrase that my teacher used to say to 

me in elementary school, which is ‘‘You can do it. You just don’t 

want to do it.’’ 

Now, I grew up on the west side of L.A. in a very expensive private school. I had the best that the system could give me, and it 

wasn’t enough, and I think the most important thing to discuss 

here is the psychological and emotional damage dyslexia causes. 

More than the learning disability is the blow to your self-esteem 

because once you are in that hole, it can take you the rest of your 

life to climb out. There is nothing more frustrating for a child to 

work twice as hard as the other kids but to do half as well. Eventually kids start to buy into the narrative, as I said, ‘‘Well, maybe 

I am just dumb. I am clearly not lazy. I am not undisciplined.’’ And 

when my teacher would say well, I am just going to whip you into 

shape, I would think well, yeah, that is exactly what I need is a 

whipping. 

I was very lucky because I had one of the best moms ever, and 

I don’t know how she knew about dyslexia in the late 1970s, early 

1980s. She took that secret to her grave but somehow she knew 

about it. She made sure that I was diagnosed, tested and then she 

met with all my teachers and made them understand that me 

being the class clown and the troublemaker was my way of compensating for these horrible feelings of low self-worth. So she set 

in place therapies that helped me like taking an untimed test. An 

untimed test reduces the amount of anxiety that it gives a kid, because that is the problem with dyslexic kids. So much of it isn’t the 

learning disability, it is the anxiety that it causes, which shuts 

down everything. So untimed test was important. Audiobooks— 

back in the day there were not many audiobooks so my mother 

took my whole school reading list every year to the Braille Institute 

for the Blind, had them read onto audiobooks so that way I listened 

to my school curriculum. Otherwise I wouldn’t have passed. 

Most importantly, she made sure that my teachers knew that I 

was trying and I was doing my best, and this was not some sort 

of voluntary screwing around. That helped me get through. And as 

a result, not only have I had success as an author, dyslexia has 

shown me to be a gift because I can’t simply memorize facts and 

regurgitate them. I have to understand them. Because I have to 

understand them and understand the broader context in which 

they exist, it has made me a big-picture outside-the-box thinker, 

and that manner of thinker has gotten me invited to speak at 

places like the Naval War College and West Point, hurricane re-
37 

hearsal of concept drills, the U.S. Army’s Vibrant Response, and a 

few strategic studies groups that I don’t think I am allowed to talk 

about here. 

It is a gift, and we can turn so many of these kids around because that is the problem is that they start to believe well, if the 

system has no value with me, I have no value for the system, I am 

going to drop out, and they fill our streets and they fill our jails 

and they suck off the system for the rest of their lives because they 

don’t feel they can contribute, and all we need to do is identify it 

and recognize it at the early level and we can turn these kids 

around, as we have all discussed. These are the creative thinkers. 

These are the engines of what we used to call Yankee ingenuity. 

How many Einsteins do we have sitting in our schools right now 

staring out the window because they think they have nothing to 

contribute? That is all it takes. 

And look, I understand as a Member of Congress you have people 

coming to you every day saying listen, we have a problem and it 

will cost you $500 million a day. This can be solved, and it is one 

of the few problems you face as a Member of Congress that can be 

solved easily and relatively quickly. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Brooks follows:] 
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Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Brooks. Ms. Antie. 

TESTIMONY OF MS. STACY ANTIE, 

PARENT AND ADVOCATE 

Ms. ANTIE. My story is simple. I am not a medical doctor or a 

Ph.D. I am just a mom that is here to try to explain the daily challenges that my 9-year-old child faces, who struggles with dyslexia, 

with the hope of bringing awareness for every child that has it, 

whether they are diagnosed or undiagnosed. 

Dyslexia often prohibits my son from having the ability to match 

sounds with the alphabet. This impacts his reading, his spelling 

and his speaking. It is not a sign of poor intelligence or laziness. 

In fact, my son is exceptionally bright and very intuitive. He is creative. He is very tenderhearted and loving. 

In kindergarten, I noticed that something was a little bit different with my son. He had a harder time with things than other 

children. He was not able to rhyme or even understand the concept 

of rhyming. This continued throughout kindergarten. I brought him 

to a reading clinic over the summer between kindergarten and first 

grade. All the teachers told me the same thing: he is a boy, he will 

get it, boys tend to get it a slower but he will have it by Christmas. 

Christmas came, Christmas went; he still didn’t understand the 

concepts. 

He started first grade, and first grade is where our real troubles 

started. He became very anxious about going to school. He didn’t 

want to read out loud in front of all the other children. He became 

very frustrated. The 20 minutes of homework that he would have 

had would turn into two to three hours every night. He would have 

to read where it would normally take a few seconds, would take 

him five to six minutes because he had to sound out every letter 

of every word and then try to blend it together, which he couldn’t 

hear the sounds to blend them. From there, it turned into tears for 

both he and I because we sat there for hours working on his homework until he went to bed. 

In mid-October of his first-grade year, his teacher said, ‘‘I am 

seeing some red flags, you might want to have him tested for dyslexia,’’ which I did. I struggled with my insurance company to have 

him tested, and they told me that he couldn’t be tested until June, 

which was eight months away. The longer that I waited for him to 

be tested, the further behind he was going to get, so I decided to 

pay out of pocket and have him tested, and he was given the diagnosis in December of 2011 that he was dyslexic and he had developmental coordination disorder. 

He started speech therapy and occupational therapy a few times 

a week. He also got tutoring. He had already failed first grade, because if you fail reading for the first grade, you fail the entire year, 

so we knew he had failed by the third semester of first grade. He 

would come home every day and ask me, Mom, why am I so stupid 

and no one else is? And as a parent, how do you look into your 7- 

year-old child’s eyes and reassure him that he isn’t stupid, he just 

thinks a little bit differently than other people. He would never 

read out loud, and his self-esteem plummeted. He became very 

introverted and he never wanted to do anything outside of the 

house. 
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The next school year in 2012, he started first grade again. He 

had a B average, because he had already had all the material previously. He still struggled a little bit in reading, and he went to a 

reading interventionist every single day for 30 minutes a day in addition to all the therapy we were having. At the end of the school, 

there wasn’t a huge improvement in his reading abilities, and I 

thought, why am I paying all these thousands of dollars in tuition 

when the school really can’t help my child. It doesn’t have the resources to help him. They tried to compensate for his needs but 

they weren’t able to correct anything. He didn’t fit into the ‘‘normal’’ mold that all the other children did, and at that time they— 

I am sorry—they didn’t want to change their mold for one child. 

