This Golden Hour

128. Learning More about Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalculia with Kait Feriante

• Timothy Eaton

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In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Kait Feriante from Tennessee. Kait is a mother of three, one who has dyslexia and dyscalculi. Kait is a behavior specialist and the founder of Redwood Literacy, Redwood Schools, and Redwood Learning. Several years ago, Kait became a special education teacher and worked in Chicago Public Schools where she discovered many middle schoolers who couldn't read independently. Eventually, Kait and her husband started Redwood Literacy to help students manage their learning differences of dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. They have grown and have resources and mentors available to help students all over the US. In our discussion, we acknowledged that involved parents who read to and spend time with their kids help children with learning differences; but differences, like dyslexia, do require specialized attention. This is such an informative, helpful episode for all to understand more about dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia; and parents can learn about quality resources that Redwood Literacy offers children with learning differences. 

Connect with Kait

Redwood Literacy

Writing Our World

Free Parent Support Course

Other Resources

The International Dyslexia Association

Wilson Reading System

The Six Success Factors for Children with Learning Disabilities: Ready-to-Use Activities to Help Kids with LD Succeed in School and in Life




Proactive Homeschool Dad (PHD) Course

PHD Course

This Golden Hour

Kait Feriante

The workforce is changing drastically on what skills are required and, there's a lot of actual, recruitment that happens, finding folks who have these wirings because there are different strengths that come, with having this kind of brain. If we can empower our kids with this wiring, they have skills that we desperately need in society.

Timmy Eaton

Hi. I am Timmy Eaton, homeschool father of six and Doctor of Education. We've been homeschooling for more than 15 years and have watched our children go from birth to university successfully and completely without the school system. Homeschooling has grown tremendously in recent years, and tons of parents are becoming interested in trying it out, but people have questions and concerns and misconceptions and lack the confidence to get started. New and seasoned homeschoolers are looking for more knowledge and peace and assurance to continue. New homeschooling. The guests and discussions on this podcast will empower anyone thinking of homeschooling to bring their kids home and start homeschooling and homeschoolers at all stages of the journey will get what they need and want from these conversations. Thank you for joining us today and enjoy this episode of This Golden Hour podcast. As you exercise, drive clean or just chill. You are listening to this Golden Hour podcast. In today's episode, we get to spend time with Kate Ante from Tennessee. Kate is a mother of three, one of which has dyslexia and dyscalculia. Kate is a behavior specialist and the founder of Redwood Literacy, Redwood Schools, and Redwood Learning. Several years ago, Kate became a special education teacher and worked in Chicago public schools where she discovered many middle schoolers. Who couldn't read independently. Eventually, Kate and her husband started Redwood Literacy to help students manage their learning differences of dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. They have grown and have resources and mentors available to help students all over the us. In our discussion, we acknowledge that involved parents who read to and spend time with their kids help children with learning differences. But differences like dyslexia do, require specialized attention. This is such an informative, helpful episode for all to understand more about dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, and parents can learn about quality resources that Redwood Literacy offers children with their learning differences. Welcome back to this Golden Hour podcast. Today we have with us Kate Ante from Tennessee. Thanks for being with us.

Kait Feriante

Thanks for having me.

Timmy Eaton

I'll just do a quick intro and then we'll jump into things. A mom of three and one of which has dyslexia and dyscalculia. Kate is the founder of Redwood Literacy. And also Redwood Schools and Redwood Learning. And she is also the creator of writing our world. She's a learning and behavior specialist, so we're gonna talk about this and then, and see what applications we can make to the homeschool families and homeschool world. And you also have had some background in homeschooling, so add anything you want to the bio and then we'll jump into stuff.

Kait Feriante

No, I think bios are tricky because it's hard to know what's gonna be the helpful information, but I think really, for this audience as a parent myself, I have three kids. They're all very different and they all need very different. Supports and encouragement and access to opportunities. I think the homeschooling community specifically has a unique opportunity to really focus on that individualized education for their kids. And that's something I believe in deeply and, it just excited to be talking about. So appreciate getting to be here.

Timmy Eaton

Cool. Before we jump into the work that you're doing, tell'em what you were telling me before the interview about just like your connection to homeschool, your experience with being homeschooled in Europe, and so on and so forth.

