Why a Dyslexia Diagnosis Matters (And How to Talk to Your Child About It)

Is it time to get your child tested for dyslexia? And if so, how do you explain it to them?

In this episode of Dyslexia Decoded by StrongMinds, I’m diving into one of the biggest questions parents wrestle with—when (and how) to seek a dyslexia diagnosis. Here’s the truth: your child already knows they’re different. They don’t need you to tell them reading is hard—they live that reality every day. What they do need is an explanation, a plan, and encouragement that they are not broken—just wired differently.

We’ll talk about:

✅ Why “wait and see” is a risky approach (spoiler: kids aren’t popcorn, and some kernels just burn)

✅ The realities of getting a diagnosis—costs, school assessments, and alternative options

✅ Why early intervention matters and how a diagnosis can unlock the right support

✅ How to talk to your child about dyslexia in a way that’s empowering, not discouraging

Dyslexia is not a problem to be fixed—it’s a way of thinking that needs to be understood. The sooner you know, the sooner you can help your child thrive.

Listen in, and let’s decode dyslexia together!

🔗 Plus, check this link for my free dyslexia screening checklist!

The Educational Psychologist who diagnosed me was Amy Noall at https://thescholarsgrove.com/

Thank you for listening to Dyslexia Decoded! Remember, every journey begins with a single step, and progress always beats perfection.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if you found this story inspiring, please share it with someone who might need to hear it.

