Advocacy toolkits
Advocate with confidence
Letters, scripts, checklists, and rights — everything you need to secure the support a child with dyslexia is entitled to.
Free downloads coming online
Toolkits built for real meetings, real letters, real decisions
Each toolkit below outlines the exact steps, wording, and rights involved. Use them as checklists today — printable PDF versions are being added as we grow.
For parents & caregivers
Parent advocacy toolkit
1. Request an evaluation — in writing
If you suspect dyslexia, you have the right to request a comprehensive evaluation from your public school at no cost. Always put it in writing and date it: the letter starts a legal clock.
- Address it to the principal and the district's special education director.
- State: "I am requesting a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation of my child under IDEA, including assessment in all areas related to suspected disability, including dyslexia."
- Describe what you're seeing (guessing at words, avoiding reading, spelling struggles).
- Keep a copy. Send by email so you have a timestamp.
2. Know the timelines
Once you consent to evaluation, federal law requires it to be completed within 60 days (some states set shorter or slightly different timelines — check our laws guide).
- Schools may propose "response to intervention" first — but RTI cannot be used to delay or deny an evaluation you've requested.
- If the school refuses to evaluate, they must give you Prior Written Notice explaining why — request it.
3. Prepare for the IEP / 504 meeting
You are an equal member of the team. Come prepared:
- Bring work samples that show the struggle (writing, spelling tests, reading logs).
- Ask for goals that are specific and measurable — "will decode CVC and CVCe words with 90% accuracy" beats "will improve reading."
- Ask what program will be used, how often, in what group size, and delivered by whom, with what training.
- You may say the word "dyslexia." Federal guidance (the 2015 "Dear Colleague" letter) confirms schools can and should use it.
- Nothing is final in the meeting. You can take the draft home before signing.
4. Document everything
Advocacy runs on paper trails.
- Follow up every phone call or hallway conversation with a short email: "Thanks for speaking with me today — my understanding is…"
- Keep one binder or folder: evaluations, IEPs/504s, progress reports, correspondence.
- Track services actually delivered vs. what the plan promises.
5. If you disagree
You have formal options, in roughly escalating order:
- Request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense if you disagree with the school's evaluation.
- Ask for mediation — free, faster, and less adversarial than hearings.
- File a state complaint or request a due process hearing (deadlines apply — usually two years).
- Consider a special education advocate or attorney; many offer free consultations.
6. Intervention beyond school
School services are often not intensive enough on their own. Ask providers the hard questions: What program? What evidence supports it? How is progress measured?
Strong answers name a structured-literacy program, cite its evidence base, and commit to regular progress reports. Vague answers ("we build confidence," "every child is different") are your cue to keep looking.
For educators
Educator advocacy toolkit
1. Screen early, screen everyone
Most states now require universal early literacy screening — and the research is clear that risk can be flagged as early as kindergarten. Know your state's requirement (see laws), know your screener, and treat "wait and see" as the risk it is.
2. Teach with structured literacy
Explicit, systematic, cumulative instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, morphology, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension benefits all readers — and is essential for students with dyslexia. Small shifts (decodable texts, explicit sound-spelling instruction, cumulative review) pay off immediately.
3. Accommodate without lowering the bar
- Audiobooks and text-to-speech for grade-level content ("ear reading").
- Speech-to-text and word prediction for writing.
- Extended time; reduced copying from the board; notes provided.
- Never require reading aloud in front of peers without consent.
- Grade content knowledge separately from spelling when spelling isn't the target skill.
4. Talk with families early and honestly
Parents consistently say they wish a teacher had told them sooner. You don't diagnose — you describe and refer: "Here's what I'm seeing with decoding and spelling. Here's the data. I'd recommend we look at this more closely." That sentence changes lives.
5. Know the child's plan — and follow it
IEPs and 504 plans are legal documents, not suggestions. Read them at the start of the year, implement the accommodations consistently, and document the services you deliver.
6. Build your own knowledge
Seek out training grounded in the science of reading. Our research library collects accessible starting points, and our events include educator workshops. Free training resources are also expanding rapidly nationwide.
Beyond one child
Advocating for systemic change
Individual advocacy changes one child's story. Policy advocacy changes thousands. Ways to widen your impact:
- Know your state's laws — and their gaps. Screening without required intervention, or mandates without funding, are common weaknesses. Our laws page shows what to look for.
- Speak at school board meetings. Three minutes of a parent's story, plus one data point, is more memorable than any report.
- Join or start a local decoding/dyslexia group. Grassroots parent groups have driven much of the last decade's legislation.
- Write your legislators. Personal letters and testimony move bills. Be specific: name the bill, tell your story, make one clear ask.
- Become a member. Our member community shares alerts when dyslexia-related bills are moving.