Kait Feriante

So the majority of my kind of elementary, middle school years I was homeschooled. So I do have that personal connection to this community. Most of those homeschooling years were overseas, so I grew up from 1995 to 2005 in Albania, which is a very cool country. And the, I did a little bit of Albanian school. I had some diverse education. Experiences, but homeschooling was definitely the through line. And that worked, for our family because we moved a lot during that 10 year period. And obviously access to education, like at my level and in my home language was more limited. And looking back, I really have a positive experience. I'm one of four kids I got to watch my parents navigate having four different kids who needed different things. And I have really fond memories. We had structured curriculums that we used, and I remember, we had our little desks set up and I have those memories, but also I remember a lot of what my mom would call school of life where we were out doing things and, contributing to the community and taking field trips to other countries. I got to visit most of Europe's countries before I was 15 years old, which wow. Of course I didn't appreciate then at the same level that I do now.

Timmy Eaton

And that in and of itself is like such an education, it's it's one thing to read about the thing and it's another thing to live it. And do you feel like based on your. Experience with your parents? Were they doing homeschool from like a philosophical standpoint or was it more like, you're in Europe and you're doing something different, or what was it?

Kait Feriante

I think it was a little bit of both. I'd have to ask them to really know where their head was at, but I think it was obviously they made the decision to move to a new country where they knew there were gonna be more limited educational opportunities. And so I think from the get go homeschooling was the answer. This is gonna be how we make sure that our kids get access to education. Then there were seasons throughout that where it was a better fit for us to attend different, programs. My brother went to boarding school for a while. We moved to Budapest Hungary and attended an international school there for a year. What I appreciated about them, what I really learned from them as I look now to educate my own children is that. Flexible thinking like there is not one size that fits all. Don't put pressure on yourself as a parent to think that, there's only one path for each of your kiddos. So I think that really opened my mind to looking at education very differently.

Timmy Eaton

I feel like what you're describing is at the heart of a homeschool philosophy. Just the idea of going there and doing something totally unconventional and different. What about language? What was language like?

Kait Feriante

I learned Albanian, I became fluent. I went to Albanian school and also just learned outside playing with my friends. So also having that opportunity to, learn another language really just by immersion. Really for the most part was also I think really marked me as a human and is something that. I think whenever kids can get access to experience in other cultures, and even if you don't get to live in another country, learning another language teaches you a lot about again, just expanding your worldview and how to view things more dynamically versus just through one perspective.

Timmy Eaton

We didn't talk about this, but I'm assuming that your work stems somewhat from your own experience with your own child. Tell us how you got into learning and behavior, specialist and then also, how did you find out about your child and take us through that little journey.

Kait Feriante

For sure. So actually I would say most people in dyslexia education. It started with them having a child and through that journey then they found their way into that profession. For me it was a little bit different. I also actually dropped out of high school, at the age of 15, when we moved back to the states, I did one year at public. Rural central Illinois high school and just was really struggling. It was just a big culture shock. Everyone had been at that school from when they were kindergarten on up, and I just felt like such an oddball. So I stopped high school early and just started right into community college. I would say in that same time of my life, I learned that I loved working with kids. So I, I was babysitting all the time. I was, being a part of community organizations and I really enjoyed being around kids. They made me laugh. I think they're so honest. I just really like them, like being around them and really found myself energized by investing in the next generation. And so I went to community college and then. State school and became a special education teacher, really with a desire to help kids who often fall through the cracks. And in this similar vein of helping kids see their own brilliance, especially kids who may be in a more traditional learning environment, feel unseen or feel dumb or feel like they can't achieve. Yeah. So I started my career in public education. Then my husband got accepted into Teach for America. So we moved up to Chicago from rural Illinois and we had classrooms right next to each other and taught in Chicago public schools and then a charter network for many years. So then I got to experience. Really got to my first CPS classroom, and I had, like, all of my kids in my self-contained room could not read independently. And these were sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. So I was young and passionate and wanted to make a difference, but I did not know how to teach middle schoolers how to read from the ground up. And so those first students really taught me what dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia were how they were misunderstood and how hard it is. To get, especially if you are, if you don't have parents who know about it already or who are very attuned to your educational experience, you can really fly under the radar for a long time. And if you don't get support, school and learning and achievement can just feel so hard, and depending on what else is hard in your life, it can really compound. It's estimated that 80% of US inmates in our criminal justice system are illiterate and have unidentified learning differences. So obviously that's not the only route that illiteracy leads you, but there's a really strong overlap between feeling like you can't succeed in school especially.'cause that's what we ask kids to invest like the first, 10, 15 years of their life in, it's just, it can have a really big impact on mental health and really their future trajectory. So I. Through my research that there were credible evidence-based tools that completely changed the game for this type of brain type. I was sold and I became a dyslexia specialist. My husband then became a dyslexia specialist. And then we started a private practice first that then grew into what is now Redwood literacy. We're heading into, this is our eighth school year of programming. So we're still new, but not brand new. And we service kids all over the United States now through our online services and products. And we're really focused on empowering parents and school, members, community members, to understand dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia more thoroughly. And then to know how to support kids and individuals in their life who have this beautiful brain type because. It can feel in school, like it's something that's wrong with you. But again, especially in this community, the dyslexic brain is brilliant and it's actually predicted now, especially as we see, education is changing right now. The workforce is changing drastically on what skills are required and, there's a lot of actual, recruitment that happens, finding folks who have these wirings because there are different strengths that come, with having this kind of brain. If we can empower our kids with this wiring, they have skills that we desperately need in society.

