Decoding Dyslexia DE

Great news!

ICYMI: Delaware is taking the next step to help more students become strong readers. With more than $8 million invested in early literacy, the state is accelerating the implementation of its statewide early literacy strategy. (More: https://tinyurl.com/deliteracyinvestment)

Thanks to Bridge to Practice grants, training grounded in the science of reading is already underway. Teachers and leaders this month are building skills to strengthen instruction in their own classrooms and also support educators across their schools. This first cohort will begin leading this work in the 2026–2027 school year.

Thank you to EastSide Charter School, Capital School District, Brandywine School District, Odyssey Charter School, Christina School District, and Delaware’s early literacy coaches for their partnership and commitment.

This focus on strong teaching, supporting educators, and helping every student learn to read with confidence is all part of Delaware’s 2025–2028 Strategic Plan. Learn more at de.gov/edplan.

A lot of educators become interested in dyslexia once they discover their own child is struggling to read.

Any educator can get free training from the Cox Campus and join The Reading League.

International Dyslexia Association
Learning Disabilities Association of America
Understood.org
WPS - Western Psychological Services
Reading Rockets
Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity
Wilson Language Training
Canadian Children's Literacy Foundation
Stern Center for Language and Learning
Learning Ally
Decoding Dyslexia
The Blosser Center for Dyslexia Resources
Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute
95 Percent Group LLC

http://dyslexia.yale.edu/dyslexia/signs-of-dyslexia/

https://www.coursera.org/learn/dyslexia

$30.

That includes a full day of learning, CEUs and ACT 48 credits, and a lunch option with advance registration.

On March 21 at Grove City College, join us for Raising Readers: Promoting Executive Functioning, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Cheryl Chase.

Dr. Chase is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in executive functioning, ADHD, and learning differences. Known for her engaging and practical style, she delivers research-based strategies that educators and families can implement immediately.

Executive functioning impacts planning, organization, time management, emotional regulation, and follow-through. If these challenges are showing up in your classroom or home, this conference is designed for you.

Registration is open at pbida.org.

This is an article about the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA) in dyslexic students— clear and featuring results from an important Stanford University study:
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2026/02/reading-specific-region-differs-in-dyslexic-brain.html

Some students will never receive a diagnosis… but they will still struggle to read.

They sit quietly in classrooms every day, working twice as hard for half the results, often seen as inattentive, unmotivated, or just “not trying.”

A diagnosis can open doors, but instruction should never depend on paperwork.

Structured, explicit literacy teaching is not an accommodation. It is how many students learn best. Because waiting to identify shouldn’t come before helping a child learn to read. 💛

Reading struggles rarely appear all at once. They grow when they go unnoticed.

At first it looks small…
📚 A few guessing habits
📚 Slow decoding
📚 Avoiding harder words

But over time it becomes something much bigger.
🔸️Frustration
🔸️Anxiety
🔸️Low self-esteem
🔸️School avoidance
🔸️Emotional toll

This is what Dr. Sally Shaywitz called the downward spiral of reading failure. And here’s the important part
these students are not lacking intelligence, creativity, problem solving, or potential.

I see incredible thinkers, builders, artists, storytellers, leaders.

Reading difficulties are academic at the beginning. They become emotional when we wait. Early identification doesn’t just improve reading. It protects confidence and allows strengths to shine.

Let’s stop waiting for children to fail before we help them succeed.

UntilEveryoneCanRead

Dyslexia and fatigue are connected.

When word reading is not automatic, the brain has to work harder to decode every word. That extra cognitive effort reduces stamina over time.

What may look like inattention, avoidance, or zoning out is often cognitive overload.

This is why explicit, structured literacy instruction matters. When word recognition becomes more automatic, it reduces the mental load and frees the brain for comprehension and learning.

Individual Memberships IDA’s individual memberships are designed to provide supporters with regular content covering the latest research and best practices on dyslexia and reading instruction, special rates for events and conferences, discounts on merchandise, and at select levels, listings in IDA’s Provider Directory...

We need more schools which know how to nurture strengths while supporting struggles at each age level.

No 2 people with dyslexia are exactly alike. It’s important for society to see the positives in neurodiversity.

Check out Dystinct Magazine, Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity, Learning Disabilities Association of America.

DyslexicAdvantage.Org

MadeByDyslexia.Org

Carroll School

https://www.stateofdyslexia.org/

NoticeAbility

DyslexiaLand

Understood.org

Cox Campus

Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute

Landmark Outreach

Mark Stoddart

Remember: People with dyslexia deserve early identification, proper remediation, accommodations and a full education as a pathway to having a positive life outcome.

No 2 dyslexic people will have the exact same profile.

Ideally, everyone needs an educational setting which nurtures strengths while offering targeted cognitive interventions to support all areas of need across the curriculum. That includes educators who value, nurture, understand, support and enjoy working with students who may have any mixture of learning differences.

Dyslexia. Dyscalculia. DLD. Dysgraphia. Dyspraxia. Executive function needs. SLD. ADHD. Etc.

See the CarrollSchool.Org as a place which knows how to nurture strengths, help kids develop new ones and provide intensive remediation too.

Strengths-based schools matter. Tools for adult living matter. Neurodiversity rights matter. Work place accommodations matter.
Everyone matters.

Everyone deserves a chance to discover their unique strengths and feel good about life itself. The deficit model is outdated.

http://dyslexia.yale.edu/dyslexia/signs-of-dyslexia/

https://ca-diverse-learning.org/programs/literacy-dyslexia/

Thank you, Dr. Odegard! Dr. Tim Odegard has developed a one-page brief and a companion guide to help practitioners, parents, and policymakers better understand the components of the revised definition of dyslexia.

IDA-GA is compiling links to resources like this here: https://ga.dyslexiaida.org/ida-2025-definition-of-dyslexia/ (linki in bio)