I found out about a new charter school at the end of that year, 

Louisiana Key Academy. I applied for him, and he was immediately accepted since he already had the diagnosis of dyslexia, and 

for the first time he was excited about going to school because he 

was along with other children who felt the exact same way he did. 

He was able to understand that they have trouble reading just like 

we did. His self-esteem picked up a little bit each day. He felt like 

he belonged. He went from a classroom size of 32 to a classroom 

size of 16. The classroom size broke to six at reading, which is instrumental in him learning because he was able to get individual 

attention along with learning from a small group. 

Louisiana Key uses a systematic evidence based curriculum 

called Neuhaus, and this teaches them how letters work to form 

words, and he started to hold his little head a little bit higher and 

stopped referring to himself as stupid. 

The pivotal point in this journey with me happened in January 

of this year. I was helping my son, his brother, who is 7, and Coleman, who is dyslexic, came up to me and he said, ‘‘Thomas, you 

know what to do. It is a CVC word. That means you slice the E 

and you make the A a macron,’’ and I was looking like he was 

speaking Chinese to me because I understood nothing about it, and 

he said, ‘‘Mom, let me break that down for you. You just make it 

long,’’ and I said okay, so I pointed to another word and he immediately showed me how to do that one, and I told him how proud 

I was of him and he said, ‘‘I understand how to decode words now. 

It just makes sense.’’ 

At the end of last school year they had to do a project where they 

had to read a presentation. They had to become a famous American. He chose Steve Jobs because my son is great at videogames 

and Steve Jobs makes the absolute best thing in the world for my 

son to play videogames on, but as we learned, he was dyslexic also. 

We used that as a tool to help all the children learn that if they 

work through this and they work together and they work hard and 

they stay determined, they can do anything. And as he went for his 

presentation, I held my breath, and he stood before his class and 

he read in front of me and all the parents and all the children, and 

he has never done that ever. 

So I thank you for this opportunity just to explain all the challenges that these children really do go through, and as a family, 

everybody is affected, not just the child. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Antie follows:] 
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Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Ms. Antie. Dr. Eden. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. PETER EDEN, 

PRESIDENT, LANDMARK COLLEGE 

Dr. PETER EDEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Students with dyslexia are certainly disadvantaged. I want to 

focus on students at the college-university level. 

Hundreds of thousands of students with dyslexia are in colleges 

and universities right now, and there are many, many more with 

other learning disabilities and learning difficulties such as ADD or 

autism spectrum disorder. Most students with dyslexia cluster in 

two-year colleges, and while the majority received accommodations 

in high school, very, very few receive accommodations in college. 

When they do, it is typically extended time for a test. 

One rarely finds comprehensive support models and programs in 

higher education, let alone a dedicated program like Landmark 

College, which focuses only on students with LD such as dyslexia. 

This is only going to get more challenging when one considers the 

reality of online teaching and learning, which is here to stay. The 

standard modalities we use in education today, in online education, 

will only exacerbate these challenges for students with LD such as 

dyslexia. We need more adaptive learning elements. We need more 

quality assurance when teaching and learning in an online milieu. 

In terms of some innovative educational practices and efforts, the 

principle of universal design, UD, or UDL, gives us great promise 

and hope, and UD is a principle where one engineers the learning 

environment to anticipate the neurodiversity in the classroom, to 

anticipate the heterogeneity of learners, of students and learning 

profiles. UD ensures that there are multiple means of presentation, 

student responses and engagement, and UD can be applied in conventional or in online settings. 

Another innovative educational practice involves mobile technologies. Already today, I have heard people mention that students 

are using iPads and they certainly have smartphones. Greater than 

90 percent of college students own a smartphone. A great number 

own an iPad, and when do own an iPad, greater than 90 percent 

of these college students use the iPad for learning. 

We need to meet these college students where they exist, which 

is online and using a mobile device and develop assistive integrated 

technologies so we have a more ubiquitous ecosystem for them, to 

specialized rooms. We can remove the stigma. We need to focus on 

elements which use native software in our smartphones and iPads 

for teaching and learning and it will always be available to our students. 

Also, cognitive training is another innovative educational practice where we explore, for example, patterns of learning through 

markers, cognitive, physiological and other markers, via videogame 

activities. This is one way to leverage the fact that thousands, millions of learners play videogames. We can assess big data, get our 

hands on exhaust data, learn how they learn within a videogame 

and seek adaptive and customizable learning activities. 

In terms of Landmark College, we offer 2- and four-year degree 

programs including those in STEM. We serve only students with 

some learning disability or learning difficulty. This is a dedicated 
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model. We have 500 students. Every student has some learning 

challenge. We use UD principles and integrated technologies. We 

provide careful placement and curriculum tracks for students with 

dyslexia. We have a hidden curriculum of support with our resources. Our retention rates are high. The ultimate B.A./B.S. graduation rate for Landmark College students is 70 percent, which is 

higher than the national average for all students, let alone students with LD. We juxtapose research and innovation with teaching and learning. 

Now, at Landmark College we have the Landmark College Institute for Research and Training, LCIRT. LCIRT has received recent 

funding through LDFA for iPad app development between students 

and faculty, and also two recent NSF awards. I will try to summarize those now. One, NSF REAL, Research in Education and Learning. This is where we will investigate the efficacy of instructor 

presence in synchronous elements for online learning in STEM content for students with LD including dyslexia whether or not instructor presence and response immediacy pays off with student 

outcomes. Also, another grant recently received by the college is 

NSF data-intensive research to improve STEM teaching and learning, collaboration with MIT and TERC, and this is Revealing the 

Invisible grant funding. We are using the game vehicle to study engagement, eye tracking of students playing videogames, attention, 

memory, and implicit understanding of Newtonian physics in this 

effort. Again, we could capture huge amounts of data given the 

number of students involved in gaming in understanding how they 

learn in that environment. It also provides for educational data 

mining and an understanding of machine learning. 