Timmy Eaton

Man, that was awesome. There's a few things I just wanna pull out of that. One, just clarification what you call it, CPS.

Kait Feriante

Oh, Chicago Public Schools. We taught on the south side of Chicago first and then the west side. Our first placement was Marquette Park right next to Englewood. Okay. And then then we were in DRW College Prep in, lawndale

Timmy Eaton

I was thinking about first of all from your own experience, I thought it was just cool that like you came back from Europe and then you went to school. And that's kinda a homeschool move too. Like you went right to community school and yep. And so did you get a diploma through that or did you not need it?

Kait Feriante

I still do not have a high school diploma.

Timmy Eaton

You just learned and found routes that just led to what you wanted to do with, and that's so cool to hear you say that. Because the world that I, deal with all the time, homeschoolers, that's what we're always finding. There's ways to do stuff and I think that points to what you're talking about with I. This idea of kids leaving the system feeling like they're dumb or whatever. I had an episode with a guy like a month ago, and he was talking about a DHD and he gave stats on how many people in prison have a DHD. And I'm thinking with what you said and with what he said. To me that's probably more a reflection of the system that isn't equipped to handle and to direct and guide these individuals. And we chalk it up to behavior issues or these kids are messed up or whatever. And it's really we're not equipped to deal with them effectively enough to channel them in the right direction. So that's really cool work that you're doing. So can you break down dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia? Because our listeners, it's the likelihood that we have children or people that we know, friends or whatever, that experience this, but might not have the tools to identify it.

Kait Feriante

You can get really technical with all these definitions. The International Dyslexia Association just released a brand new definition of dyslexia that they took, I don't know, at least a year working on, they got, public opinion from folks all over the world. So you can dig deep into this. I'm gonna keep it high level for this conversation, in the United States. Across most states, every state's a little bit different, if your child is struggling academically in school with reading, writing, or math, they can get tested through the state or you can pay for it privately. And what you will often get back is a diagnosis of specific learning disability in reading, specific learning disability in math, is helpful to a degree'cause it identifies through credible testing, which is flawed, but still gives you great information. You're, you're a test score doesn't define your child, but

Timmy Eaton

you

Kait Feriante

can't be afraid of test scores. You can't deny that they're helping you understand. I just view assessments at it is just a helpful process. Long as

Timmy Eaton

Yeah. It's info.

