Dyslexia, Autism & Different Abilities with Kea Herron and Bee's Knees Literacy LLC

In this episode of Autism Explained, host Juming Delmas welcomes Kea Herron and her therapy dog, Charlie Chaplin, for a thoughtful conversation about dyslexia, autism, literacy, and how families can better support neurodivergent learners.

Kea breaks down dyslexia in a clear and approachable way, explaining that it affects reading, writing, and spelling, but has nothing to do with intelligence. The conversation reframes dyslexia not simply as a disability, but as a different way of processing language and information. Kea also highlights that many highly successful and creative people have dyslexia, reminding listeners that learning differences can come with powerful strengths.

The episode also explores the overlap that can exist between dyslexia and autism. While the two are not the same, many students may experience both, along with related challenges such as dyscalculia, which affects math, and dysgraphia, which affects writing. Juming and Kea discuss why understanding these differences matters so much for parents, teachers, and students who may be searching for the right support.

A major focus of the conversation is literacy tutoring and the importance of using structured teaching methods that work for dyslexic learners. Kea discusses the Orton-Gillingham approach, which focuses on sounds, decoding, and helping students build reading skills step by step rather than relying on guessing or picture-based cues.

The episode also highlights helpful resources for families, including Bee’s Knees Literacy, Kea’s tutoring business, Understood.org, and the Infinite Spectrum Foundation, which provides support for families and teaches individuals on the spectrum skills like podcast production. Kea also shares the role of animal therapy through Charlie Chaplin’s work with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.

This episode is a helpful listen for parents, educators, caregivers, and advocates who want to better understand dyslexia, autism, literacy support, and how to recognize the strengths inside different learning styles.

 #AutismExplained #Autism #Dyslexia #Neurodiversity #LearningDifferences #OrtonGillingham #LiteracySupport #SpecialEducation #DyslexiaAwareness #AutismSupport 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

You just don't get it. Go sit down. You can't read. You're missing all your spelling words. What's wrong with you? They go from that to feeling like, I can read. Oh my gosh, this makes sense. And I can write.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

And sometimes parents are not able to identify that. Right. So they're thinking that there's a problem that the child isn't working hard enough where in reality is there's it's a condition.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Kids with dyslexia are trying five times harder to do the same work, but with me it worked because I said I'm willing to give it a try. And he went three years from reading absolutely nothing. He couldn't read dad or mom or spell it, to reading multi-syllable words. Three syllable words. Can you have autism? It's it helps your confidence too.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

Yeah, it's yeah, people call it a disability, but we call it a different ability.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Just pat it on the head. Just gently stroke his head.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

My name is Jamine Delvis. I am the founder of the organization. And what Infinite Spectrum is, is it's an organization that focuses heavily on the creative side, specifically podcasts, where we teach individuals on the spectrum about podcast production, all the way from pre-production to production to distribution, marketing, and design. That's kind of what we do because we are now living in the world and age of podcasting. And this is a great way for individuals to get their voice out. What better way to teach podcasts and then not have one as well? We have a podcast called Autism Explain. And Autism Explain is designed for a place for voices, families, uh, expertise, things of that nature to come out, speak about their life experiences and how they navigate through life so that you can help others in that same way while at the same time having subject matter experts on the podcast that will also be a resource to individuals with uh who with two individuals with um children on the spectrum or family members on the spectrum as a resource available to you. And that podcast is now streaming on all major platforms. You can also get this information from our website at infinite spectrumfoundation.org.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

On top of our program skills, we also have our spectrum support that we host every second Thursday from 6 30 to 7 30. These formats come in both virtual and in-person, where we have interactive skills for individuals who are neurodivergent, who are parents, who are caregivers, who are college students, who are families or friends, or just individuals who want to learn more about the autism spectrums. Feel free to come out to any of our spectrum support groups, and you can find out where we're hosting them at infant spectrum foundation.org slash events.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

All right, everybody. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Autism Explain. I'm your host, Jamine Delmus. And today I have a uh a guest on the show. I don't even know her name, but I know she brought her dog. I do know that. And I told her, no dogs, and he's here anyways. How are you drawing, C though?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

You're gonna ruin my reputation.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

She always brings her dog. She always brings her dog. We saw the dog running all over the event today.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

He's greeting all the folks. He is the most friendly dog.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

I haven't greeted anybody today. Because you're rude. I would agree with that. Most people have said that about me.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

She just tell the truth.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

So this is Charlie Chaplin.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

Hi, Charlie.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

She's a Tallahassee Memorial Health Care Um animal therapy dog.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

So he and I are a therapy team.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

Oh, so you guys are a therapy team. You guys work together.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

We visit schools. Wait, hold on. What's your name? Hospital. Keya.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Keah what?

