Research has shown that many children, especially dyslexic children, will lose reading skills over the summer without some support. If your child has been working hard with a dyslexia therapist after school all year and is doing really well, you need to think about what the fall will look like for your child based on the decisions you make for them in the summer.

In this episode, I outline some options that make it possible for you to balance your child’s summer. There are many ways to make this work for you, your family, and your child. Ultimately, it is a personal decision and you should trust your parent-gut.

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It's estimated that up to 33% of the population has an issue with handwriting. This can often be a case of dysgraphia, which many students with dyslexia also have, and is often overlooked.

Dysgraphia is more than a challenge with fine motor skills when writing. It can also be a deficit in written expression, writing mechanics, and the ability to organize thoughts and write cohesive paragraphs. Depending on the type of dysgraphia, students may have illegible handwriting and poor language skills, yet they have great copy skills, work well from visual cues and tell oral stories in explicit detail. 

There are seven types of dysgraphia – Information Processing Dysgraphia, Visual-Spatial Dysgraphia, Motor Dysgraphia, Memory Dysgraphia, Word Formation Dysgraphia, Sentence Formation Dysgraphia, and Paragraph Formation Dysgraphia.

Join me on this episode where I delve into the 7 types of dysgraphia, explain how they each show up, and the steps to take if you suspect your child has dysgraphia.

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While retention can happen anytime during your child's school year, it usually happens at the end of the third grade. The reason? Many states have legislation that requires schools to consider retaining a student if they don't pass a third-grade reading assessment. The really frustrating thing about these policies is that one test score doesn't demonstrate your child's overall ability to show their knowledge. It also doesn’t recognize that dyslexia is a lifelong diagnosis, not something fixed within a year.

Research done in the early 2000s found that retaining a student did not benefit them, and in fact, puts them at a higher risk of dropping out of high school down the road, among other effects. In this episode, I delve into whether the current research still holds up to the original findings and unpack the immediate and long-term impacts on students, their families, and their teachers. 

Listen to learn more about the wash-and-repeat experience for a child who is held back, the emotional toll that grade retention takes on everyone involved, and the questions to ask your child’s school if they want to hold them back.

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For most students, standardized testing means disrupted schedules, increased anxiety, and the pressure to perform. For a student with dyslexia or a neurodivergent brain, that experience is often amplified. In this episode, I expand on why these standardized tests exist and how to support your child through the process. 

Your child’s standardized test score tells you where they fall on a bell curve in relation to the other students in their grade. Because people with dyslexia process information differently, standardized tests aren’t an effective way to assess their development or comprehension. If your state doesn’t offer testing opt-outs, what can you do to help your child feel as calm and confident as possible? 

Join me as I explore seven ways to approach standardized testing and highlight important things to keep in mind if your child’s scores remain low. 

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Multisensory instruction is often listed as a key component in many reading approaches and curriculums. In this episode, we are diving into what multisensory techniques are and how they can be helpful for a dyslexic student learning to read.

We can’t talk about multisensory instruction without looking back on the influential work of educational psychologist Grace Fernald. In the 1920s, she introduced techniques like skywriting and tactile spelling into her approach to reading instruction. This approach is now known as The Fernald Method. 

Dr. Orton-Gillignham and Anna Gillingham incorporated this methodology into their own approach. Anna Gillingham developed the Language Triangle to show how the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses work together when using a multisensory approach. All of the pathways in the brain work simultaneously and support each other. 

One way to visualize how this works is with the Language Triangle. Listen in as I draw the triangle and help you to see the different sensory work to support each other.

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There is a debate in the Structured Literacy world about whether Print-to-speech or Speech-to-print is the more effective approach. Both approaches rely on phonics - matching sounds to their corresponding letter/letter patterns. They differ in that Print-to-speech starts with a letter/letter pattern and matches it to an oral sound. Speech-to-print uses the student's prior oral language skills and works to match the speech sounds to the letter/letter patterns. 

Which is the better overall approach? In this episode, I discuss the differences and similarities in more detail and highlight why both approaches are needed when learning to read and write.

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The Orton-Gillingham (OG) Approach is known as the "Gold Standard" for teaching dyslexics how to read and write. Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Samuel Orton and gifted educator and psychologist, Anna Gillingham, developed a multi-sensory approach to improve reading and writing skills in children with dyslexia. They developed a set of key principles for practitioners to work from. Those guiding principles are: Diagnostic and Prescriptive; Individualized; Language-Based and Alphabetic/Phonetic; Simultaneous Multisensory; Direct and Explicit; Structured, Sequential, and Cumulative, but Flexible; Synthetic and Analytic; Cognitive; and Emotionally Sound.

An essential takeaway from this episode is Orton-Gillingham is an approach, not a structured program or curriculum. In the eyes of the practitioner, every individual receives individualized guidance from simple to more complicated tasks. Instead of a one-size-fits-all model, Orton-Gillingham, at its core, is centered around the individual learning needs of each student.

On today's episode, I break down what the Orton-Gillingham Approach is, other programs derived from it, and how the guiding principles support your child on their learning journey with dyslexia. 

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The dyslexic brain and non-dyslexic brain are not the same. The dyslexic brain not only processes language differently, it's also structurally different. For instance, when it comes to reading and writing, dyslexic brains utilize both sides of their brain unlike non-dyslexic readers who only use the left side of their brain. Dyslexic brains are also structurally different; they have an extra layer of neurons called ectopias.

Reading is not a natural function of the brain. Unlike oral language, the brain has no dedicated area for reading, it needs to borrow from other areas. The area of the brain used for facial recognition is repurposed to learn to recognize letters. This means, as we learn to read, our ability to recognize faces weakens. In this episode we break down the Science of Reading (the study of how all people learn to read, regardless of age) and provide a foundation for understanding the differences between how a dyslexic and non-dyslexic brain processes reading and writing. 

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Once you receive your child’s dyslexia diagnosis, you might feel lost about how to share the news with them. In my experience, one of the most supportive things that you can do is have a discussion about it and give an overview of what it means for them. You have an opportunity to reduce the shame and stigma that so many people with different learning abilities feel. 

It’s also highly likely that your child will feel relieved to know that there are reasons why they struggle with certain tasks or subjects in school. I encourage you to be honest about the hard work that they’ll have to put in during therapy sessions, and I share some ways to set up informative, loving conversations around this. I also highlight some well-meaning words of encouragement or advice that can easily be misinterpreted by a child and what you can say instead to reassure them that dyslexia doesn’t limit their future. 

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Dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have a lot of overlap. It can be difficult to tell if your child is struggling because of dyslexia or ADHD. In this episode, I highlight the signs and symptoms of ADHD and look at the common threads and differences between the two disorders. 

It's estimated that 30% of students with dyslexia also have ADHD, but there’s no evidence that one causes the other. I’ve seen first-hand how direct instruction and support of executive function skills is extremely valuable for students experiencing dyslexia, ADHD, or both. Listen in to learn some strategies and coping mechanisms that are beneficial across the board. 

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