In summary, LD such as dyslexia provides a true barrier to 

learning, education and employment. There is a huge untapped 

population of potential workers, for example, in the STEM field. Innovative educational practices that are scalable that we can disseminate are needed, particularly with the online education realities. We use technology to discover better teaching and learning 

platforms and to understand neurodiverse students and to provide 

ubiquitous tools for success in college and in careers. Research and 

support is increasingly focused in this area. We are grateful, but 

much, much more is needed, and remember: advances in this area 

for students with dyslexia and LD, they will provide improvements 

that are good for all learners, for every learner, and that is why 

this is so important. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Eden follows:] 
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Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Dr. Eden. We will go to the next 

Dr. Eden, though no relation. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. GUINEVERE EDEN, 

DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF LEARNING (CSL) 

AND PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF PEDIATRICS, 

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER 

Dr. GUINEVERE EDEN. Thank you, Chairman Smith, for holding 

this hearing and for the invitation to speak to you today about the 

brain-based scientific understanding of dyslexia. 

Magnetic resonance imaging, as you have already heard, has provided a way by which researchers can study the brain and anatomy 

and function noninvasively, thereby permitting the study of children. Since my colleagues and I first implemented functional magnetic resonance imaging to study dyslexia in 1996, the understanding of dyslexia has advanced significantly. 

Reading stands out in cognitive neuroscience. It is a uniquely 

human skill and cannot be ecologically simulated in animal models. 

At Georgetown University, we use functional MRI to study the 

reading brain in action, the developmental trajectory of reading, 

the difference in people with dyslexia. We have examined skills 

other than reading noted to be affected in people with dyslexia to 

evaluate which underlying brain differences are causal to the reading problems and which are not. We have begun to investigate 

males and females separately since our findings in girls and 

women suggest that the brain mechanisms for dyslexia may in part 

be sex-specific. We have examined the impact of intensive reading 

intervention and learned that adults with dyslexia not only make 

gains in reading but exhibit plasticity as demonstrated by increased brain activity. Intervention also results in growth in brain 

tissue. As such, reading gains in dyslexia are brought about by 

complex physiological and anatomical changes. 

The main challenge for our research is determining the etiology 

of these brain-based findings, and researchers across the country 

are tackling this very question. Molecular mechanisms have been 

probed by examining MRI scans in children with dyslexia for the 

chemicals that support communication amongst brain cells. Also, 

studies have been conducted in people who are carriers of dyslexiaassociated genes to better understand the gene-brain relationship. 

Here, animal models have been very useful. Mice specifically bred 

to carry dyslexia-associated genes are studied to determine how 

these genes operate at the cellular level, thereby filling the void 

where human research is limited. Together these NIH-supported 

studies have improved our understanding and raised awareness for 

the complexity of dyslexia. 

How can these findings be translated? We now know that learning to read, as my first-grade daughter is doing at this very moment, eventually leads to substantial changes in brain anatomy 

and brain function. Will brain imaging allow us to identify dyslexia 

in pre-readers or forecast who might benefit from intervention, and 

of what kind? Neuroscientists are working on these possibilities, 

and imaging data are proving indicative of future reading outcome 

in dyslexia. 
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Factors constraining these efforts are mostly technical in nature 

and could be surmounted by technological advances such as those 

envisioned in the President’s BRAIN Initiative, potentially allowing 

for observations at the individual as opposed to the group level, 

and in younger children. 

A continuing barrier in the field is the distance between academic research and educational practices. Researchers publish in 

specialty journals, which are often inaccessible to those who operate as educators in the field. Teachers may therefore not be implementing the approaches that have been proven to be successful by 

rigorous research studies. Conversely, researchers are at risk of 

pursuing theories that are not relevant to real classroom settings. 

Some agencies have addressed this problem. The National 

Science Foundation Science of Learning Centers, for example, like 

the one here at Gallaudet University allow for an environment to 

integrate knowledge across multiple disciplines and connect research with educational challenges. These conduits need to be increased if we are to move—have more than a dialog spanning the 

gamut from neuroscience to classroom activities. More training opportunities that expand the knowledge base in each field with respect to the other and funding opportunities that promote collaboration are needed. 

In the meantime, others are stepping up to fill the gap. For example, the International Dyslexia Association, the IDA, has provided guidelines for the training of teachers of students with dyslexia based on current research. Further, the IDA is providing accreditation to those universities engaged in teacher training that 

abide by these high standards, allowing for those teachers to have 

the necessary skills to identify and teach children with dyslexia effectively. This is in addition to the longstanding efforts by the IDA 

to bring researchers, practitioners and parents together to provide 

and share information and resources, and in ways that are relevant 

and accessible to each stakeholder. The IDA and other nonprofit organizations raise awareness and distribute knowledge. This can 

also protect parents and educators from seemingly promising commercial programs for dyslexia that in reality provide little or no 

benefit. 

Overall, the science of dyslexia has made significant advances. 

Challenges have arisen, which can be met by Federal support for 

science and education intertwined, allowing changes in academic 

and educational institutions that will facilitate jointly tackling the 

collective complexity of dyslexia and harness the knowledge of 

teachers and science of learning to the benefit of people with dyslexia. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Eden follows:] 
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Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Dr. Eden, and I will recognize myself for questions, and each Member is limited to five minutes, so 

I am going to ask brief questions, and Dr. Shaywitz, let me address 

the first one to you. 

You noted, and we are aware, that various progress has been 

made in our understanding of dyslexia, but what would be some 

next steps that we need to take to better that understanding? 

Could you put your microphone on there? 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. There are a number of next steps, but my emphasis is that we know so much, and I worry that people will say well, 

wait until we find out more and more. Children have one life to 

live. We have to make sure that we address their needs now; we 

have more than enough knowledge to make changes. We have 

heard from Max Brooks and Stacy Antie about what dyslexia does 

to a child and to a family, and how can we let that continue to go 

on when we have the knowledge to make a difference? 

