Dyslexia, Clearly Explained

Reading struggles can hide in plain sight, especially when a child is bright, curious, and trying twice as hard as everyone else. We get specific about what dyslexia is from a research-based definition and we clear away the most common myths: it is not poor eyesight, not laziness, not a lack of opportunity, and not a reflection of IQ. The clue we keep coming back to is “unexpected underachievement” and what it should prompt parents and educators to do next.

We walk through early signs of dyslexia you can notice in preschool and the early grades, like difficulty with rhyming, pronunciation, vocabulary growth, and connecting letters to sounds. From there, we explain what a strong dyslexia evaluation looks for, including reading accuracy, reading fluency, spelling, and the role of phonological decoding. We also talk about why nonsense words (pseudo-words) are so useful: they show whether a student can truly map letters to sounds instead of relying on memorization.

Then we shift into solutions. We outline what structured literacy instruction includes, why Orton-Gillingham style teaching is effective, and how Wilson Fundations can build skills step by step. We also share real-world accommodations and assistive technology for students with dyslexia, including audiobooks, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, Bookshare, Learning Ally, and classroom supports that protect confidence while skills catch up.

If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a parent or teacher who needs it, and leave a quick review so more families can find practical dyslexia support.

Resources:

Overcoming Dyslexia (2020 Edition): Second Edition, Completely Revised and Updated: Shaywitz M.D., Sally: 9780679781592: Amazon.com: Books - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679781595/?bestFormat=true&k=overcoming%20dyslexia%20by%20dr.%20sally%20shaywitz&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-bk-ser_k2_1_19_de&crid=3T5SRZVL15BRB&sprefix=overcoming%20dyslexia

Signs of Dyslexia Preschool and Elementary Handout with Plan of Action RTI, MTSS - https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Signs-of-Dyslexia-Preschool-and-Elementary-Handout-with-Plan-of-Action-RTI-MTSS-4241626

Fundations® - Wilson Language Training - https://www.wilsonlanguage.com/programs/fundations/

FACT SHEET 3 - International Dyslexia Association - https://dyslexiaida.org/fact-sheet-3/

AT Toolbox – Assistive Technology Tools for Learning Differences, ADHD, and Executive Function Challenges | Technology to Unlock Potential™ - https://techpotential.net/attoolbox

Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain: Wolf, Maryanne: 9780060933845: Amazon.com: Books - https://www.amazon.com/Proust-Squid-Story-Science-Reading/dp/0060933844

Amazon.com : the dyslexia advantage - https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dyslexia+advantage&i=stripbooks&crid=38FU4Z3ZP5VXW&sprefix=the+dyslexia+advanta%2Cstripbooks%2C593&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

K-6 Literacy, Science, Reading, & Teaching Resources | Learning A-Z - https://www.learninga-z.com/

DIBELS 8th Edition Materials | DIBELS® - https://dibels.uoregon.edu/materials/dibels

Spelling City - LearningWorks for Kids - https://learningworksforkids.com/apps/spelling-city/

Spelling City Shut Down? Here's What to Use Instead (2026) | SpellingJoy - https://spellingjoy.com/best-apps/spellingcity-shut-down-alternatives

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Transcript

Welcome And Why Dyslexia Matters

Tonya 0:04

Welcome to Educate Me Well, the podcast that brings faith and education together. Hi, I'm Tonya, and I'm so glad you're here. Last episode, I did a book review on Sally Rippin's book, Wild Things. It talked about her son that had dyslexia and ADHD. And so I promised that this episode today that I would talk about dyslexia.

A Clear Definition Of Dyslexia

Tonya 0:41

What is dyslexia? The IDA definition says that dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin and it is characterized by difficulties with accurate and or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities .

