When my daughter was diagnosed with profound dyslexia in second grade, I didn't know where to turn. What saved us was luck: Her Naperville public school had an instructor certified in the Wilson Reading System, a literacy program designed for children and adults with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. My daughter was reading at grade level before she left elementary school. Her experience changed me as well. I left my corporate job, earned Wilson certification and enrolled in a postgraduate special education program.
Last month, my daughter began studying engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her outcome rested on a staffing coincidence. It shouldn't have. Dyslexia affects roughly 1 in 5 people in the United States. It's the most common learning disability and one of the most responsive to adequate teaching. Illinois now requires districts serving K-3 students to report on early literacy screening, which is progress. But screening is uneven, and too many schools lack the curriculum or trained staff to act on the results. We see the cost when adults in their 60s and 70s, screened for the first time, call our Educational Advocacy and Consulting Dyslexia Center, relieved after a lifetime of believing they were not smart.
The instruction I give a second grader and a 65-year-old is remarkably similar: explicit, cumulative and multisensory. A high school student once called skywriting — tracing a word in the air while saying its letters — "ridiculous." Once I explained movement helps lock spelling, things clicked. A woman I worked with for five years had known about her dyslexia her whole life but never received instruction. Once she did, it was a game changer. She's since opened a business that's doubled in size.
During Dyslexia Awareness Month this October, I hope more people will get screened. A screening takes about 10 minutes and is often free or low-cost through nonprofits, university clinics, schools and centers like ours.
The International Dyslexia Association and Everyone Reading Illinois publish plain-language guides for those with dyslexia. Wilson Language Training's certified instructor directory shows who near you is trained in structured literacy.
If you're a parent, ask your children's educators if the district screens students for reading risks and if anyone on staff is certified in a structured literacy program. Many families are asking just this, which is why our therapists support 10 Illinois districts that don't have certified instructors.
My daughter learned to read because of luck. Every child in Illinois deserves better odds than that.
Cassie Clark, executive director, EAC Dyslexia Center, Naperville
I'm a proud graduate of the University of Chicago. My parents also attended, as did two of my children. I am profoundly disgusted by the university's current posture with respect to multiple reports of sexual assaults tied to U. of C. fraternities. The Sun-Times reported that the latest accuser just filed lawsuit but had reported the incident to the Chicago Police in February. The university claims it is just finding out about the incident, and pledges cooperation with the investigation after noting that it is not a defendant in the lawsuit. The alleged culprit was suspended by the frat, but apparently not by the school. It seems the university's position is that it is a hapless bystander since the fraternities are not official student organizations.
This reminds me of the legal state of play when cigarette smokers were suing the tobacco companies in the 1950s and '60s. The defendants avoided liability by claiming that their customers knew the risks as they continued to smoke and that the real culprit was asbestos, air pollution, etc. It wasn't until recently, with the benefit of internal scientific and marketing documents, Americans learned that the companies knew more, allowing imposition of massive liability.
What did and does the U. of C. (and other colleges and universities) know about what's going on in their fraternities? Have they tried to do a thorough assessment of the problem? How does it leverage the prominence of "Greek life" to boost applicant pools? Do donors who were fraternity members play a role in the schools' "What me, worry?" stance? What is the effect on its putative educational mission when multiple young ladies are lured into these gigantic mansions, slipped a mickey, assaulted in a locked bathroom and then face doxing and perhaps withdrawal from college? Surely there are legal theories under which institutional complicity in a long-standing pattern and practice like this could support liability.
I have no doubt that if the number of sexual assaults and the efficacy of universities response to them were a factor in the U.S. News & World Report's college rankings, the problem would be solved almost instantly.
Andrew S. Mine, Rogers Park
With the return of college students to campuses, local bar and nightclub owners in the Chicago area look to get their fair share of the thriving $37.6 billion industry.
The problem arrives when thirst for profits inspires owners to discriminate against some customers instead of welcoming all patrons.
My research as a sociologist on nightclub scenes in U.S. cities, including Chicago, show a frequent bias against Black patrons. Not everyone who can play gets to play.
How do nightclub owners make those choices?
Because appearance is key, nightclub owners often create dress codes that tell potential patrons what clothing is acceptable. Some nightclub dress codes, for example, list smart casual clothing — button-up shirts and casual pants for men and skirts and blouses for women. In principle, dress codes are fine. But in practice, they're problematic.
