Retrieved 1/4/2014 -

LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT FOR DYSLEXIA SCREENING BILL: Please take a moment and get your voice heard We have a 2-part action plan to turn this screening bill into a law! Part 1:  Please contact the NJ Senate President Stephen Sweeney and respectfully request that he post bill S2442/A3605 to the next Senate Voting Session on Jan. 9, 2014, without going through committee again. Politely remind him that this bill was just passed by the Assembly on Dec. 19th and earlier version previously approved by the Senate education committee and the full Senate back in June. Senate President Stephen Sweene EMAIL: SenSweeney@njleg.org PHONE NUMBER: 856-251-9801 Sample letter/email: Dear President Sweeney, NJ Assembly bill S2442/A3605 was just unanimously passed by the General Assembly on Dec. 19th and now needs a vote from the NJ Senate in hopes of turning this bill into a law before this legislative session ends. This bill is critical in breaking the cycle of not recognizing the well-defined dyslexia indicators early (or not at all) which usually then leads a child into years of waiting, failing and falling terribly behind. This is so unnecessary if a child is screened early when the brain still has the ability to change and rewire itself in the presence of good, evidenced-based instruction. Bill S2442/A3605 is also directly supported by the recommendations in the recently submitted NJ Reading Disabilities Task Force Report (Aug. 2012). Therefore, I respectfully request that you please promptly post S2442/A3605 to the Senate Voting Session on January 9, 2014. This bill is truly the first step in ensuring that NJ students with dyslexia or other reading disabilities have the opportunity to not only become successful readers but successful citizens. With sincerest thanks, (Your name) (Your town and district number)  Part 2:  Since we have very little time before this legislative session ends, we need to DO BOTH actions at the same time. We need to contact the Senate President (see part 1 action alert post) as well as contacting Gov. Christie. He HAS to sign this bill into law or it will die. Therefore, contact Governor Chris Christie and respectfully ask him to sign bill S2442/A3605 into law as soon as it is passed in the Senateand BEFORE the legislative session ends on January, 14 2014.  Email: use the contact form http://www.state.nj.us/governor/contact/ select: Education as topic and Special Education as subtopic Office Phone: (609) 292-6000 Address: Honorable Chris Christie Office of the Governor P.O. Box 001 Trenton, NJ 08625 sample letter/email: Dear Governor Christie, NJ bill S2442/A3605 was just unanimously passed by the General Assembly on Dec. 19th. The bill is also very likely to also be passed in the Senate at the next voting session in January 2014, since an earlier version was already passed in the Senate back in June 2013. This bill is critical in breaking the cycle of not recognizing the well-defined dyslexia indicators early (or not at all) which usually then leads a child into years of waiting, failing and falling terribly behind. This is so unnecessary if a child is screened early when the brain still has the ability to change and rewire itself in the presence of good, evidenced-based instruction. Bill S2442/A3605 is also directly supported by the recommendations in the recently submitted NJ Reading Disabilities Task Force Report (Aug. 2012). Therefore, I respectfully request that you please sign bill S2442/A3605 into law as soon as you receive it and before the legislative session ends on January 14, 2014. This bill is truly the first step in ensuring that NJ students with dyslexia or other reading disabilities have the opportunity to not only become successful readers but successful citizens. With sincerest thanks, (Your name) (Your town and district number)  On another note.......  Visit learningally.org. Learning Ally is a national nonprofit with a defined approach to help support students with learning disabilities and their families.