Kait Feriante

Info. Yep. And then what you do with that info, and how you think about it and how you message it to your child. There's a lot of nuance there. Dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia are credible. I, actual diagnoses that have definitions attached with them that help people understand. It goes a little bit deeper than just the specific learning disability in reading, because if, reading is a complex skill, right? Writing is a complex skill. Math you're doing a lot of different things at a time, especially as you progress, right? And so what Redwood is really focused on is building foundational academic skills because let's say you have a DHD and dyslexia, which by the way, there's like a 50% overlap with those two. So if your child has a DHD, there's a 50% chance that they have dyslexia as well. And these are labels that are very imperfect and they're labels because they are the type of learner. That our traditional educational systems don't service as well with how they're designed. And so we have to identify these kids and label them, which again, you can view as negative, but you also can view as like the label in and of itself doesn't mean anything bad. Like having an A DHD brain, again, you can do things that non A DHD brains can't, so it's not a problem. But

Timmy Eaton

it

Kait Feriante

is an identification and I think if you look at, these definitions are derived from the system, which is looking at the public education or the way that we do things for all kids as the standard, which again, in this community we know there isn't a standard kid. You have kids who are really book smart, but really struggle socially. And you have kids who are really naturally like charismatic and connect with anyone, but you give them a book or a math worksheet and they're gonna just. Crumble. So dyslexia is a specific learning disability in reading, and it's a brain type. So now with brain scans, we can see there a dyslexic brain looks a little bit different than a non dyslexic brain. And the pathways that you have as a dyslexic learner are different. And there are some things that you can do better than non dyslexic brains. And there are some things that are a lot harder, like learning how to read. So dyscalculia is that for math. Foundational math skills and then dysgraphia. Is that for writing? That's probably the simplest way to think about it.

Timmy Eaton

That's

Kait Feriante

really helpful. For any listeners who want more technical definitions, international Dyslexia Association is a great place to start. Or we also have a lot of information on our website and our blogs we've now helped thousands of families and are really pulling from a pretty diverse data set of, older kids who don't get diagnosed until later in their educational journey all the way to. The four year olds and five-year-olds who, dyslexia runs in family. So if a family is really aware that this is something that's probably gonna be hard for their child, the earlier you start getting that support in place the journey tends to be a little bit shorter and a little bit easier.

Timmy Eaton

Very cool. And I just encourage all listeners to go there'cause that's such a great resource. Redwood literacy.com. So the thing that, like you said, 50% of those that e experience A DHD also experience some level of dyslexia

Kait Feriante

it's a general stat, but we found it to be, it's pretty credible that there's a, there's about a 50% overlap.

Timmy Eaton

And is there a likelihood or relationship between if you experience dyslexia, that you'll experience dysgraphia or dyscalculia?

Kait Feriante

Similar in the sense that, for example, my daughter has dyslexia and dyscalculia and dysgraphia. Really? She has all three. So it depends. You never want to assume that a child is going to have one if they have the other. But also it's good to screen for all, especially if you know that this runs in your family.'cause it is genetic.

Timmy Eaton

Where does it become like totally evident that it's like you've hit the line where you're not just struggling with reading or you're not just struggling with math, or you're not just struggling with writing, but there's like an actual thing going on here where it becomes identifiable as one of those three, dyslexia or whatever.

Kait Feriante

I love that question again, with this community specifically. Obviously, number one, it's about who is your child and what do they need most? So it's always starts with the whole person. And I think, again, that's something that's, this community gets right really well. I also think I experience in the homeschooling community. Sometimes a real resistance to getting help early be and not always.

Timmy Eaton

Yeah.

Kait Feriante

But there's kinda this idea like, kids learn at different paces this place. Part of what's wrong with public education is that we're expecting kids. So it's not that you're wrong, but what I'll say is this, with good screeners which are accessible, you can find free screeners online. Free is great. It usually has some limitations to it, but you can get some good information that way. We have really accessible screeners for$300 that come with a comprehensive report all the way up to a neuropsychologist who can give you a full evaluation. So there's a lot of options. To you can start anywhere on that spectrum. But identify if your child is struggling with gaining foundational academic skills with like basic instruction. So let's say you have your favorite homeschool, reading CU curriculum, or your favorite math curriculum, and you are starting your child on that scope and sequence and they are not getting it. Regardless of if it's dyslexia or dysgraphic or dyscalculia or not,

Timmy Eaton

it's something.