Chairman SMITH. So use the knowledge we have better than we 

do? 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. Use it, implement it, have teachers and parents 

who are aware of the signs of dyslexia and what are evidence-based 

programs that will help the children. They can’t hold their breaths 

waiting—we always need more knowledge but dyslexia is in the 

unique position, we have so much knowledge. A parent goes to a 

school and says, ‘‘we don’t believe in dyslexia.’’ That is unacceptable. 

Chairman SMITH. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Shaywitz. 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. You are welcome. 

Chairman SMITH. Mr. Brooks, you ought to be a talk-show host 

as long as you didn’t mention Congress. Don’t answer that. 

The question is this. How has dyslexia helped you in your career? 

Mr. BROOKS. Well, I think it has helped me mentally and emotionally. I think, as I said before, it helped me mentally because 

I couldn’t simply regurgitate facts. I had to make sure that I understood the facts, and the best way to understand facts is to understand the bigger picture, and I think it is that big-picture thinking that has helped me. 

But also emotionally, it has made me resilient. You know, I think 

as we all know, one of the biggest challenges to any human being 

is to get out of your comfort zone. Well, anybody with dyslexia 

knows you don’t have a comfort zone. You are always struggling, 

so it makes you comfortable with struggling. So in that way, it has 

made me very comfortable with new challenges. 

Chairman SMITH. Okay. Good. Thank you, Mr. Brooks. 

Ms. Antie, what should we do in our public schools to help 

dyslexic kids? 

Ms. ANTIE. The way that my son has been taught through the 

systemic evidence-based curriculum has made the difference in the 

world to him. It has taught him actually how to decode words, and 

I think that is beneficial to everybody, because as he taught me, 

I was able as adult even to say that really does make sense. So I 

think every child can benefit from having that, and smaller 

schools—smaller classroom sizes. I know that is not always the 

best way because, you know, we have so many children in school 

but 32 down to 16 makes a tremendous difference in the classroom. 
83 

Chairman SMITH. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Antie. 

Dr. Eden, I really don’t have a question for you because you answered my question. Thank you for your suggestions as to what we 

should do on the college level to help dyslexic students. I appreciate 

that very much. 

Dr. Eden, what should we do to help make reading a priority 

when we are dealing with dyslexia? 

Dr. GUINEVERE EDEN. Well, I think we need to recognize the importance of learning and to recognize that the gateway to learning 

is learning to read, and so in the absence of reading, it is not just 

learning to read directly but it is what you learn once you are able 

to read that is so important. It has to be a priority. It seems so 

obvious. We are spending so much time, we understand so much 

about the science of learning, we understand so much about dyslexia, we understand how you can teach students with dyslexia, but 

for some reason we are just not able to get the information out 

there and bring it to the teachers who are performing this very important task of teaching our children how to learn to read. 

Chairman SMITH. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Eden. 

That concludes my questions, and the gentlewoman from Texas, 

Ms. Johnson, is recognized for hers. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. 

Dr. Peter Eden, in your testimony you mentioned how Landmark 

College recently received two NSF grants to address the learning 

needs of students with learning disabilities like dyslexia. It has 

been a while since we have had the opportunity to hear about the 

educational research that NSF is funding, and I am excited that we 

have the opportunity today. Would you please elaborate on those 

research grants that Landmark College has received and how that 

research has led to any type of results for the individuals? 

Dr. PETER EDEN. Absolutely. These particular grant proposals 

were awarded just within the past few weeks, so we don’t have the 

data yet. However, it is very, very exciting to embark on. Both are 

at least three years in duration. The first NSF award, the REAL, 

Research in Education and Learning, it focuses on—in an online 

learning environment with the topic of statistics in the STEM field. 

Students with LD including dyslexia, will they benefit from instructor presence in a synchronous, not an asynchronous fashion— 

synchronous means in real time right there—and whether or not 

that makes a measureable difference in their understanding of the 

content and the outcomes in this class if in the online environment 

there is an instructor present to help them as they move through 

the course, and this will be invaluable because you see the proliferation of online courses for all learners in understanding the efficacy of online STEM courses, whether or not we have a synchronous element with response immediacy and an instructor right 

there to help them with the content or not, and that will be determined through this grant proposal. 

The other is the proposal in collaboration with MIT and TERC, 

and this is the effort to leverage the fact that we have so many college students, and younger, of course, gaming, playing videogames, 

and hopefully understanding something about their memory and 

their attention and even using eye tracking as they understand in 

this case Newtonian physics built into this science videogame, and 
84 

when I say big data and exhaust data, that means we could possibly if we have enough remote webcam technology in the future 

see what thousands, hundreds of thousands perhaps students experiencing these videogames, playing these games, how they learn, 

how they understand the principles within the videogame and harnessing that big data. So this platform of gaming provides a tremendous window into how students may learn, and we are trying 

to understand that better through that NSF grant proposal. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. 

And this question probably will be my final one because of time. 

To any of the panel members, we have done some research but it 

seems to me, and of course the type that you are doing, I think is 

going to be extremely good to have the outcomes, are we getting 

the benefit of it with people who are working directly and how can 

we better enhance that? I ask that question because many of you 

have mentioned going through a struggle to find some answers. 

Then I hear that many of the answers sometimes can be found 

through technology rather than making a student read. I just want 

to get some feedback of what you think needs to be done to better 

get that information out. 

Mr. BROOKS. I can tell you one thing that we can do right now, 

which is make mandatory dyslexia recognition training part of any 

teacher’s certificate because, look, we make our policemen take 

mandatory racial sensitivity training. Why not make our teachers 

take mandatory dyslexic recognition training so maybe they can 

recognize that the class clown or the troublemaker or the kid who 

stares out the window is actually compensating for dyslexia. We 

have all these new solutions and all these solutions that keep coming but none of that is going to help if we don’t get the kids to the 

solutions in the first place, so that is the first step. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you. My time is expired, but anybody else 

can comment. 

Chairman SMITH. Normally we don’t encourage audience participation, but today it is appreciated. 

The gentleman from Indiana, Dr. Bucshon, is recognized. 

