Language Based Services | Bedford Public Schools

A language-based learning disability (LBLD) or Dyslexia refers to a spectrum of difficulties related to the understanding and use of spoken and written language. LBLD or Dyslexia is a common cause of a student's academic struggles because weak language skills impede comprehension and communication, which are the basis for most school activity. Dyslexia falls under the category of a specific learning disability in reading and impacts phonological processing, fluency, or both.

A definitive diagnosis of dyslexia is often provided by speech-language pathologists, psychologists, reading specialists, and educational specialists. Intervention starts with effective classroom instruction which includes several components; structured phonemic awareness (orally identifying and manipulating syllables and speech sounds), phonics (making associations between letters), fluency (developing speed and automaticity in the accurate letter, word, and text reading), vocabulary expansion, and text comprehension. Each student is an individual and is impacted by their disability in various ways and to differing degrees. Therefore, services are provided to students based on their individual needs. Some students require multi-sensory engagement and to be explicitly taught the phonological features of spoken language using motor, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic feedback combined with extensive, controlled practice in word recognition. Those services may be provided outside of the general education in small groups.

At the elementary levels, students are often identified as struggling with sound/symbol correspondence, phonological processing, decoding, and/or fluency which can impact speaking, listening, reading, and/or writing. Adolescents at the middle school level and high school students can continue to struggle with reading, writing, and executive functioning weakness. These students may have some degree of fluency but continue to suffer from a phonological deficit that makes reading slower and they do not catch up with their typically reading peers. Special Education staff will collaborate with the speech and language pathologist to develop compensatory skills to improve students ability to access the curriculum independently.