What Dyslexia Is Not

Tonya 2:05

Dyslexia is not, and this is not from the IDA definition, but dyslexia is not caused by poor eyesight or hearing problems. It is not seeing words and letters backwards. I know a lot of people think that, but that is, it could be true, but it's not necessarily true. Sometimes it's a lack of readiness. Dyslexia is not a developmental disability that affects the IQ. And we'll talk more about IQ later. It is not acquired alexia, aphasia, or anomia. These are caused by some type of head injury, like a stroke or something like that. It is also not a degenerative disease. It is not lack of educational opportunity. In fact, they are working harder than most anyone else in the room, to be honest with you. It is also not the result of a lack of effort or laziness on the part of the student, although it may appear that way if they give up. It is also not a medical condition. Dyslexia is in every country of the world, not just in English-speaking countries.

Early Warning Signs Before School

Tonya 6:10

It is really important when we are looking for signs of dyslexia in children that we look early on and not make the mistake of waiting too long. I have been guilty of this as an educator myself, thinking that a child was developmentally just immature and not ready, and waited just a little bit too long. However, I was able to remediate. So be sure you're not waiting too long. I know the state of Texas requires now that children be evaluated for reading difficulties, including dyslexia in kindergarten. So really there are things that you can look for parents, even way before kindergarten in the preschool in the early childhood years. I have a handout, common signs of dyslexia handout for elementary parents and teachers that I'm gonna put in our resources so that you can check it out. It's on Teacher Pay Teacher, and I think it costs like $2, $4, something like that. Some common signs of dyslexia in this handout that you can look at. And remember, when we're looking at signs of dyslexia, they have to be unexpected for that child's age and educational level or their cognitive abilities. You see a child that is looking really bright and smart, and then they're not catching on to basic reading things. Things like for preschool and kindergarten, it may be, parents, that they're just talking later than most children. They're not talking. Of course, that could also be a lot of other things we know if they have other siblings in the family. They may have difficulty pronouncing words like they may use Busquetti for spaghetti or switch in sounds like P for F. They may be slow to add new vocabulary words, they may have difficulty rhyming, and this is one of the main things early on that you could look for too. They may have difficulty with the alphabet, numbers, days of the week. They may have failure to show a connection to the sounds of letters, and then another big thing to look for if there is a family history of reading problems or dyslexia, a lot of times the children, one of the children at least, will show signs of dyslexia. And I'm not going through all of that handout because that wouldn't be fair to the author. She also includes some common signs of dyslexia for first through third grade. So go check that out. Then some dyslexia reading difficulties plan of action. Check her handout, it's it will really be helpful for you. Another helpful thing if you suspect that your child could possibly have dyslexia, or even if they're having difficulties with the things that I just mentioned. Sally Shaywitz is the expert on dyslexia, and she has written a book called Overcoming Dyslexia, and it's in its second edition. It may be in a further edition now, since I have studied it, but it's been completely revised and updated. And so I would encourage you to go check that out. Now there is a lot of technical things in there, but it is worth checking out and taking your time and looking at if you think your child possibly has a problem that could affect their reading ability. She says, What can a parent do? She said, before when you're identifying children at risk for dyslexia before they experience reading failure, we don't want them to fail. We want to catch it ahead of time. And so she said, one of the things that you could do is observe your child's language development. And I think we just mentioned that a little bit. Look at rhyming, pronunciation, and word finding. If they have trouble picking those words out, they don't know which word to choose. Another thing she says is that know your family history, which I just said, you know, be alert to problems in speaking, reading, writing, spelling, or even learning a foreign language. Also, if there are clues to problems with spoken language, have your child tested early on and make sure your child's school or preschool, the, you know, especially the school carries out a universal screening to identify those children at risk for dyslexia. And that should happen in kindergarten for sure. When your child gets to school and they're in kindergarten, say they've been tested, they've done that universal screener that all children are tested for reading issues. It is so important that if they have reading difficulties, they should not be there for someone with their IQ level. So to repeat, the most consistent definition in the concept of dyslexia is unexpected underachievement.