Mr. BUCSHON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

My daughter does not have dyslexia but she did have a learning 

disability. We started to notice really in kindergarten that she was 

not able to read as well as her older brothers, and in first grade 

she started to get behind, way behind with a different type of 

learning disability. And to your point, Mr. Brooks, this became a 

social problem for my daughter, and she came to her parents wondering if she was dumb. So this is a big deal, and my point is this: 

Parents have to advocate early. The system does want to help but 

I always think all the time if she didn’t have parents there advocating right then—we got her tested. We found out what her problem was. She got specific direction. Again, she does not have dyslexia but she had a short-term memory thing. It is like tell her 

seven items in a row. Most kids her age could regurgitate five or 

six. She could only remember two. I don’t know what that is called 

but basically that was her problem, and she has come around. That 

is ten years ago now. She is a straight A student in high school. 

So thank you for your testimony about the social aspects of this 

type of problem. It is real. She had—and it took her really years 
85 

to recover the self-esteem but now she has, so that is very important. 

My question I think has already been answered but I will ask 

Dr. Shaywitz. The National Center for Learning Disabilities believes that all parents and professionals who work with young children should be informed the early signs of dyslexia. I guess maybe 

you can focus on what families and doctors can identify and should 

be aware of that early signs that maybe more people would recognize that they need to actually get their child or maybe their patient or their student further evaluation rather than just saying 

well, they will improve, which is what we were kind of told—well, 

it is early, she is only 6, you know, and we are like, no, no, no. All 

the other 6-year-olds are reading at a much higher level and her 

brothers did and we know it. So what should we be aware of, the 

early warning signs? What can we do? 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. That is a good question, and I am so glad you 

asked it. Children can and must be identified, and the parents are 

the ones who know the child best. Sometimes schools don’t listen 

to them but parents do know the child best. Dyslexia is a languagebased disability. So you can start right away. There may be a delay 

in talking. As children grow up and go into toddlerhood, and I 

think Ms. Antie mentioned this, one of the first things—dyslexia 

results in difficulty getting to the individual sounds of spoken 

words, so children have to be able to separate out the individual 

sounds into each individual sound that represents the letter. One 

of the first times the child has to do that is when they have to 

rhyme because how do you know cat-mat rhyme. You pull it apart 

and you look at the ‘‘A.’’ So children who have difficulties rhyming, 

who have difficulty learning the sounds and the letters, that is usually—so that is something that parents can watch for but also pediatricians. 

I am a pediatrician, and I must say, pediatricians need to know 

more. They are really the people who are often the ones that follow 

the child, know the child, but they don’t know enough about dyslexia, and we at the Yale Center are taking actions to educate pediatricians, to involve them more, and we have now actually developed some instruments that can be used for screening at kindergarten and at first grade. 

So I have just begun what are the symptoms. I have them in my 

book, Overcoming Dyslexia, but they should be made part of teacher training. Every teacher shouldn’t deny when a parent is concerned but should actually know what dyslexia is, as Max said, 

knowing what it is about and be able to identify that child and 

have the support at the school to be able to do that, and that 

doesn’t occur. 

I just want to add also that very often—and we have been talking about Charles Schwab and others—dyslexia is an unexpected 

difficulty, as I showed on the slides. You can have a high IQ and 

read much below that, and very often, schools, if you are bright, 

they say oh, well, you know, as Max was told, you are not trying 

hard enough or you have to work harder. So children and young 

adults who have high levels of intelligence—and you can test for 

it and it must be tested for—shouldn’t be overlooked as well. 

Mr. BUCSHON. Thank you. 
86 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. Thank you for that question. 

Mr. BUCSHON. You are welcome. And I just want to say again, 

it is not, in my opinion—I have got four kids. Anyone who has children knows, we could tell when she was younger, and we were advocates because we had experience. I would implore everyone to, as 

a parent, to be an advocate, and the last thing, and then I will 

yield back, Mr. Chairman, is that anyone who has kids also knows 

that when you are in kindergarten or first grade, the social status 

starts to develop of where you fit amongst your peers. It is very, 

very early, it is much earlier than that even. It is in pre—so to 

wait can do a lot of damage. 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. I just want to—— 

Mr. BUCSHON. I yield—— 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. —add that data hot off the presses shows that the 

gap is there by first grade, and it is just not acceptable to wait and 

watch. That is waiting for failure. To reinforce what you said, children know who is in the sparrows reading group and who is in the 

eagles reading group. 

Mr. BUCSHON. They do. 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. And you can’t fool them. 

Mr. BUCSHON. You can’t. 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. Early identification should be mandatory. Teachers have to look for the signs. Children need to be evaluated and 

they can be and then receive the evidence-based instruction that 

they require. You can turn an unhappy child into a happier one but 

if you do it early, you don’t have to go through that unhappiness. 

Mr. BUCSHON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. 

Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Bucshon. The gentlewoman 

from Oregon, Ms. Bonamici, is recognized for questions. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank 

you so much to all of our witnesses for being here today. It has 

been a very informative hearing. I appreciate it. 

First I want to start by telling Ms. Antie, I had to go to a meeting during your testimony but I have read your testimony, and you 

said you were just a mom. That is a very important job, so thank 

you so much for bringing your story. 

I serve not only on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee but I also serve on the Education and Workforce Committee. 

I don’t take off my education hat when I come here. I also don’t 

take off my science hat when I go there. So I am looking at this 

from both perspectives, and I just want to say, Mr. Brooks, I have 

many times questioned whether our national overemphasis on 

standardized tests is inhibiting creativity, and you certainly answered that question for me. 

I have had a lot of meetings in my wonderful district in Oregon 

with some of our decoding dyslexia Oregon parents, and they along 

with all of you understand that there have been so many advancements in research, in technology. Just look at the Intel Reader, for 

example. There have been a lot of things that have been done. We 

find here in the capital that oftentimes the technology is ahead of 

the policy, and so I wonder if you could—I will start with Dr. 

Shaywitz. If you could talk a little bit, you mentioned evidencebased programs, so important. So I would like you to focus on what 

are some of the evidence-based programs and then also I want to 
87 

have time to talk about the early indicators, and Mr. Brooks, you 

got great applause to your suggestion that there be the mandatory 

recognition training for teacher certification but there are a lot of 

teachers who are already teaching. We need to get to them as well 

as to the new teachers. So Dr. Shaywitz, could you please talk 

about what are some of the evidence-based practices that we 

should be promoting? 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. Thank you. I am happy to do that, but I think 

first, it is important to differentiate evidence-based from researchbased. We often hear people saying this program is research-based. 

