In 2016, the unanimous passage of the state’s “Say Dyslexia” legislation was met with enthusiasm from dyslexia advocates, who said the law brought awareness to a key literacy issue facing many Tennessee students. But in the decade since, advocates have grown concerned with the way the state has set out to identify and intervene with students with dyslexia.
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability in which students show difficulties in accurately reading words or spelling. Those diagnosed with dyslexia will often qualify for special education services and receive what’s known as an individualized education program (IEP) for a special learning disability in reading. The “Say Dyslexia” bill highlighted the need to screen students for dyslexia in the already existing intervention framework known as response to intervention (RTI). RTI screens students using various reading assessments, identifies students for intervention and, if students are still struggling after multiple levels of intensive intervention, may refer them for evaluation for special education services.
In Tennessee, students who are identified as struggling with word-level reading are now labeled as showing “characteristics of dyslexia.” This is very different from when a student receives a formal diagnosis by a psychologist and most likely has an IEP. This is just the tip of the very confusing process facing educators, parents and students.
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“The layers of literacy policy in Tennessee have created confusion that educators across the state have reached out to me about directly,” says Tim Odegard, Murfree Chair of Excellence in Dyslexic Studies at Middle Tennessee State University. There is “frustration among families and advocacy groups who are deeply focused on literacy broadly and dyslexia specifically.”
Those who are identified as showing characteristics of dyslexia are now provided with an individualized learning plan for characteristics of dyslexia (ILP-D), which is shared with parents and shows a child’s reading scores and the interventions. Teachers have reported that these ILP-Ds have caused significant confusion among parents, many of whom wonder if their child has been diagnosed with a disability without their input. Teachers are left on the front lines to clear up the confusion. In fact, the state’s family information guidance about ILP-Ds lists in bolded letters: “Characteristics of dyslexia are not the same as saying your child has dyslexia. Being identified with characteristics of dyslexia does not mean that your child has a specific learning disability or needs special education.”
Once identified, those students are required to receive dyslexia-specific interventions from their teachers. Understanding and implementing dyslexia-specific intervention takes a lot of time and relies heavily on teacher knowledge.
“I have heard from multiple educators across the state who say they dread identifying a child with dyslexia,” says Odegard. “Either because they do not know how to meet the student’s needs, or because even when they do, their schedule and school administration will not allow them the time to provide it. Identification without capacity to respond is not progress for the child.”
Strengthening the literacy knowledge of teachers has been a recent focus in Tennessee. In 2021, the state passed the “Tennessee Literacy Success Act,” which requires educators to use phonics to teach foundational reading skills. Phonics is a skill in which students must combine sounds and letters, and is critical for learning to read — but many people with dyslexia struggle with it. The law requires Tennessee universities to teach about the characteristics of dyslexia and how to create an ILP-D, and to prioritize phonics instruction. Universities were required to update their reading courses to meet the state’s requirements, and must submit yearly proof that they are following these new policies. For educators already in the classroom, the Tennessee Department of Education has created training modules that many teachers across the state have already completed.
But it’s not just educators who are left with questions — parents are also confused by this process.
“It is not uncommon for parents to reach out to us at Roberts Academy with questions about dyslexia, especially after receiving an initial diagnosis or after learning their child is showing characteristics of dyslexia,” says Jared Clodfelter, the director of the Roberts Academy and Dyslexia Center at Vanderbilt University, which opened in 2024 as a private elementary school specifically for students with dyslexia. “Once you enter the dyslexia space, there are so many acronyms and so much jargon, it can be overwhelming. Parents may have heard the terms, but they are now trying to understand the ins and outs of IEPs, 504 plans, ILP-Ds, and the various accommodations and supports that may or may not now be available to them.”
These different terms come with different accommodations and protections for students. For Odegard, “The stacked policies and requirements have produced overlapping categories that parents and teachers struggle to navigate.” These overlapping categories mean that the students could show characteristics of dyslexia under state guidance and be given an ILP-D, but not qualify for an IEP for dyslexia. This leads to frustrations for all those involved.
“The real cost is borne by Tennessee students,” says Odegard.
Zack Barnes, Ph.D., is an associate professor of literacy at Austin Peay State University, where he researches executive function and reading development. Before APSU, he spent five years as a special education teacher in MNPS.