Kait Feriante

It's something. And the sooner we can get our kids access to foundational academic skills, the sooner they are free to pursue their passions and their dreams and their areas of expertise. But if you don't give kids foundational academic skills, they're gonna struggle more in the real world. And as I look to the next 20 years. I think foundational academic skills are probably gonna change a little bit by what we mean when we say that. Just with the way that, AI is changing things and technology I think that this idea of foundational academic skills has to stay flexible in order for us to stay relevant and at the end of the day. No matter what your philosophy is or what your kids' dreams are, or what your dreams are for your kids, without foundational academic skills, they are at a disadvantage and with a little bit of specialization. It doesn't have to be this whole revamping of your homeschool curriculum. You can still use your favorite programs, but a little bit of specialized supplemental support can just go such a long way.

Timmy Eaton

Yeah I like how you said that. And see if I have this accurate, and not that all homeschool families are alike or public families are alike but in the public school, it's like this system's not set up. And so we actually want the label and we want the diagnosis and then homeschoolers could stereotypically take it the other route and go. No dude would just be with your kids love them and things are gonna work out. And you could have actually improved their experience.

Kait Feriante

If you read to your child every day, it's only gonna benefit them. Okay. So it's a beautiful thing to do for so many reasons. Time together, the attachment, you're building background knowledge, you're building vocabulary, you're building oral language fluency, all sorts of really, like wonderful things can happen in read alouds. I will say there's a bit of a misconception that if I'm reading a lot to my kids, then that's the most important thing and they're not gonna struggle as long as I do that dyslexia is gonna show its head, even if you're reading to your kids every day, because there's a difference, right? If they're listening to you read aloud, those things I just mentioned, you're giving them, but you're not giving them the skill of figuring out what words say. Understanding, roots and prefixes and suffixes, and understanding how to decode and encode independently, right? Which is a part of foundational reading. Again, not the whole part, but it is a key part of it yes. Read to your kids. And we don't want them to be frustrated with any of those with reading is so vital. Writing is so vital. Foundational math skills are so vital to being an independent, confident human who's able to navigate the world. And so you don't want them to have to struggle in these things if they don't have to.

Timmy Eaton

So then tell us what you guys do like at Redwood Literacy. How did you and your husband decide that? And tell us how you got going into it, and then we can talk about the details of what you offer.

Kait Feriante

We spent 15 years in education. Redwood has been a part of that 15 years, but it's been one, a joint effort. It's been a huge part of our work in the world collectively. And once we saw how many of our middle school and high school students in Chicago did not have foundational. Skills and once we saw how specialized instruction could really change the trajectory of a student's life, if they got access to it, we were hooked if we can focus our work on making sure every student has access to foundational academic skills and more importantly then that. The first thing we do when a student comes to Redwood is we build a relationship with them and we understand what are their strengths and how do we help them understand themselves as a learner without feeling shame? Because if they're not bought into the process, if they don't think they can do it, and especially if you're in high school and you still can't read, you've experienced a lot of failure. And so first part of rewiring a student's brain is helping them see what this is, what it isn't, that there is support that's actually gonna help them and that they can do it. So it's restoring that confidence. And once we saw like the power of restoring a kid's confidence. Matched with the right specialized instruction at their right level to truly help them fill in those foundational academic skill gaps. We were pretty hooked on this is what we wanna do. So we started Redwood in 2018. We rented a storefront a few minutes from where we were living at the time in Rogers Park, Chicago. We launched with a six week summer camp. We were already working with students one-on-one. But we launched a six week summer camp. We had 25 kids with us that first summer. And at the end of the six weeks, 10 of the families, 10 out of those 25 families came to us and said, our children have made more progress in this last six weeks than they have the entire previous school year. They did something like you're saying they thought outside the box. Yeah. And two weeks before the school year started, they asked us to just keep going and basically turn it into a one room schoolhouse.

Timmy Eaton

How did that feel? How did that feel for you guys? That's so reinforcing to be like, dude, this is working.

Kait Feriante

It was very much this is working. Which we knew'cause we had been working with students. So we had already seen oh this is really working. But then yes, to have a whole parent community believe in us so much to say we're gonna pull our kids out of traditional, school and do something very outside the box. So that was the first year. And then, we've grown as an organization over the last eight years.

Timmy Eaton

That's a huge step for people to take, especially when their kids are struggling with something. And the evolution of that, if I understand, is when you were teaching in the public system in Chicago you just recognized this. So you had tastes of it here and there, but then you guys formalized it more so what were you doing in that six weeks?'Cause the families were like, what's happening? This is a huge change.