Evidence-based means that there is proven efficacy. Researchbased simply indicates there are theoretical suggestions but does 

not provide evidence that the program is actually effective. Evidence-based programs are akin to the level of evidence the FDA requires before medication can be approved for use. Many, many theoretical research-based approaches when tested in the field prove 

to be ineffective. Our children’s reading is too important to be left 

to theoretical but unproven practices and methods. We must replace anecdotal and common but not evidence-based practices, with 

those that are proven, that is, they are evidence-based. That goes 

for programs to teach children to read, for programs for professional development, and programs that colleges of education use 

when they are teaching future teachers. There are a number of evidence-based programs and they have in common that they reflect 

the knowledge we know about reading, that they go back to teaching children about spoken words, about pulling the words apart, attaching them to the letters. 

In 1998, Congress became very concerned that there seemed to 

be an epidemic of reading problems and mandated that a National 

Reading Panel be constituted to investigate what methods and approaches have evidence. I was honored to serve on the panel. The 

Report of the National Reading Panel, which indicated that the 

components that are necessary and they include not only phonetic 

awareness, phonics, fluency but also vocabulary fluency and comprehension. 

Ms. BONAMICI. That is great, and I am going to have time to talk 

about accommodations a bit, but obviously we have heard today 

and we know that not every child who has dyslexia has involved 

parents who can dedicate the time and have the ability to advocate 

for them like we have heard about today, some of these great examples. We think about the lost potential. So not every child can 

even get to a pediatrician, sadly, so I am a big fan of school-based 

health clinics, but we have to make sure that we are doing something so that our teachers can play this critical role as early as possible in that diagnosis. 

So can we talk about accommodations? I am concerned about 

both for standardized testing and for, for example, college admissions that may require a second language. I was interested to hear 

that Representative Brownley’s daughter is trilingual, which I 

think is a huge accomplishment for someone with dyslexia. So are 

we doing enough in accommodation? Drs. Eden or Dr. Shaywitz or 

anybody? 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. I think that people often misunderstand the role 

of accommodations. They may say oh, that is a perk, and it is not 
88 

a perk. In my experience, so many students that I see, I say you 

need this accommodation respond by saying, ‘‘oh, no, I am so afraid 

if I request accommodations, I will stand out, people will either 

think I am not so smart or I am being in the system.’’ In truth, 

dyslexic people often can learn to read fairly accurately but they 

don’t read automatically or fluently, so it becomes very effortful. 

They have the knowledge but they don’t have the time, and so one 

of the most important accommodations is the provision of extra 

time, and—both on standardized tests and regular tests but you 

have to make sure that the accommodations are given in a way 

that doesn’t embarrass the students. So, oh, Johnny, you are going 

to stay because you need more time, and the individual could just 

die of embarrassment. There are a number of necessary accommodations, for example, extra time in a quiet room, because when 

you are not reading fluently or automatically, you are using up all 

your attention so you can be easily distracted. 

We also know that dyslexia causes difficulties with word retrieval. You know what you want to say but your lips and mouth 

don’t form the words so you can be asked ‘‘oh, what is that,’’ and 

it is a volcano but the child will utter ‘‘tornado.’’ So teachers have 

to know that children that have word retrieval difficulties maybe 

shouldn’t be given oral exams, particularly in front of others, and 

I just—technology can be helpful as well, but right now—and I am 

very involved in this area—students for high-stakes tests requested 

from a testing agency are made to go through obstacle after obstacle after obstacle after obstacle, causing many to give up. I know 

a brilliant woman who wanted to go to law school but she kept getting rejected for accommodation. We are missing out on potential. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Lost potential. And my time has expired. I yield 

back. 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. Mine has too. 

Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Ms. Bonamici. The gentleman from 

Arizona, Mr. Schweikert, is recognized. 

Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Mr. Brooks, I 

think you may have accomplished something no one has ever done. 

That is the first time we have had an outburst of applause, I think, 

in the Science Committee, and I don’t know whether I am creeped 

out by that or I am overjoyed, but that is a different discussion. 

To actually try to get to something a little more serious because 

we are actually in an interesting inflection point much of this discussion about do we need more science, do we need more research 

or do we need more carrying out what we know, and Professor 

Shaywitz, in your opening statement I want to make sure I was listening carefully. You shared that you believe we know substantially the protocols that break through. We just don’t carry them 

out enough. Was I listening appropriately? 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. You were, but I would want to add something to 

that, and again, as what Max referred to, if a child isn’t diagnosed 

and identified, we can know the protocol but they won’t receive it. 

Mr. SCHWEIKERT. No, I am just—I am one step behind that. I am 

assuming—let us say I have a student population, and we have our 

young people, we have them properly diagnosed. The optionality of 

having a place where they can go where they can receive the type 

of instructions that—— 
89 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. Evidence-based instruction, but there is evidence 

,too, that the teacher plays an important role. Investigators who 

have studied different reading programs have found, in the hands 

of different teachers, the same program can have varying results. 

So it gets back to the teacher becoming knowledgeable and not only 

knowing the program but having the toolbox to use to individualize 

so it is not like a rote back and forth but it is a teacher who knows 

the child, who knows about reading, knows evidence-based programs and can bring it all together. 

Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Well, you are actually right along a policy—it 

sometimes becomes a policy division and it breaks my heart because it shouldn’t be. Louisiana, particularly Arizona, we are in 

many ways the charter school state in the Nation. In my own community, we have multiple schools that provide specialization for 

dyslexia, for ADD, for other things, and through the child and the 

parent, you know, the ability to have that level of parental choice 

to receive that within our charter-school system, and in some ways 

it breaks my heart that I know there are many parts of the country 

where just that even as a discussion is uncomfortable. 