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Keya Heron.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

Gary Keya Heron. Welcome, Kea Heron. So you guys are therapists by nature.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Well, I don't know about that, but so tell me about what do you guys do exactly.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Well, that's not why I'm here today. Oh, why Charlie's here because he comes with me. He's basically such an amenable guy to uh everything I do. So if a therapy dog is allowed, I bring him. And I bring him to my own business where he's provides a lot of therapy to my students. My business is bees-knees literacy.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

So I tell my students you're the bee's knees, and they usually don't know what that means, and I say that means you're the best.

SPEAKER_03 4:11

So what do you guys do at B's Knees?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

That's why I have this shirt that says I'm the B's knees.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

What do you guys typically do at B's' knees?

SPEAKER_01 4:17

We tutor people who have dyslexia, which is a difficulty reading and writing.

SPEAKER_03 4:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

And spelling.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Uh, which is nothing to do with what works in your brain to make intelligence. It's a whole different part of the brain. A lot of people think, oh, if you have dyslexia, you must not be smart. It's totally the opposite.

SPEAKER_03 4:37

So is it true that they read backwards?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

That's kind of a stereotype. It really is. So it's not a Some things get reversed sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 4:45

Sometimes, okay. So it's not a common thing.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

It's not the big thing.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

So I'm so I'm I'm a person that's ignorant to uh when I think dyslexia. What is dyslexia and what are like symptoms of a person with the dyslexia?

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Well, you might misread some words, you might confuse some letters, you might freeze. You might could be.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

I put these words all the time.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

One in five five people are dyslexic in in the English language. One in five? Yes. So look around your friends, think about your friends. At least if five of them, every five, one of them has dyslexia.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

I sent a text that was very clear what I said in my text. At least I thought it was clear.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

That's what you thought. You might have written it wrong, which could be which might be which might be a thing.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

So, like how long, well, how long has dyslexia been around? Like when were it's been around? So when when did we really start? Do you know like the origins of when we really started identifying it?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

When we started seeing in the 1800s, some folks started uh figuring out what was going on and devised an approach in in the late 1800s, and it's been refined over many years. Obviously, this is now 2026, and uh there was a Dr. Orton and a Dr. Gillingham. They put together an idea to make it to help people with dyslexia read and write, and it works. So mostly schools have ignored it. They just buy what the publishers convince them to buy when they get lobbied by those publishers. So for years, we haven't been teaching kids to read and write. We've been basically teaching them how not to read and write by saying, Oh, look at that picture. What is that word?

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

So they see a bear and they think, oh, I can read bear. But they don't know how to decode B-E-A-R. What does that say? So what we do is we teach uh our students the sounds first, what sounds are, how your b is made, how your t is made. And what happens when you make that sound? Do you hear your voice? Do you feel a vibration or not? That's basic beginning, all the way up to learning prefixes and and I'm still bad at prefixes and suffixes.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

I can't even spell pre-fix. I'm still working on it. It's some kind of a word that starts with So So my last question to you is um how does dyslexics or dyslexia tie into autism? How do why why why typically do you see this crossover?

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Uh-huh. Well, I I have several students who have both. They're on the autism spectrum and they have dyslexia. They're not necessarily related, but a lot of uh some students have both, and so I will I'm here because I like to always let people know that I can tutor your child if your child is a has both. But it's okay. It's not like, oh, autism, no, I can't deal with that, no. Uh uh and one of the benefits of what I do, what we certified Orton Gillingham specialists do with dyslexia is the students' confidence goes way high.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

They come from sometimes many years of being told, you're not trying hard enough, you just don't get it. Go sit down, you can't read, or you're not spelling out, you're not you're missing all your spelling words. What's wrong with you? So sometimes they go from that to feeling like, I can read, oh my gosh, this makes sense, and I can write.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

And it starts from home, really, when you think about it, right? And sometimes parents are not able to identify that. Right. So they're thinking that there's a problem that the child isn't working hard enough where in reality is there's it's a condition.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Right. And so they're trying, mostly kids with dyslexia are trying five times harder to do the same work it's the lack of education behind parents.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

And how how or what what kind of what would you what would you suggest for parents who are not familiar with dyslexia? How do people get out of just find that out? How do they um know right?