Kait Feriante

I think number one, redwood is built on this idea that, again, like I just mentioned, that you have to start with the whole person and that every student is different. You can't make assumptions about who they are, what they can do, what they can't do, no matter what behavior they're, showing no matter what their belief in themselves is. So I think Redwood has done a really amazing job, and even as we've grown, we, we've preserved that in our culture. We have, every single session students work on academics, which I'll get to in a minute. But we start with something called the six success attributes, which are based on frost digs research. So it was a 20 year longitudinal study that followed neurodivergent kids specifically and said, what are the six non-academic attributes that most set these kids up for success? And so they're things like goal setting and emotional regulation, and knowing how to use your Reese. Sources. So that type of instruction is first and foremost again, understanding yourself as a learner, learning how to respectfully self-advocate for what you need, learning how to ask for help. Learning how to fail without getting frustrated, but recognizing that as part of the process. So that's an explicit part of our instruction, and all of our instructors are highly trained in how to do that with kids. And we have a resource for parents. If parents listening are interested in those success attributes, we have 15 minute lessons that you can just do around the kitchen table. They're very informal. They're designed for busy parents, but who want to have some support these are skills we work on with our kids. Yeah. But to have some explicit instruction happening on exactly what these things are. So that's a part of it. But then the academic piece, if you're working on a foundation of trust and built relationship with the student, and obviously collaborating with their family and their caretakers to understand what are the goals for this student? What are the goals of this family?'cause not everybody's goals are the same. And we have wide academic tool belt of specialized programs for dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia. So things like for reading, we have a team that's all certified in the Wilson Reading System. That's the program that my husband and I are certified in. They've been around for a long time and they're a phenomenal program. They don't work for every kid, but they work for a lot of kids. We also have a reading department that uses spell links, which is a speech to print approach, and for anyone listening who kinda knows who's got a kid with dyslexia and has probably done some of this research.

Timmy Eaton

Yeah.

Kait Feriante

Print a speech or speech to print. There's no one way to teach a child with dyslexia, dysgraphic, dyscalculia. And I think sometimes in this space, you can feel like I gotta find the best one or the one that worked, and there isn't a one size fits all. And so we've been passionate from the get-go of cultivating a tool belt of specialized approaches so that every student that comes to us, we can try one based on preliminary data, but then have something else to try if we're just not seeing that exponential progress.

Timmy Eaton

This first experiment was all in person with these kids, right?

Kait Feriante

Yes. Now the majority of students we work with are online. But the original program in Chicago, which is still going is in person. We have several in-person programs in Chicago.

Timmy Eaton

Cool.'cause I was wondering there probably is something to that, like very personal touch and something like this. And then what about the willingness of the student? Like how much does that play into one's progress?

Kait Feriante

Obviously the student has to be bought in when they're younger. It's easier for us to have incentives and games and that, go about it, that route as they get older, middle school, high school, and I would say for all students, what I have found to be the most effective tool for getting that student buy-in, which is crucial, is progress. If they. Can feel success and real progress in something that they have felt so much failure in. They're like, I wanna do more. Yeah,

Timmy Eaton

that's a dopamine hit, man.

Kait Feriante

And it's a powerful dopamine hit. It's something that they've gotten so used to not being good at. And so that's really what I tell our teachers. And when, I was teaching up until a few years ago, I've worked with a lot of Redwood students. And it's like you do whatever it takes in those first 30 days to get some big wins.

Timmy Eaton

Yes.

Kait Feriante

Then the flywheel's gonna start moving. And for some kids, it's a long process. For some kids it's not, dyslexia, dys, discrepancy, dys calculated, they're on a spectrum. I would say. My daughter is on a more severe side of a spectrum. I've worked with a lot of kids who, they need a little bit of help and then they're ready to go. So that's another part of the conversation. But some kids really have to put in several years of work to get a solid grasp of those foundational academic skills. And so all along the way, you have to be really mindful that they're experiencing success and they're seeing some of those milestones cross. And that's what we found to be the most effective tool.

