Research Excellence and Advancements for Dyslexia Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I thank the chairman. I am grateful for all the work that the Dyslexia Caucus has done to advance this very, very important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3033, the Research Excellence and Advancements for Dyslexia, or the READ Act. This important legislation would require that the President's annual budget to Congress specifically fund the Research in Disabilities Education program at the National Science Foundation. It would also require NSF to devote at least $5 million annually to dyslexia research.

You are probably going to hear multiple Members come up tonight and talk about personal stories, about how this hits so very close to home for some of us. I have a 13-year-old granddaughter in Texas, Marin Mangiaracinia. I have watched over the years as she and her mother and her dad have struggled to help try to identify the problems that she has with learning, teachers that were unprepared to diagnose, to identify the symptoms of dyslexia.

Even then, once she was diagnosed and identified, having those tools and support applied consistently from one school to another or from one teacher to another is still problematic.

Today Marin is a member of the National Honor Society because of the help that has been provided to her. But she still struggles. She has created a Web site on her own to draw attention to this important problem, and she is working hard to improve herself personally.

I can't say enough about how proud I am of her and the many others that are afflicted with this condition.

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