Nightclub staff do not enforce dress codes evenly. Access is based on race, ethnicity, presumption of socioeconomic status and other factors. So when Black patrons wear the same clothes as their white counterparts, they're often denied entry.
My most recent study centered on Chicago shows more troubling news. Not only did Black patrons continue to experience discrimination for nightclub access, but they also were being asked to pay higher prices for the same alcoholic drinks when they were allowed in.
Discrimination in nightclubs has gotten more complicated. But it is possible to shift these behaviors and exclusions if venue owners and their workers identify and eliminate impromptu actions and rules that can keep Black people from enjoying a night out.
Reuben A. Buford May, professor and head, sociology department, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Public Voices fellow, the OpEd Project, and author, “Urban Nightlife: Entertaining Race, Class, and Culture in Public Space”.
Illinois’ recent shift, replacing the SAT with the ACT as the state-mandated assessment tool, threatens high school students’ access to higher education. While vendor switches driven by state contract deals are common, the change introduces an extraordinarily burdensome series of steps students must take to signal their interest in a college. Taking the ACT is hard enough, but now students also are required to:
This new process harms the very students who benefit most from colleges reaching out to them: first-generation applicants, students with limited access to college counseling and families less equipped to navigate an already complex process.
This barrier comes at a critical juncture for Illinois, which already faces a projected decline of nearly 20,000 college-going students by 2029 and an annual net loss of roughly 18,000 students who leave the state for college. Taxpayers fund in-school testing to broaden pathways for students, yet this workflow effectively cuts off in-state colleges from those very students.
Illinois and the ACT must immediately overhaul this process to establish meaningful, accessible choices for students rather than procedural hurdles that choke off opportunity.
Kent Barnds, executive vice president for strategy and innovation, Augustana College
When I saw the headline on Wednesday's Letters to the Editor page, I laughed out loud. I honestly thought it was going to be an ironic commentary about the obsession with pronouns that many people on the left have. It’s annoying enough that in recent years, we’ve been told to ignore common sense and hundreds of years of convention and use whatever pronoun someone prefers for himself, or herself, or “themself.” We must do that in order to not offend the person’s sensibilities or hurt his, her or their feelings in any way. If I happen to slip up and call a man “he” after he decided he wants to be called “they” or “them,” I’m considered to be insensitive and possibly transphobic or homophobic.
Now, apparently I also need to worry about not offending animals too, and address or refer to them using, “he, she, them or who.” If I slip up and refer to as animal as “it,” I must be some sort of animal hater.
I asked my male cat Sebastian how it felt about this. Its response was to curl up on my lap and watch the game with me while I stroked its neck and administered nightly treats. Then the purring began. Sebastian assured me that it doesn’t give a rat’s behind what pronoun I use, so long as the comfy couch, food, water and treats are all there.
Tom Miller, Orland Park
I'm neither a foe nor a friend of Mayor Brandon Johnson. I am an advocate for humans in Chicago. To that end, I suggest that instead of taxing people, we should create a new tax for delivery robots and their "cousins" — self-driving cars (whenever autonomous vehicles are allowed to operate in Illinois.) That is where future growth is to be found: taxing increasing activities that detract from human community.
Andrew Davis, Lincoln Park
Lee Bey's excellent column nailed it: Why repeat the same mistake that was made when Soldier Field had a humongous hot tub dropped into it? The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry doesn't need a welcome hall that looks more like a suburban shopping mall. What's next, an Old Navy store?
Kenneth Marier, Lake View
When we were 14 years old, my best friend Connie and I got a rude awakening while begging for treats on a chilly Halloween.
We knew we were older and bigger than the other children running up and down the sidewalks in search of an inviting house. But for us, it wasn't the lure of actually scoring some candy and other goodies. We were just happy fooling adults who opened their doors and greeted us like we were the cutest things they'd ever seen. The goodies were just the frosting on the cake so to speak, because some treats actually did have frosting.
But our charade came crashing to an end when a very stern man opened his door, noted that Connie and I were well over 5 feet tall and told us to scram. We were not kids, he said, adding that we were too old to be horning in on a night meant for younger children. With a slam of his door, our night of dubious frivolity was over.
Connie and I spent the next hour sitting on a curb eating candy, but also pondering the mysteries of life. Too young to drink coffee. Too young to smoke. Too young for beer. But too old to celebrate Halloween going door to door. Life can be complicated. And cruel.
Kathleen Melia, Niles
A thought for all Americans: Would you want Donald Trump negotiating a deal for you?
Warren Rodgers Jr., Orland Park