Timmy Eaton

Do we know much about, those learning differences like dyslexia and dysgraphia, how much of that is like genetic or how much of that is environmental

Kait Feriante

They are genetic, so they tend to run in families. So my husband has dyslexia, our daughter has dyslexia. We can trace it back. Environment I would say based on my understanding and my kind of the research that I've followed throughout this whole journey environment definitely impacts foundational academic skills, right? But environment doesn't. Directly impact having Yeah. Brain wiring. It can be genetic, but it's not environmental. Yeah. So to your point, like I'll talk to moms who are like, I read to my kid, like you said, from when they were in the womb every night, why is my kid not reading? And it's it's not an environmental

Timmy Eaton

issue. Yeah. You go, that's awesome. And keep doing that. But we're talking about some things that need some attention. One thing I was thinking was I've had exposure to people not with much education like you bring to the table who have dyslexia or a DHD or something like that, and. A difference like we've been saying. And and my sense is that like these people are like really successful entrepreneurs. Because whereas you and I might see one way to accomplish something, your husband and your daughter might go do it. I see. Four potential ways to do this. But then sometimes I jump the gun and I just go, oh, sweet. Your kid has dyslexia. They're gonna be a millionaire. You know what I'm saying? But I have seen like these brilliant people and I guess I wonder, I guess so here comes my question, I wonder how many kids. We're nurtured in a way and what control do we have to nurture them to that potential development rather than how many kids have we sent to the prisons? That we did not prepare and celebrate their differences in a way that leads them because when they figure it out, man. They have some skills and gifts that I don't possess, and they can do a lot with that.

Kait Feriante

I couldn't agree more. That goes back to those frost eggs attributes, and I try to walk the line'cause I always want what I say. It's obviously coming from experience and passion, but I also want it to be grounded with RU research shows. I'm trying to always walk that line. And research in and of itself is a flawed system, but it's, again, gives us good information. So I wanna stay away from anything sensational, but I'll say this, i've worked now personally with hundreds of individuals with dyslexia. We're pulling from a pretty big data set. And yes, dyslexic brains, these are a couple interesting facts. It's estimated these are all estimations, but credible estimations that a dyslexic brain can summon 1500 images per second versus a non dyslexic brain around 500. Three times. Three times the amount of visuals. And I like to use the example of,, in my experience, the majority of individuals with dyslexia have incredible three dimensional thinking. And I've heard that NASA actually recruits dyslexic thinkers because, and my husband who's dyslexic, he's an incredible designer. So he was designing a music studio,'cause he's also a musician and he just sat in the empty room for five hours. And I was like, what are you doing? You're not doing anything.'cause when I'm working I'm like, boop boo. I'm like that. And he was just looking and just building the visuals in his head. And then it looked like he wasn't doing anything, but actually he was creating this entire interior world. But then he was able to get out in paper and it was much more developed than what I would've put out on paper the first time. Wow. So with the homeschooling community I'm probably already talking to parents who believe this because they've already decided to go a more outside the box individualized education route. And it's all about first identifying what is your kid really great at, and how do we fuel those strengths? Because all of us rely on our strengths. I'm really good at some things and I'm really bad at. Some things, and then I can do some things in the middle, right? And so if your child if they have a dyslexic brain, the three-dimensional thinking is probably on fire. So how do we help them really lean into that and maximize that? The two dimensional side of their brain is probably gonna need some support. My two-dimensional side, I can read fast, I can do math fast. All of that comes much more easily to me. And one is not better than the other. It's just, in more traditional school settings, we elevate certain types of intelligences over others. A lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of artists, a lot of athletes are dyslexic because they have different skill sets, different strengths that then they learn how to capitalize on.

Timmy Eaton

And how many don't know that? That's the thing that I wonder is like How many people I don't know if the word is undiagnosed or just don't know about themselves.

Kait Feriante

A lot of people, because it's expensive to get diagnosed, there's often a greater demand than there is supply in certain regions. Depending on where you live. It's hard to find someone my sister has dyslexia and she didn't really find out until she was an adult and she still talks about it, several years later. Now, that moment when. She was given language for something that she had always felt. And how it changed everything for her.'cause she's like, I just thought that something was wrong with me for all these years and I didn't understand why I had to work harder than my classmates to achieve the same level. And she's like, once I got that language, I felt empowered. And so in my opinion, get it figured out.