So in some ways I was elated to be hearing your words that if 

we can identify, get the child in a program, great things can happen. Now I need more of the embracing of those programs around 

the country. 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. Yes, absolutely, and I just want to add one other 

thing. I have had the privilege of visiting the Louisiana Key Academy, and what you see here is again what colleagues have spoken 

about: it is the whole child that gets the attention and support they 

needs. We have heard about the pain and the frustration. What 

happens when you are in a school that totally understands and embraces you instead of pushing you away, you get the reading instruction but at the Louisiana Key Academy, even the phys-ed 

teacher, I have met him, programs for those students, understands 

the students, so that they are not told you are not trying hard 

enough but they feel good about themselves and they learn. So you 

have to have the whole child in mind. 

Mr. SCHWEIKERT. And at one point Massie and I here were 

geeking out on trying to do the statistical probability of having two 

doctorates with the same last name, and not related, correct? We 

almost have the number but we are still working on it. He is the 

guy who went to MIT so—but within Dr. Eden’s discussion, actually a little bit of both of you, we have great technology, we have 

some great knowledge, but having great data when you haven’t 

built the robust systems to carry it out, and I am hoping that they 

are embracing your data at his university to carry it out for your 

information to produce more people like Mr. Brooks who I forgot 

to bring my book because I wanted an autograph. 

And the very last thing, Mr. Chairman. Your book was actually 

recommended to me by someone who specializes in conflict resolution around the world, and his premise, unlike the movie, was saying look, this guy wrote what he thinks would happen in different 

cultures, and somehow you broke through with that. 

So with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. 

Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Schweikert. The gentlewoman 

from Maryland, Ms. Edwards, is recognized for her questions. 
90 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you very 

much to our witnesses. 

You know, as I was sitting here and I was thinking, you know, 

to moms and dads, as a mom of a child who has a complex of disorders that are dyslexia, dysgraphia, those things, I remember the 

challenge of just trying to get both the school system early on to 

recognize what I knew as a parent when he was a toddler and 

ready to go into kindergarten so complexities with the school system, then trying to get the health insurance system to recognize 

that I needed help to be able to pay to make sure that he could— 

that my son could be tested and fighting with them actually for a 

couple of years until finally I actually just said you know what? I 

am not going to pay my mortgage this month because I am going 

to pay for him to be tested because I couldn’t wait another 4 

months or go into another school year knowing that I knew that 

there was a problem and I couldn’t get the system really to listen. 

And the best thing I did was to go to the Lab School here in Washington, D.C., and to have my son tested and then to be able to figure out how to work from first grade on to get him the kind of 

interventions and tools that he needed to be able to be a success, 

listening as a parent to educators saying well, here are the list of 

things that he is never going to be able to do, not be able to read 

and not be able— he will probably never go to college so maybe you 

should think about some kind of skill. I had educators tell me that 

as a parent, and I just said not my child on my watch. 

And when I think about parents and the challenges that they 

have with these various systems to be able to fight for their children, I just want to thank you all for being here today and sharing 

with us because now as a Member of Congress going into so many 

classrooms where children are set aside and, you know, they have, 

you know, some sort of challenge that doesn’t allow them to pay 

attention in the kind of way they need in the classroom but they 

are struggling and instead they are described as disruptive and unruly or they are not paying attention in the classroom. I think how 

many millions of children we have around this country and that is 

what is happening to them, and I want to ask you, particularly as 

it relates to African American children—and we, you know, focus 

a lot of attention especially by the fourth grade level where we see 

those gaps well before then. I know with my son, by the time he 

was tested going into first grade, the intelligence gap in his—and 

the performance and reading gap was so significant, it wasn’t until 

I saw the chart that I realized what was happening with him, and 

so I want to know what it is that we really can do with all of these 

systems to have them integrate what needs to happen at the earliest level, at the pre-K and kindergarten level so that we don’t lose 

these children through 12th grade. And so any of you who can, you 

know, share with me, you know, our good doctors about what we 

can do, because I don’t want another parent to have to forego a 

mortgage payment because the health insurance system doesn’t 

step up so that they can get their child tested. 

Mr. BROOKS. Let me say something quickly. I think from an emotional and a social point of view, I think the Chairman at the very 

beginning of the session already brought up an amazing solution, 

which is role models, and that is something that the African Amer-
91 

ican community already has the drop on as far as kids feeling good 

about themselves, and this is something that is very important. 

When I was a kid, there were no role models for dyslexia. The 

only one they knew about was a pole vaulter, which made me 

think, well, that is great; if I want to spend the rest of my life 

jumping over things with a stick, that would help, but I think there 

needs to be an accessible national database of successful people 

with dyslexia in all the fields. So that is the first thing you can say 

to a kid. So the first thing when a kid of any background says I 

am dyslexic, then we say to them, yeah, you and Einstein. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Doctor? 

Dr. GUINEVERE EDEN. I would just like to go back to this issue 

of the fact of what we already know and the fact that much of what 

we know isn’t being practiced and implemented and the reality out 

there, and it goes back to different kinds of information, one of 

which, which we haven’t mentioned yet here but we know from all 

of you who have spoken about those of you who have children with 

reading problems in your family but also maybe not just your children but other family members, and that is, if you have dyslexia, 

the chances that your child will have dyslexia are much, much 

higher, somewhere around 35 percent, because it is a genetic—multiple of genes are contributing to this. So we know who the children 

are who are likely to have reading problems when they are very 

small if they have it in their family. The kinds of tests that tap 

into children’s oral language skills like phonemic awareness that 

are measured like rhyming the way Dr. Shaywitz just described. 

Those tests are out there. There are standardized tests that have 

been out there for years. They are in the classrooms. They could 

be there. They are not being used. They are not being used because 

probably somehow the person who should be using them hasn’t 

been taught how to use them and then doesn’t know what to do 

with them and then doesn’t know what to do next. 

