Brenda is an Orton-Gillingham Fellow with 25 +
years of experience educating students of all ages. Services do not include homework support.
Orton Gillingham is an instructional approach intended primarily for use with persons who have difficulty with reading, spelling, and writing of the sort associated with dyslexia (i.e., "learning disabilities"). The Orton Gillingham approach "works" due to a number of unique aspects that differentiate the approach from other instructional methods that fall short. Brenda Mackaness has over 18 years
05/21/2026
Why writing by hand may matter more in the age of AI: What a 20-year study by a neuroscientist found The modern tech industry has spent decades making life faster. AI can summarize meetings in seconds. Students take notes on tablets instead of notebooks. Workers move from Slack to ChatGPT to email to Notion all day without touching paper once. The keyboard became the default interface for work, com...
03/17/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AhRzBA9xJ/
Interrupting our Saint Patrick’s Day ☘️ celebrations for a little history lesson on some U.S. Presidents.
Did you know at least 7 U.S. Presidents are believed to
have had dyslexia?
Let that sink in.
Dyslexia is NOT a measure of intelligence.
Dyslexia is NOT a limitation.
Dyslexia does NOT disqualify leadership.
History already proved that.
According to historical accounts, these presidents showed traits consistent with dyslexia:
Thomas Jefferson – Struggled with reading and spelling early; became largely self-taught and authored the Declaration of Independence.
George Washington – Had significant difficulty with spelling and grammar but led the founding of a nation.
Andrew Jackson – Known for inconsistent spelling and once said, “It is a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word.”
Woodrow Wilson – Could not read fluently until around age 10, yet went on to become president and a Nobel Prize winner.
Dwight D. Eisenhower – Overcame reading struggles to become a 5-star general and U.S. President.
John F. Kennedy – Faced reading challenges but became one of the most influential communicators in history.
Lyndon B. Johnson – Relied on summaries of written material, showing alternative ways of processing information.
Important: Dyslexia was not formally diagnosed in earlier centuries, but historians consistently note patterns of reading and writing struggles.
So let’s stop equating reading difficulty with intelligence.
Because these weren’t just successful people—they were Presidents.
And they led nations.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
02/16/2026
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67054-3
This research paper examines why fluency issues experienced by children with dyslexia can be a persistent challenge.
The balance between stability and plasticity of the visual word form area in dyslexia - Nature Communications Children with dyslexia show significant differences in Visual Word Form Area size and specialization compared to typical readers, suggesting enduring neural characteristics exist even after targeted intervention increases reading ability scores.
10/02/2025
Small-Group Reading Instruction Is Not as Effective as You Think (Opinion) We’re missing out on a golden opportunity—one that could effectively triple literacy instruction overnight.
09/25/2025
The Power of Phonics How did a state with some of the nation’s worst test scores rocket to #1 in just a few years?
06/21/2025
How to Beat the Summer Slide (+ FREE Infographic) Don’t let your child’s reading ability decline over the summer months—beat the “summer slide” with these helpful resources.
06/16/2025
Student Well-Being Report Shows How Kids Are Doing in Education and Beyond Student well-being has seen some progress, but education continues to decline.
05/04/2025
In the early 1900's, Dr. Samuel Orton and Bessie Gillingham knew this already; the Orton-Gillingham approach integrated this concept within the direct and explicit instruction of handwriting skills. Even better, handwriting is rigorously taught with lined paper to guide the student's correct formation of the letters of our alphabet. In my OG training, dots were not used to aid and assist the student's correct formation of the letters.
However, if the individual student needs that extra support, the Orton-Gillingham approach encourages adaptation and individualization of instruction, which warrants a try to determine if the dot strategy is beneficial to the student in their initial attempts.
Dr. Orton and B. Gillingham knew how beneficial correct handwriting skills are for improving reading and spelling skills, and new technology has found a way to confirm it.
Writing by Hand Helps Children Learn Letters Better - Neuroscience News A new study reveals that young children learn letters and word structures more effectively through handwriting than typing.
03/07/2025
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/02/27/us/connecticut-aleysha-ortiz-illiterate-lawsuit-cec?
Connecticut high school graduate alleges she can’t read or write in lawsuit | CNN Aleysha Ortiz is 19 years old and in her freshman year at the University of Connecticut. She graduated last year from a public high school in Hartford – even though she can’t read or write.
03/07/2025
The End of Reading - The Ringer Something alarming is happening with reading in America. Leisure reading by some accounts has declined by about 50 percent this century. Literacy scores are declining for fourth and eighth graders at alarming rates. And even college students today are complaining to teachers that they can’t read e...
