Learning resources
Resources that actually help
Plain-language info sheets, assistive technology picks, and the organizations we trust — curated for parents and educators.
Info sheets
Understanding dyslexia
What dyslexia is (and isn't)
It is a neurobiological difference in how the brain processes written language, usually rooted in phonological processing.
It isn't seeing letters backwards, low intelligence, laziness, or something children outgrow. Letter reversals are common in all young writers.
Common signs by age
- Preschool: trouble rhyming, learning letter names, mispronouncing familiar words.
- K–2: difficulty connecting letters to sounds, sounding out, spelling phonetically; guessing from first letters.
- Grades 3+: slow, effortful reading; poor spelling despite study; avoiding reading aloud; strong ideas but difficulty getting them on paper.
- Teens & adults: slow reading, weak spelling, difficulty with foreign languages, relying on listening.
Strengths that travel with dyslexia
Many people with dyslexia show notable strengths in big-picture reasoning, spatial thinking, storytelling, problem-solving, and entrepreneurship. Identification is about unlocking support — not labeling limits.
Infographic
The path to reading success
Share this simple roadmap with your school community.
Screen
Universal early screening in K–2 flags risk before failure. Minutes per child, a lifetime of difference.
Evaluate
A comprehensive evaluation maps the child's profile: phonological awareness, decoding, fluency, spelling, comprehension.
Intervene
Structured literacy — explicit, systematic, cumulative — delivered with enough intensity to close the gap.
Accommodate & monitor
Assistive technology and accommodations keep grade-level learning alive while skills grow. Progress is measured, not assumed.
Tools we love
Assistive technology & learning tools
Ear reading
- Learning Ally — human-read audiobooks for print-disabled students.
- Bookshare — free accessible ebook library for qualifying US students.
- Audible / Libby — pair audio with print to build vocabulary and love of story.
Text-to-speech & speech-to-text
- Built-in: iOS Spoken Content, Android Select to Speak, Windows Narrator/Dictation.
- Voice Dream Reader, NaturalReader, Speechify for reading.
- Google Docs Voice Typing and system dictation for writing.
Writing & study support
- Word prediction & spelling support (e.g., Co:Writer, Grammarly).
- Graphic organizers and mind-mapping for planning.
- Audio note-taking; our site's own accessibility toolbar (bottom-left icon) includes a recorder, reader, and picture dictionary.
For structured literacy practice
- Decodable book series matched to the phonics sequence being taught.
- Letter tiles and manipulatives for multisensory word building.
- Fluency practice through repeated reading of short passages.
Professional intervention
When a child needs more than the classroom can provide, choose providers who name their program, its evidence base, their training, and how progress is measured and reported. Specifics — not slogans — are the mark of quality.
We list tools because they help, not because anyone pays us. Evaluate every tool against your child's specific profile.