So there is a lot of research, and I think this is the sort of general frustration that we are feeling here is that there is a lot of 

lower extremities amongst those who are familiar with those tools 

that they can be used to identify children early and then to teach 

children early, and teaching children with dyslexia isn’t radically 

different from teaching other children to learn to read. It is many 

of the same principles. It is just that their delivery has to be different. It has to be in smaller groups. It has to be more systematic, 

use other techniques to enhance the specific and emphasize specific 

areas but it is not like these are children who have to learn completely differently. And so what I think what we are hearing here 

is concern that teachers don’t have these tools, and we hear this 

when you go to a conference like those hosted by the International 

Dyslexia Association, you hear the dialog between teachers and 

people who are in research and who do reading research, and the 

teachers say well, we didn’t know that, you know, nobody taught 

us that at the school and we just don’t know that. We didn’t know 

we had these tools to evaluate reading or to help them to become 

skilled readers, so there is—the biggest problem is really is making 

these things available and making sure that the people who are 

using these tools are using them in a way that they were intended 
92 

to be used so that the children who are they being used for can 

benefit from it. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My time is long expired. Thank you. 

Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Ms. Edwards. The gentleman from 

Kentucky, Mr. Massie, is recognized. 

Mr. MASSIE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Dr. Shaywitz, I think you helped us all by dispelling a couple 

myths early on, and you were the first to present one of the myths 

I think you dispelled that this is centered in the visual cortex. Instead, it is in the center where language is, or as one of your charts 

aptly demonstrated, this is not an IQ deficiency. What are some of 

the other myths that you think we should dispel here today? 

Dr. SHAYWITZ. I see why he is next to me. I need help. 

I think there are a number of myths. One is that dyslexia isn’t 

real, that it doesn’t exist. You know, schools will say we don’t believe in it, and I always answer that by saying that in religion you 

can choose what to believe in but dyslexia is scientific and factual 

so that a big myth is that it is not real. 

Another myth is that dyslexia affects only boys and not girls, and 

that came about, I think, because of what we found, I direct a longitudinal study where we actually tested every child, and we found 

that, schools did identify many, many more boys. Why? Because 

boys were annoying the teachers—boys can be boys, and they were 

chosen by the teacher to be the ones evaluated. Girls who would 

be sitting very properly but not reading a word were overlooked, 

so that is another myth. 

Another myth is that it is not universal—oh, it is just here and 

there. Dyslexia occurs in all parts of the world. I wrote a book, 

Overcoming Dyslexia, and a few weeks ago I was surprised to learn 

that it had been translated into Chinese. So dyslexia is universal. 

It affects every culture, every ethnic group, every socioeconomic 

group and every language system. So that is another myth. 

And I think the worst myth is that people who are dyslexic are 

not smart, and one will hear people like Max and others, it is an 

unexpected difficulty, so that means we have had such great examples that very bright people can be dyslexic, and I for one don’t 

want to hear anymore, ‘‘well, he is dyslexic but he is smart.’’ It goes 

together. Why should that be a ‘‘but’’? I think the belief that people 

who are dyslexic aren’t smart is really one of the most harmful and 

inaccurate myths. 

Mr. MASSIE. Thank you. 

Well, let me ask one of the smartest guys on the panel here, Mr. 

Brooks, my next question then, because he has helped to dispel 

that myth. I know my kids are a fan of your work. One thing that 

I wanted to ask you, I know we have focused on children and 

teaching here and identifying this early but obviously there are 

adults who never got identified or there are folks like yourself who 

were identified and the learning was adapted, you know, for your 

condition, what do you carry into adulthood that you still have to 

cope with? You know, you mentioned sort of humorously that you 

weren’t going to read your statement, but what are the things you 

have to cope with still in spite of the care that you received or 

teaching? 
93 

Mr. BROOKS. You know, I would say that most of my books are 

very research-based, which means that when I do my research, the 

challenges are, any time there is a new word, any time there is a 

new phrase so I have to deal with new technologies, new cultures, 

it is always a challenge, and what I learned in school I still take 

with me, which is what I do when I have to read is, I listen to the 

audiobook with the hard copy on my lap, so that way I am taking 

in the information verbally but then I am underlying everything in 

the actual book so then when it is over, I don’t have to go back to 

the audiobook, I have the hard copy with me. But research is always tough, and it always takes me longer. So I still struggle with 

it all the time. In fact, whenever I have a book that is about to 

come out, I always hire a fact checker to make sure—because my 

self-esteem is still iffy—to make sure I got everything right. And 

like in World War Z, I got the weapons systems right, Chinese politics right. There was a sporting-goods store a block away from my 

apartment, I put it on the wrong street. I got it wrong. So I am 

always aware. 

Mr. MASSIE. This is a question for anybody that cares to answer. 

To what extent do you think sometimes parents delay the testing 

because they are worried about a stigma associated with their child 

for being diagnosed with dyslexia? They want to hope that their kid 

can stay, you know, at the mainstream or whatever and doesn’t 

need any special attention and the stigma associated with that. I 

mean, do you think that factors in to the delay in identifying this? 

I like Mr. Brooks’s recommendation that teachers, you know, that 

is a requirement of their certification but what can we tell parents? 

Ms. ANTIE. I will answer this. I never once worried about the 

stigma my child had. I could care less what they labeled him. As 

long as they gave me a diagnosis and ways to help him, I don’t care 

what the diagnosis is, and I am sure every parent feels that way. 

As far at the stigma, he already had low self-esteem because he 

couldn’t read in front of everybody else. So the fact that he got 

pulled out for untimed testing didn’t hurt his self-esteem any more 

than it already was. So I don’t think the stigma has anything to 

do with it, personally. 

Mr. MASSIE. All right. That is good to hear. Well, my time is expired. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Massie. 

Let me thank all of our expert panelists today. You have contributed much to the subject, and it is just wonderful to hear all your 

stories and all your observations as well. I really do think this is 

one of the best hearings we have ever had, and so appreciate especially your participation, and I would like to thank everyone in the 

room as well for helping to make this hearing a success. 

A final reminder: When you go out into the hall, turn left and 

join us for lunch and further discussion about dyslexia. Thank you 

all again for being here, and we stand adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 1:05 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

(95) 

Appendix I 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS
96 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS

Responses by Dr. Sally Shaywitz 
97 
98 

Responses by Mr. Max Brooks 
99 

Responses by Ms. Stacy Antie 
100 
101 

Responses by Dr. Peter Eden 
102 
103 
104 
105 
106 
(107) 

Appendix II 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL FOR THE RECORD
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WRITTEN STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY MATT MOUNTAIN, 

DIRECTOR, SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE

PROFESSOR, PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY, 

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
109 

Æ