Until next time, stay strong, stay curious, and stay fearless. 💚

Transcript

0:01

Hey there, You've tuned into dyslexia, decoded by strong minds, the go-to spot for uncovering the superpowers of dyslexic minds, boosting, homeschooling, adventures, and empowering educators. I am teacher Maggie, ready to rock the world of reading and learning with you. Today we're tackling a big question. Many parents wrestle with, should I get my child tested for dyslexia, and if so, how do I talk to my child about it? This is huge, and I've spoke with countless parents and families who just didn't know where to go let's talk about this. I'm really passionate about it and, I've been really excited for this episode. All week I've been thinking about it, writing notes, and just working and reworking what I wanna share today. I have so much to share and I'm so excited to get started. So the thing is, your child already knows they're different. They don't need you to tell them that they're struggling to read. They live with it every day. What they do need is an explanation that makes sense, a light that shows them that they're different, not less a plan that helps and a little encouragement that they're not broken, just wired differently. So let's dive into why getting a diagnosis sooner rather than later can make all the difference. you hear a lot about this, wait and see. This is advice that schools give when they don't know what else to do. sometimes if you wait, maybe things will get better, but just waiting and continuing to do the same things you've always done is not gonna produce different results. I am seeing retention become more and more part of the conversation. And if a student is in kindergarten and they don't learn to read that first year doing the same exact curriculum, the next year is not going to produce different results. It's just going to produce a child who feels like there's something wrong with them, that they can't do what their peers are doing. so I'll have a whole nother episode about the research behind retention. It's, very clear that it rarely is appropriate, I saw a meme several years ago, of a giant bucket of popcorn with a quote along the lines of, kids are like popcorn. They all pop at different times, and this sounds nice, right? That it's okay, you know, to be different, and it's just very. Comforting to know, okay, maybe if I just wait, my child will eventually pop and get it right. We can hope, but hope's not gonna get you anywhere in this. let's be real. If you've ever made popcorn, you know that no matter how long you keep it on the heat, some kernels will never pop. They just burn. And what happens then they get tossed in the trash. Oh, but teacher, Maggie, we don't throw children in the trash. Well, that's what happens to so many undiagnosed dyslexic students in our school system. It is hard to think about, but they struggle. They don't get the support that they need, and eventually they get burnt out, their families get burnt out, and when a system burns out a kid. It's society. Society tends to throw them away. This is why dyslexics make up such a disproportionately high percentage of prison population. It's not because dyslexia itself is the problem. It's because the system has failed about 20% of the general population is thought to be dyslexic. And you get really excited to share that 40% of self-made millionaires, entrepreneurs have dyslexia. So you see that discrepancy and it's kind of exciting and empowering to think oh, because you have dyslexia You're more likely to be a millionaire. Well, that's so exciting to share. And I don't ever tell my students, even though it's true, that one study said 70% of inmates at a particular prison had dyslexia. So a student having dyslexia can also make them more likely to end up in prison. like I said, it's not the dyslexia, it's the system. It's not identifying the needs and meeting the needs. There are way more positives than negatives to having a dyslexic brain. I know I live this every day, but when kids go undiagnosed for too long or forever, it can lead to years of frustration, low self-esteem, and missed opportunities. I know, I lived it. School was not just frustrating, it was traumatic. My self-esteem was probably as low as it could get as a child. I could not imagine living to be 16 years old. And another sad statistic is the high rates of misspellings in suicide letters. It's sickening, but it can't be ignored. So if you've been told to just wait and see, I want you to think about that popcorn. Do you want to give your child the tools they need to thrive? Or do you wanna risk letting them burn out while waiting for something that's never going to click on its own? So here is the reality of getting a diagnosis. you are maybe convinced, like, okay, maybe we need to find out if it is dyslexia, right? But it's not as easy as it sounds. So let's come to the reality of actually getting a diagnosis. It's not hard to convince you that getting assessed is probably a good thing. But the world isn't making it easy right now, so getting an official diagnosis, most of the time you wanna go through a PhD, an educational psychologist, but it can be really crazy expensive. We're talking thousands of dollars and insurance doesn't always cover it, The other option is to go through the school to get assessed with your local school. But I know firsthand as I used to work inside the system that school assessments can be very unreliable. And I'll never forget the day a school psychologist told me that if dyslexia was real, it would be very rare. Ugh. I had no idea at the time I was a new teacher and all I knew was that every year I had students who struggled way more than I could help them. I would try everything, and I couldn't do anything to reach just a handful of students every year. later on I saw these students grow up and eventually many of them did get diagnosed with dyslexia, that very rare dyslexia as I was told. And, some of them I saw go through interventions and get caught up. And some of them I was Even able to work with myself in an Orton-Gillingham structured reading program and get their reading skills caught up. It was amazing. if you are feeling like the formal diagnosis route is overwhelming, you're not alone. And if you're questioning whether your school system actually understands dyslexia. You are probably not wrong. So what do you do? Where do you start? For many families, an informal screening with a reading specialist is an adequate first step. you can Google or there's so many, reading practices out there that have a checklist you can go over for a start. I have one that I've created. I'll put a link to it in the comments. But a reading specialist can also do a soft assessment and pinpoint pretty early on, if your student is likely to have dyslexia, where of course only a doctor can diagnose. a lot of interventionists can pinpoint pretty quickly if your student is just struggling to read or if they are dealing with something more significant. However, if your child is in public school or planning to go to college someday, an official diagnosis will eventually be important for advocacy, especially for getting accommodations, like extra time on tests or assistive technology. There are people that suggest that if a child gets intervention before they get a diagnosis, there is a chance their dyslexia could be masked and they would not be able to actually get an accurate diagnosis. I am personally a little skeptical of this as I myself was diagnosed with dyslexia. As an adult by an educational psychologist, I just broke down and paid the cash. 