Educational Assessment Center

09/02/2026

For nearly 40 years, advancing research and practice in dyslexia science

09/01/2026

Great resources!

📚🧠 DYSLEXIA & READING DIFFICULTIES: RESOURCES FOR PARENTS & EDUCATORS

When a child struggles to read, figuring out where to start can be overwhelming.

Dyslexia is not a lack of intelligence, motivation, effort, or exposure to books. And when a child continues to struggle with reading, “just read more” is not an intervention.

Fortunately, we know a tremendous amount about how the brain learns to read—and there are some AMAZING resources available to families and educators. ❤️📖

🔹 International Dyslexia Association (IDA)
Dyslexia, Structured Literacy, assessment, intervention, and provider information.
🔗 https://dyslexiaida.org/

🔹 Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity
Research-based information about dyslexia, identification, intervention, and dyslexic strengths.
🔗 https://dyslexia.yale.edu/

🔹 Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR)
Reading research plus FREE instructional resources and student activities.
🔗 https://fcrr.org/

🔹 Reading Rockets
Excellent parent- and teacher-friendly information about phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and struggling readers.
🔗 https://www.readingrockets.org/

🔹 The Reading League
Science of Reading and evidence-aligned literacy resources.
🔗 https://www.thereadingleague.org/

🔹 Reading Universe
Practical information about how children learn to read and how reading should be taught.
🔗 https://readinguniverse.org/

🔹 Understood.org
Parent-friendly information about dyslexia, learning differences, accommodations, and school support.
🔗 https://www.understood.org/

📚 RESOURCES

🔹 Decoding Dyslexia Florida
Information, advocacy, awareness, and support for Florida families navigating dyslexia.
🔗 https://www.decodingdyslexiafl.org/

🔹 REED Charitable Foundation
Structured Literacy and Orton-Gillingham training, education, and resources for teachers and families.
🔗 https://reedcharitablefoundation.org/

🎓 Training opportunities:

🔗 https://reedcharitablefoundation.org/training-courses/

👨‍👩‍👧 Parent resources:
🔗 https://reedcharitablefoundation.org/parent-resources/

🔹 Cox Campus – Rollins Center for Language & Literacy

One of my FAVORITES because of the tremendous amount of FREE professional learning available to educators, tutors, interventionists, and families. ❤️

🔗 https://coxcampus.org/

📚 Cox Campus Structured Literacy Program:
🔗 https://coxcampus.org/cox-campus-structured-literacy-program/

🔹 The Lucy Project

A Florida nonprofit working to help children with dyslexia and other reading difficulties access evidence-based literacy intervention while providing education and resources for families and educators.

🔗 https://www.lucyproject.org/

📚 Resource Library:
🔗 https://www.lucyproject.org/resources

📖 A FEW BOOKS WORTH READING

• Overcoming Dyslexia — Dr. Sally Shaywitz
• Speech to Print — Dr. Louisa Moats
• Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties — Dr. David Kilpatrick
• Proust and the Squid — Dr. Maryanne Wolf

🚩 And perhaps one of the most important things parents need to hear:

You do not have to simply “wait and see.”

Persistent difficulty with phonemic awareness, decoding, spelling, reading fluency, or learning and remembering sound-symbol relationships deserves attention.

Early identification matters.
Early intervention matters.
And the TYPE of instruction matters.

Look for instruction grounded in Structured Literacy—explicit, systematic, cumulative teaching of the sound system of language, phonics, syllable patterns, morphology, spelling, vocabulary, syntax, and the structures that support fluent reading and comprehension.

🧠 Our struggling readers don’t need less challenging ideas.

❤️ They need better access to the written word.

📌 SAVE this post.
❤️ SHARE it with another parent.
🍎 SEND it to a teacher.

Sometimes the most powerful thing we can give a family is simply knowing where to start.

07/10/2026

The largest genetic study of dyslexia ever conducted just published its findings…and they're significant.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics analyzed genetic data from over 1.2 million people and identified 80 DNA regions associated with dyslexia. Thirteen of those regions had never been linked to dyslexia before.

What does this mean for families? A few things:

Dyslexia is not caused by poor teaching, lack of effort, or "not trying hard enough." It has deep genetic roots.

If dyslexia runs in your family, there's a biological reason and early screening for younger siblings makes a lot of sense.

The more we understand the genetics of dyslexia, the better targeted and effective interventions can become.

The science keeps confirming what structured literacy programs like the Barton Reading & Spelling System have been built on all along: dyslexic learners need a different approach not a harder one.

Source: Mountford et al., Translational Psychiatry, 2025 - nature.com/articles/s41398-025-03514-0

Does dyslexia run in your family? You're not alone — share below.

06/11/2026

Some students with disabilities rely on assistive technology to learn, and they worry it could be swept up in the movement to get screens out of schools.

04/23/2026

When the school says no…

When a school says “no,” that’s not the end of the conversation.

Under special education law, the district is required to give you Prior Written Notice (PWN) when they refuse or propose something related to your child’s identification, evaluation, placement, or services.

But here’s what most parents aren’t told:

It doesn’t always happen automatically in the moment.
Sometimes it comes after the meeting.
Sometimes you have to ask for it clearly.

And not every disagreement triggers it—PWN applies to formal decisions, not casual conversations.

What matters is this:

If the team is refusing something you believe your child needs (testing, services, supports, placement), you want that refusal documented.

Why?

Because PWN forces the school to explain:
• what they decided
• why they decided it
• what data they relied on
• what options they considered and rejected

That’s what turns a vague “no” into something you can actually respond to.

Simple way to say it:
“Can you please provide Prior Written Notice documenting that decision?”

That one sentence creates accountability.

If you’re not getting clear answers or things are being denied without explanation—that’s usually where problems start.