Timmy Eaton

Just, everybody should do it. Why not just all of us learn about ourselves? I have two examples, real just short ones. I interviewed this guy a while back and he was talking about a DH adhd. And he didn't find out until he was 37. He was meeting with his therapist and his therapist basically said, Hey, so when are we gonna talk about your A DHD? And he is my what? And he is what? He's you don't know. He just couldn't believe it. He's you are classic man. And he was 37, 38 years old. And then he had already been quite successful, but then it channeled it and he knew how to like, manipulate that to, to his benefit, and my wife, I dunno if you know the Enneagram, but my wife, when she did the Enneagram and learned that she was a classic five researcher, it just made so much sense of her life. And so the principle there is. When you discover about yourself, you don't wonder as much and you celebrate it and you can enhance like your sister. And so why not all of us just do something about it instead of guess?

Kait Feriante

I think giving language, it might be scary. Because maybe she didn't wanna be an Enneagram five, but you have to be brave enough to look in the mirror and see what's actually true. And I think sometimes like the fear can stop us from doing that, but I really believe. That, especially if parents will are willing to take that step for their kids, it's gonna pay off. It's gonna pay off well,

Timmy Eaton

yeah. I just see it blessing your life forever the more you learn about yourself and not to feel pigeonholed by it or no limited or confined, but that. If anything it'll allow you to break through convention. It'll allow you to break through things. Just like to commend you, like you can totally see how you understand the homeschool world and I think you're navigating that perfectly, like what you're doing with education. So thank you. But maybe just in closing, tell us like what do you guys have that, that, you've said a few things, but just like in a nutshell. What do you guys offer? And then people can go to your website and check it out in more detail.

Kait Feriante

So one, we have a free parent support program. So if you're listening, you've got a child. Any age we work with kindergarten all the way up through college students. So really any age if you think they might be struggling with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, we've got a free parent support course that just walks you through the steps that we recommend you take and I really believe it can make the whole process feel less overwhelming. We also have a written expression curriculum that is of. Full scope and sequence of skills that takes any individual with dyslexia or dysgraphia through sentence level, all the way up to multi-paragraph essays. So I really believe that everybody needs to know how to write and express themselves through writing. I believe it can change the world. I believe it really fosters critical thinking and empathy and really important things for the next generation. So if you're wanting to make sure that your child, no matter how they're wired, has basic expository writing skills, which are the foundation for all written expression writing our world is a phenomenal tool. And then we provide direct assessment. So like I mentioned,$300 will get you a live with a redwood specialist. You can screen for dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia. We're able to get you a written report on next steps. And then again, you have the language, you have the data. From there, you decide what to do with it. There are a lot of options. But you have the language. And then we provide direct tutoring services. So if you decide that you want to get some of that specialized intervention we can set up a plan around your schedule. We have teachers from all over the United States who can match your timeframe, so it fits nicely into a homeschool schedule if you're looking for that kind of specialized support on top of what you're already doing.

Timmy Eaton

And there's no age limit. If I wanted to do that

Kait Feriante

if you are an adult who's curious about what your skills are definitely reach out to us and we can administer a screener that can give you some great information.

Timmy Eaton

And how are people finding out about you? Like, how do they get to the point where they just pull the trigger and they go, this is what I've been looking for.

Kait Feriante

You'll be amazed at how many Google search terms are dyslexia help near me because it's common and if it's not supported well, it often means your child is struggling. So we've got a lot of moms and dads, mostly moms reaching out to. Just saying, Hey, I need help. We work with a lot of schools and neuropsychologists to have kind of mutual, referrals to help families get comprehensive support. And then things like this, conversations like this, I'm really grateful for this opportunity. Yeah. Just to have this conversation and get the word out about what we do.

Timmy Eaton

Thank you so much. That was awesome. This is Kate Ante again, you guys. Redwood Literacy, check it out. Redwood literacy.com and maybe we'll get together again sometime.

Kait Feriante

Sounds great.

Timmy Eaton

Thank you, Tim. Okay. Thank you very much. That wraps up another edition of this Golden Hour podcast. If you haven't done so already, I would totally appreciate it if you would take a minute and give us a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. It helps out a lot, and if you've done that already, thank you much. Please consider sharing this show with friends and family members that you think would get something out of it. And thank you for listening and for your support. I'm your host, Tim Eaton. Until next time, remember to cherish this golden hour with your children and family.