'cause I wanted to know, I didn't want to feel like I was being an imposter where I saw myself and all of the students I was working with, at the time, I was working with mainly dyslexic students. I was like, this is me and this is me, and this is me. I related too much and I wanted to say I'm dyslexic too, but I did it. Wanna lie. I didn't. I was like afraid. maybe I am just not very smart. Like what I was told my whole life was true. Maybe it. I'm just not as smart as other people, but to find out to do the full assessment, it was multiple days, hours long to find out that I was actually dyslexic was such a relief. There was a reason for the struggles I had, and it just felt way more better than I can quantify for you right now. But, so I was assessed and diagnosed with dyslexia. Not after getting intervention myself, but I was providing intervention. I was way more into this content than my students are, I was working with dozens of students through these structured Orton-Gillingham processes, through Kilpatrick phonemic awareness. my psychologist was amazing. she does virtual work, so if you message me and ask for her contact, I will send you her way. she's a PhD psychologist and I was just so impressed. kind of nerded out over the types of stuff we did in the assessment and they were, was able to identify my dyslexia, which was super cool. And so having intervention. May or may not make it more difficult to diagnose you. So I do want to bring up that dyslexia intervention, treats symptoms. It can make the hard parts of dyslexia easier, but it's not a cure. Dyslexia doesn't need a cure because it's not a disease. Once dyslexic, always dyslexic, and that's not a bad thing. There are way more positives than negatives to having a dyslexic brain on a regular basis. I see my brain working differently and I just laugh and say, oh, hello, dyslexia, If I'm tired or rushed, my spelling can be hilariously bad, but when I slow down and use the strategies that I. Work with my students, the ones I've developed or learned from, I can spell incredibly well. unlike a non dyslexic person, spelling will never be second nature to me. But that's okay. So next I wanna talk to you about how to talk to your child about dyslexia. So you've decided to get your child screened or diagnosed. Now what? How do you tell them? first of all, don't sit them down like it's this serious life changing conversation. This isn't bad news. It's good news. normalize it. Here are a few key things to keep in mind during this conversation. Keep in mind that your child already knows that they're different. You are not telling them anything new. They already feel it every day when reading feels hard, when spelling is impossible. When they wonder why their friends can read effortlessly while they struggle. What you are giving them is an explanation to why school has been so challenging. Next, you wanna Emphasize their strengths. Dyslexic brains work differently, not wrongly. Point out their creativity, problem solving skills, and unique way of seeing the world. Show them a list of successful dyslexic search. Successful dyslexic on YouTube, there is so many great videos on Tuesday evenings at 5:00 PM Eastern time. I have a small group of 13 to 16 year olds. Actually, I think they're 11 to 16, and we get together and talk about dyslexia. They talk about their experiences, they draw together, they write together. We learn about. Famous people. We learned about resources this last week. We learned all about Speechify and the founder Cliff Wiseman, who is so inspiring Speechify is, a text to speech app. I use it every day. I'll do a whole episode on it very soon because I love Speechify and I think everyone should use it dyslexic or not. But moving on, this is your chance to normalize. Dyslexia. It should be normalized and spoken out to the whole world, but start with your child. Make sure that they know. Dyslexia isn't some rare, mysterious thing. It's super common and many brilliant people have it. Like we were saying before, the successful dyslexics. There are actors, singers, there are doctors, there are lawyers, there's a Supreme Court Justice, there's scientists. Like any field you can think of, I would, I would challenge you to find a field that doesn't have a dyslexic towards the top Give them tools, not just a label. So now they know they have dyslexia. Once you tell them, Don't just leave them there because they're going to need your help to overcome the challenges A diagnosis is helpful, but it's not the whole solution. Talk to them about strategies, accommodations, and interventions that will make learning easier. Let them know sometimes these interventions are painful, they are tedious. It's like the last thing you wanna do in the world, but it's worth it. there are strategies that'll make reading easier. There are accommodations like using voice text or audio books, and also self-advocacy. Right. They can speak up for themselves and what they need to be successful in any situation. as you're talking to them, make sure you keep it positive and future focused. The goal isn't to dwell on the struggles, but to show them that with the right support, they will thrive. dyslexia is not a problem to be fixed. It's a way of thinking to be understood. Getting a diagnosis sooner rather than later helps your child understand why things feel hard and gives you tools to help them succeed. dyslexia is not a problem that needs to be fixed. It's a way of thinking that needs to be understood. Getting a diagnosis sooner rather than later helps your child understand why things feel so hard right now, and it gives you the tools to help them succeed. when you share this information with them in a way that is positive and empowering, you're not just helping them in school. You're helping them develop confidence in who they are. So parents, if you've been on the fence about testing, consider this your nudge. Take the next step. And if you've been unsure how to talk to your child about it. Just remember, they already know they're different. What they need is for you to help them understand why and to remind them that different is awesome. Until next time, keep advocating, keep learning, and keep celebrating the incredible ways dyslexic minds work. see you next episode.