How Schools Evaluate For Dyslexia

Tonya 12:04

The evaluation follows the universal definition of dyslexia, which describes its typical impact on several areas, including speaking, word retrieval, reading, accuracy and fluency, spelling, and learning a second language. The diagnosis of dyslexia is basically no different than that for any other condition. And I am quoting from Sally Shaywitz's book. The three steps of the evaluation process, according to her, are to establish a reading problem according to age andor education, gather evidence supporting its unexpectedness, a high learning capability may be determined on the basis of an intelligence test, and then demonstrate evidence of a phonological weakness with other higher level language functions relatively unaffected. I am pulling pieces out of Sally Shewitz's book on the chapter Diagnosing Dyslexia in the School Age Child. So I want to give her credit for it. It is her book and it's her information, but it is common knowledge. If you've been educated in how to identify dyslexia, this is what everybody would know. So in the school-aged child, reading is assessed by measuring accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. And Sally Sheyward says a child who reads accurately but not fluently is dyslexic. In a young school-aged child, the reading evaluation first determines how accurately he can decode words, that is, read single words in isolation. Then, even more importantly, to the diagnosis of dyslexia is can a student read pseudo-words or made-up words? We would call them nonsense words sometimes in some curriculum. That's words that the child has never seen before and could not have possibly memorized. They would have to know how to sound that out. And the point of the strange but pronounceable words, she says, is that they test a child's ability to sound out words, to map letters to sounds. The ability to read nonsense words is one of the best measures of phonological decoding skill in children. A lot of times, reading tests often refer to this skill as word attack skills. And then reading fluency or the ability to read accurately, rapidly, and with good prosody is of critical importance because it allows for automatic, attention-free recognition of words. Also, children who have difficulty reading typically struggle with spelling, encoding the words, that is, converting the sounds into letters. I know when I had my special education resource classroom, I would take for spelling words, I would take their reading words from their reading passages or whatever we were working on with reading for the week. I would take spelling words from there. And that way they got the reading decoding and they also got the encoding with the spelling. And I think that helped a whole lot. Another area, you know, we talked about cognitive ability, but because dyslexia is defined as an unexpected difficulty in reading in a child or adult in relation to intelligence, it's not surprising that a measure of intelligence, such as the Wexler Intelligence Scale for Children, is an important component of comprehensive assessment of the child or adult with dyslexia. I remember using that test when I was training to be a diagnostician. And then I even used it to help in my classroom occasionally, not very often, because it is an intelligence test. Sally Shaywitz does mention reading comprehension in her book in this section. She says, in contrast to decoding and fluency, reading comprehension is often minimally affected in bright children with dyslexia, if at all. They should have a normal level of reading comprehension. And then she says, after a child is evaluated, we know exactly what pattern to look for in the test results to diagnose dyslexia. We look for both accuracy and effort required by reading. Some of the things are difficulty reading single words, poor phonological skills, particular difficulty decoding nonsense or unfamiliar words, particular difficulty in reading single words when speed is required, lack of fluency, trouble reading short function words like that, is and for, poor spelling, reading comprehension is often superior to decoding individual words, and then average or even superior intelligence, and then a disparity between intelligence and reading, as we've mentioned over and over so far. Another thing that I have noticed, and she mentions this in this section also, is problems with rhyming or with pronouncing words. I know on one of the tests, there's a test section that asked the student to take a word and break it apart. And a lot of times, children with dyslexia or who have reading difficulties, they can't break apart the spoken words into phonemes, or they won't be able to link letters to sounds. Also, a child's vocabulary, his familiarity with the meanings of a range of common and uncommon words provides a good clue as well. So we've looked at what to look for in preschool and early childhood, early school years, what to look for in evaluating for dyslexia.

