In The News
Pilot project puts focus on dyslexia - Minot Daily News
August 3, 2019
A North Dakota pilot program is making $250,000 available to schools and educational associations to develop programs that provide early screening and intervention services for dyslexia.
The 2019 Legislature appropriated the funding in a bill sponsored by first-time legislator and educator Rep. Michelle Strinden, R-Fargo, who saw the need for better services through her own family’s experience and in working with other parents.
“That’s really my passion to help other students in the state of North Dakota gain access to the type of teaching that will help them to read at an early age,” she said.
Decoding Dyslexia: how a House bill could Help Children with Dyslexia - The Dickinson Press
July 26, 2019
Parent-led movement Decoding Dyslexia partnered with Representative Michelle Strinden to pass House Bill 1461, which makes steps towards better educating students with dyslexia.
Dyslexia is a learning disorder that makes it harder for a child to learn how to read from a difficulty of identifying speech sounds and understanding how they relate to letters and words.
"About 15-20% of the population has dyslexia, so it’s a very common thing that we see. One of the key things about this is that they ... learn to read differently than just the average reader, but they have average to above average intelligence. They’re a normal child that needs to learn how to read differently," Strinden said.
A School Choice Study could be coming to North Dakota - Valley News Live
February 5, 2019
"A lot of our kids that come here are on IEPs, are on 504s – since they've been in pre-school, kindergarten – and are still reading at second grade levels when they're sophomores or juniors in high school," Bucholz says. "We have students coming from 62 different towns across the state. How do those families in small towns get help if they don't have access to us or a service like us?"
"Dyslexia is experienced by one in five students. And there are ways to treat it, or ways to remediate it," says Representative Michelle Strinden, a Republican from District 41. "And it's not provided to within public schools. It's not available to students with dyslexia within the public school curriculum."
Strinden's bill asks the state to study school choice programs and educational savings accounts.
"There are therapies out there for people who can have access to them or have the ability to pay for those services," Strinden says. "An education savings account is a way to address this issue. A portion of their tuition dollars could be used for services that are provided outside of the public school."