Reflecting on Dyslexia Awareness Month

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stories that Inspired Us newsletter, where we take a look back at some stories that had a strong impact on us and our readers.

October was Dyslexia Awareness Month. As November begins, we wanted to take one last look at some of the stories, research, and advice we gathered from dyslexia experts. Many of these articles are helpful resources for parents, so if you’re a teacher, consider sharing these pieces with the parents in your network that are seeking more information on dyslexia.

What Teachers Need to Know About Dyslexia

An Interview with Dr. Jan Hasbrouck in Honor of Dyslexia Awareness Month

“The good news for teachers is that the activities they do to support their children with dyslexia are the same kinds of things that benefit all early learners. In preschool, kindergarten, and first grade, we want teachers to be aware of and have resources to teach what we call phoneme awareness or phonemic awareness, which is part of the broader category of learning called phonological awareness.”

Read What Teachers Need to Know About Dyslexia here.

What Parents Need to Know About Dyslexia

An Interview with Dr. Jan Hasbrouck in Honor of Dyslexia Awareness Month

“That’s one of the myths of dyslexia — that these children just need to try harder. But in truth, they’re trying extraordinarily hard. There’s some very interesting research, I think, out of the University of Washington that concluded from brain scan research that children with dyslexia are using five times the cognitive effort to do the same kind of work as children without dyslexia. So we need to cut these kids a little bit of slack and know that their brains are working hard on things that the vast majority of us find very easy to do.”

Read What Parents Need to Know About Dyslexia here.

The Social and Emotional Impacts of Dyslexia

By Dr. Jan Hasbrouck, Author and Educational Consultant

“Students with learning disabilities, including dyslexia and especially those students of color, are far more likely to be labeled as “disruptive” and are approximately twice as likely to be suspended throughout each school level than without disabilities.”

Read The Social and Emotional Impacts of Dyslexia here.

5 Ways Direct Instruction Will Empower Your Dyslexic Students

“Dyslexic children need multiple and varying opportunities to learn and maximum content and skill reinforcement. Simultaneous multisensory instruction makes the abstract concrete and draws from all sensory channels to foster deeper learning and enhance memory…. Direct Instruction allows dyslexic children the flexibility to draw from their strengths and pull from other channels in their learning and behavior to master important skills.”

Read 5 Ways Direct Instruction Will Empower Your Dyslexic Students here.