How to Remediate & Structured Literacy

Tonya 15:40

So let's talk a little bit about how do we remediate? If they are identified with a reading difficulty or with dyslexia, how do we remediate? What is good quality? And I learned from my courses with Dyslexia Training Institute that structured literacy in the Orton Gillingham method really works. And I agree, it does because I've used it. And I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about what I used and how it helped the children that I worked with that had dyslexia. I'm not an expert with dyslexia, I've only worked with about three students that had dyslexia. However, I have worked repeatedly with children that had special needs that had reading difficulties, and I suspected that some of them did have dyslexia. But at the time, I didn't have the dyslexia training. And so I used what I knew at the time, which was some of this as well. So let's talk about structure literacy. Says, you know, we need to use the structure of the English language. This is from the dyslexia training institute training I had. We know good reading requires phonemic awareness and phonological awareness. We know that it needs to include phonics. You know, that sound symbol relationship is so important. Morphology helps the student to understand reading better, like the bases, the roots, the prefixes, the suffixes. And I did use this even in my kids with uh learning differences that didn't have dyslexia, helps them to understand better. Understanding syllables, students need to recognize that every syllable has a vowel pattern, oral or in oral or written language. And then there are certain spelling rules that students need to know. Syntax, like grammar, sentence variations, and mechanics. A structured literacy program includes all of this semantics, the meaning. A good structured literacy program will include all of the things that I just mentioned. We need to use structured literacy, an approach that is systematic, it's explicit, it's multi-sensory, and then some examples are Orton Gillingham, Slingerland-based, or structured word inquiry, which the Dyslexia Training Institute created, I believe, structured word Inquiry.

Wilson Fundations

Tonya 19:05

I'd like to tell you now about the structured literacy curriculum that I used in our private school for the dyslexia students that I worked with, and it was very successful. I took two elementary-aged students that were not reading, and they were struggling and they just could not get it. They were really smart boys. This worked for them. They were able to learn how to read and to read well. And then I could see it also improved their self-esteem greatly because they felt successful at it and they really liked it really well. It's one of Wilson Reading's, and I'm sure you've heard of Wilson reading. If you have not, look it up. I will add a link in the resources to Wilson and the Fundations program. What I used was Fundations for kindergarten and first grade. It comes with the teacher manual and it comes with a student pack and it comes with a whole box kit, just like any other curriculum kit that teachers get for their classroom. It has a puppet or two, and it just has a lot of things, some posters that you can put up to help the kids reference. It also includes in the student packet, it includes their workbooks, you know, a desk tool with the pictures and letters. It has a magnetic letter board with the letters. It also has a marker board, an individual marker board, and then just a packet that they can put everything in to help them keep up with it. But in the in the teacher's manual, they do put an author's note in here, and I want to tell you about it. It says Fundations is now an established part of Wilson's three-tiered approach to successful reading and writing instruction. Foundations for all K through 3 students in the general classroom, and as an intervention for those requiring a more targeted intervention. Just words, a word-level intervention program for older students, and the Wilson Reading System, an intensive program for our most challenged reader. It says that with the manual and the kit that you buy, it also includes membership in the foundation's learning community of Wilson Academy. And I did get on there and referenced a lot of things. It is very helpful. It says our online support system includes things like video demonstrations, monthly expert tips, discussion boards, printable materials, and lesson plan templates, all resources that will strengthen your skills and supplement your teaching. And I agree. The skills taught in Fundations are phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and the alphabetic principle, sound mastery, and then forming key linkages like letter name, formation, and sound, phonics, vocabulary, high frequency trick words. That's what they call it at sight words or high frequency words, fluency, and then comprehension. And then they also include handwriting, spelling, and punctuation that are the foundations for written comprehension. And then their principles of instruction, the way they carry out the lessons is explicit instruction. Explain the content clearly, and they use puppets named Echo and Baby Echo. The kids love them. And then systematic instruction because it is sequential and cumulative. And then engaging multiple learning modalities with multi-sensory instruction. And then they have repetition and feedback. You may have learned in college when you were learning to teach, if I'm talking to the teachers now, not the parents, but parents who homeschool, this is a great strategy for you to know as well. The gradual release model is optimal. In this program moves students along toward independence and they follow this model. I do it, where the teacher is demonstrating, and then we do it, which is guided instruction and practice, and then you do it together, which is collaborative learning, and then you do it alone, which is independent