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Nowadays you can Google and get help with not I would recommend nonprofit groups websites because they're not out to make a buck from telling you something or selling you something.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

But like understood.org, that's nonprofit. I highly value that website. They give help to parents, teachers, friends, students on autism, dyslexia, other kinds of disabilities, other kinds of problems. I mean, some students with dyslexia, with or without autism, also have dyscalculea, which is math difficulty, dysgraphia, which is writing difficulty, especially handwriting, composing, and writing. And they may have just one of those, but they could have all of them. Any combination.

SPEAKER_03 9:34

Do you do tutoring virtual or is is it per person?

SPEAKER_01 9:37

I have one online student because she's in California, so she can't really make it to my office here in Florida.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Okay. Uh but So you are nationwide.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

My other, yeah, I'll tutor somebody in any place in the world, any country, as long as they can connect with me. Right now I have all my students in person except that one.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

So why don't you tell everybody where we can find you at?

SPEAKER_01 9:56

You can find me at beesneesliteracy.com.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Like bees, B-E-E. K-E-E-E-E-E-E-S. Close. You might miss close. I got too many E's in the E-E-S. Oh, too many E's in the You got it. I'll work it.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Literacy L-I-T-E-R-A-C-Y dot com because it's a business.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

It's a business. And what about socials?

SPEAKER_01 10:24

I also have a uh page on Facebook.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

Facebook, that's it?

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yeah, I don't really get into dip of the stuff for that. I'm gonna do a bunch of I'd have to hire somebody.

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Yeah, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

So, but I've thought of doing some other things, but I work, I so supposedly retired. Helped my daughter graduate from high school. It's because of her, she's Ethiopian. It's because of her I learned about dyslexia. And I had to help her uh fight the schools because they weren't good enough to help her. So once I learned all that, I said I might as well help other people. So I started this business to help other people, and I got trained in the the approach I use, which is the most effective approach according to all the research. Yeah. So it works. I have a student, I've had a few students who couldn't read anything, and were I've had seven-year-olds crying in my office on their first day, anticipating I'm gonna ask them to read something they can't read, and they're going, I can't. One student was banging her head on the first day when I hadn't done anything. I start with games and getting to know you and all that, make it as comfortable as possible.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

And we have some games that we use every day. That's cool. And then Charlie's there to hug them. If they're crying or upset, they hug them.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

I had a six-button. You should have had Charlie visit you. I started to call them.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

I had an online student who was 16 and wouldn't let the camera be on his face. That's why he had gone through some tutors who said, No, that's not gonna work. But with me it worked. Because I said, I'm willing to give it a try. And he went three years from reading absolutely nothing. Absolutely he couldn't read he couldn't read dad or mom or spell it, to reading multi-syllable words, three syllable words, and knowing how to spell them and reading stories and sentences with those in a he he was amazing. He got his high school diploma and went and got a great welding jar.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I need a welding jar. I'm still working on welding.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

So anyway, it's fun. The parents thank me all the time because they see how their child's confidence has been lifted.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Shut up. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

And if you have autism, it's it helps your confidence too.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

Yeah, it's yeah, people call it a disability, but we call it a different ability.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

It is a difference.

SPEAKER_03 12:33

Who's your name being? Tell me again.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Can I tell you one more thing?

SPEAKER_03 12:35

Yes, quick. Yeah, what your name? Kaya. Kaya. Kaya.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

K-A. Yes, one more thing was that. If you think of some of the geniuses we've known about in the world, a whole bunch of them have dyslexia because your creative side is better and sharper because you don't have the dyslexia. You've already spent years figuring out stuff. So Richard Branson, Virgin Airlines creator.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Uh Steven Spielberg, filmmaker.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

I met him.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Oh, cool. You bet him. He's a famous dyslexic. Whoopi Goldberg.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

All sorts of very famous people, scientists. They would think Einstein and Leopold Da Vinci had it.

SPEAKER_03 13:13

Yeah, they were like on the conversation around autism and dyslexia for Einstein.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

Yeah. I didn't know about that to my part.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

So thank you so much for inviting us to talk with you.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

Thank you, Kayle. Thanks. Hey, big dog. I appreciate it. Thank you for jumping on the show. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 13:29

He's shy about his thoughts. He's shy about his thoughts. Just pat it on the head. Just gently stroke his head.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

Thank you guys for tuning in to Autism Explain. I'm your host, Jamine Delmas. And thank you guys, and we'll see you guys on the next episode. Talk too.