Helpful Accommodations Without Shame

Tonya 27:04

I just wanted to mention that students can learn a foreign language. Sometimes it's very difficult for them if they have dyslexia. But if you use a structured literacy approach for the new language that they are learning, they can also learn second language. And students who have oral or written language learning difficulties in their mother tongue may have problems learning another language in school, but it doesn't mean that they should avoid the study of a new language. With appropriate instruction, most students can be successful. I don't want to make this podcast episode too long, but I did want to talk to you about a few more things like accommodations, technology, and then some resources that I want to tell you about. So just be aware of that going forward. You can skip forward if you need to, if if a section doesn't apply to you, but they are beneficial. So some examples of accommodations for the classroom and assignments for classroom and homework. Don't require them to read aloud unless they volunteer. And then check for understanding of directions and the purpose of the assignment. Explicitly teach study strategies, revise the assignments as needed, give them extra time to complete assignments, tests, quizzes, that kind of thing. And don't do it during recess. That's not fair to the student. Don't do that. Give them extra time in class. Also, a calendar might be helpful to teach them how to put in assignments, quizzes, and tests, and teach them how to plan steps out to complete the assignments because sometimes they get really overwhelmed when it's given in a big chunk. And then teach them how to schedule time for studying quizzes and tests. Also, a homework log is helpful, something that they can check off. And then fewer number of items tasked to complete. But maybe you can use fewer items to spend approximately the same amount of time and effort as their peers in assignments and still get the same result. You're really just wanting to know do they know what was taught? Do they know what they need to master? Some examples of accommodations for reading are audiobooks. Yes, that is reading, text-to-speech, read to by a person, graphic organizers, ILO books, if y'all know about those, and articles. A resource there would be Newsella and Teen Tribune. I'll try to put those in the resources as well. Some examples of accommodations for writing would be scribe, speech to text, predictive software, grammar check, supply the notes, like have a note taker or give a copy of the teacher's class notes or allow them to take pictures, a live scribe pin, love those. They're amazing. I used one in college, very helpful. Recording lectures, graphic organizers again, oral responses, a word list, spelling not marked off, just great on the content, and then teach to type as young as possible so the handwriting part doesn't interfere with getting their thoughts on paper. Some examples of accommodations for tests, quizzes, or give them an alternative space, give them extra time, read it to them, don't require them to transfer answers, oral responses, and on district-state testing, check on opting the student out of testing, check on accommodations allowed for testing. Are they embedded or not embedded?

Assistive Tech For Reading And Writing

Tonya 27:52

In this section, I'd like to talk to you a little bit about technology for students with dyslexia. There are some great tools out there. I have a handout from Tech Potential from Shelly Haven. She is an assistive technology consultant, and I'm going to put her website in the resources. There are a lot of things in the resources. Be sure you go and check those out after every episode because there is a wealth of information that you can get, especially if you're an educator or even if you're a homeschool parent or a private school educator. There's a wealth of information in there that you may know about or you may not know about, but it's very helpful. So let me quickly run through some, and a lot of these I already knew about, but one of them is Learning Ally, and there's usually an annual fee. And you have to have a certificate of, or a certification, of print disability, and annual membership is required, and they are great. They have a lot of narrated audiobooks. Audible does. You can look for them on Audible, but Learning Ally is a great resource there. Also, I was familiar with bookshare.org. It's an online library of accessible media. They have lots of textbooks, regular books. They also require a certification of print disability. Can be vision, physical, LD, dyslexia, whatever. And it is free for qualified US K through 12 students, which is great. You can use Bookshare e-text with various software that provides text-to-speech, visual highlighting, comprehension tools, study tools. And then they also have the Bookshare Web Reader that works with Chrome on a PC and a Mac, or in Safari on a Mac. And it's basic, it's easy to use, and it's free. Another tool that I like is Read and Write for Google. It has a screen masking tool in Chrome. And the screen mask reduces the visual complexity and it aids in focus and tracking. I also told you about the Live Scribe Smart Pen I used in college. I really like it. It links the notes and audio recording of the teacher together. You have to have the pen and you have to have the special paper, but it records audio and it captures notes and drawings written on special micro dot paper. And then you can tap the note to play back the linked audio. And that makes good repetition and reinforcement. Also, it has the potential to reduce the notes that are taken. And you can talk to yourself while writing and drawing. You can talk through ideas first while doodling and mark locations to replay later. Another tool I've used is Inspiration software, a graphic organizer software. As an idea processor, it helps the student to get their ideas in a visual way, to lay it out visually, and then add their details to that framework that they build. It just aids in their focus on trying to get their thoughts together. There were many more tools in that handout, and so I am going to put that in the resources, and then you can reference that there for anything else that you might need. And it's for every part of dyslexia that you might be working with.

Books, Extra Resources, And Dysgraphia

Tonya 31:58

Finally, I just wanted to give you some more resources from some other places that I have found, you know, in my learning that I have found, and also from Sally Shaywitz book, Overcoming Dyslexia. She recommends Head Sprout from Learning A to Z, and I do too. I love Learning A to Z. We used it in our private school. There are just so many resources there to use, and it's relatively inexpensive. Or ongoing assessment of reading, you could go to AIMS Web or Dibbles, and that's been around for a long time. It would be helpful in progress monitoring and evaluating students going forward as you implement your structured literacy curriculum. Of course, most curriculum will have their own assessment feature and capability. I know Fundations does. Anything with Wilson's, it's going to have its own assessment feature. So that's something to look at, though. I've used Dibbles before. Also, something Sally Shaywitz has in her book for sight words, you know, learning the fry sight words or some things on spellingcity.com. I used to use spellingcity.com in my classroom, my resource classroom in public school to help with multi-sensory learning. They had different ways that students could study their spelling. And so it was very helpful to put it in different ways. Also, a book we probably I know it was mentioned in Sally Rippin's book was Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf. That's a good resource to read. It explores how the brain learns to read and devotes substantial attention to reading difficulties, including dyslexia, alongside history and neuroscience of reading. Another good book is The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock Edey. I don't know if I'm saying that right, and Fournette Edey. They are MDs. And it says unlocking the hidden potential of the dyslexic brain. The core premise of the book is dyslexia is not only a weakness in decoding and phonological processing, but also comes with specific cognitive strengths. Recognizing and leveraging these can improve outcomes and self-esteem. Couple more books for you. And that is Dyslexia Advocate! by Kelly Sandman-Hurley. She is in the Dyslexia Training Institute. She's one of the main people that works there in that. I don't know how much she created that, but you would work with her if you went through that program. Also, her book by Kelly Sandman-Hurley, Dyslexia and Spelling: Making Sense of It All. And before I leave you on this episode, I wanted to mention dysgraphia because dyslexia and dysgraphia are very closely related. Dysgraphia has to do with writing problems. It's defined as a written language disorder in serial production of strokes to form a handwritten letter. It involves not only motor skills, but also language skills. And I know I've seen several times where kids with dyslexia they really have difficulty writing, and their writing doesn't look appropriate for their age and their level of learning. Dyslexia and dysgraphia are cousins. Both are language-based learning difficulty. And it's rooted in sequencing. And primarily, dyslexia affects reading and spelling. And dysgraphia affects spelling and writing. May do an episode later on on dysgraphia as well as dysalculia, which is a math disability. But today we're going to leave it right there. This podcast episode has gotten long enough. Thank you for joining me today on Educate Me Well. I'm grateful you spent this time with me, and I hope the conversation encouraged and equipped you. If you have ideas for future episodes or questions you'd like me to explore, you can reach me anytime at admin @educatemewell.com and be sure to keep an eye on educateme well.com. The website will be up and growing as new episodes are released. Until next time, keep making a difference in the lives of children.