Teach Them the Way They Learn

11/01/2025

10/28/2025

10/25/2025

Love this.

10/24/2025

This is so important.

Society believes our teachers are prepared to teach our kids to read and learn.

Many “Reading Specialists “ and “Special Education “ staff do not have adequate training in literacy.

Teachers are prepared to support the 30% of students that learn to read with ease. Very few educators received training to help the other 70% of students that struggle to read through no fault of their own.

Society expects our educators to acquire proper training in college, on-the-job and through self-directed learning. This has not happened for many educators.

We applaud the private schools for dyslexia and public schools that had the desire and drive to study the past 75 plus years of knowledge about literacy, numeracy and the science of learning.

How many educators do not have adequate expertise to help students with dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, language-based learning difficulties or executive function needs ?

It’s as if a Teacher of the Deaf had no training in Deaf education. All reading specialists should receive training to help struggling readers.

Dr. Sally Schaywitz has stated that we don’t have a “ knowledge gap “ because the information about literacy and dyslexia has been available for over 50 years. The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity reports we have an “ action gap” where our schools did not take action to do better. Social media has now made this public.


The students know when they have a teacher who developed expertise from life-long learning practices.

Entire books and workshops are written on this. Entire agencies are dedicated to improving this.

Find people with expertise while society waits for our schools to get caught up with the last 50 to 100 years of knowledge.

1. Learn here about how our colleges did not prepare the educators to help any struggling readers:

https://dyslexiaida.org/the-dyslexia-dilemma-the-role-of-colleges-of-education/
See : Center for Reading

2. National Council for Teachers:

https://www.nctq.org/publications/2020-Teacher-Prep-Review:-Program-Performance-in-Early-Reading-Instruction

3.
Children of the Code. (2003, October 30). An interview of Dr. Louisa Moats – teaching teachers to teach reading. Retrieved from https://childrenofthecode.org/interviews/moats.htm

“The fact that teachers need better preparation, professional development, and resources to carry out deliberate instruction in reading, spelling, and writing should prompt action rather than criticism.” Louisa Moats -
https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2020/moats

4. Wrightslaw

5. Young adults applying to colleges should know about this :

https://dyslexiaida.org/university-programs-accredited-by-ida/

6. Educators can access thousands of learning opportunities.
Here are just a few resources:

https://dyslexiaida.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/DITC-Handbook.pdf?

Cox Campus
Reading Universe
The Reading League
International Dyslexia Association
Science of Reading: The Community
The Windward Institute
Landmark Outreach
MTSU Center for Dyslexia
The Reading League Cafe: Coffee and Tea with TRL Journal and Me!
Iowa Reading Research Center

We thank Brenda Peters for her wisdom and guidance as past president of International Dyslexia Association-Northern New England Alliance.

No single graphic or post can cover the enormity of this complex topic. Entire agencies and many concerned citizens have been trying to improve literacy for over 75 years. We hope these simple graphics help society take action so every child has the freedom to read.

https://www.flipsnack.com/B88EAE88B7A/perspectives-winter-2024/full-view

https://nicolejosephlaw.com/dyslexia-and-special-education-eligibility/

10/23/2025

Should schools bring back cursive? Why or why not?

10/20/2025

This is sadly more common than people realize…

This is also the county I live in and I feared many times that my autistic son would get suspened, expelled or worse because there was never enough trained teachers/support staff for the kids with disabilities.

Another reason why I pulled him out and homeschool.

The U.S. Department of Justice and Pasco County Schools have reached an agreement over discrimination allegations against students with disabilities.

10/15/2025

10/14/2025

This.
A Day In Our Shoes and Don't IEP Alone

10/14/2025

My son made me breakfast this morning…

I wonder what he will make for dinner and dessert tonight 😉

10/14/2025

10/14/2025

This. My son was enduring chaos and trauma daily in school. At home he gets educated in a peaceful and safe environment.
Dr Naomi Fisher

Recently a parent got in touch to tell me that her child had stopped going to school, and that after a period of recovery he is doing much better. He started to show interest in life again and wanting to play games. He started asking questions again and his mum was delighted.

School, however, thought that this was a sign that he should be returning. They wanted to make a reintegration plan. Even the suggestion was enough to cause him to go backwards. When she told school they said ‘Well of course he wants to stay home. There are no demands on him there’.

This is a variation on something I’ve often talked about – the ‘make home less fun’ fallacy. This is when people think that the reason a child doesn’t want to go to school isn’t because of any problem with school. It’s because home is just too nice, too comfortable for them to want to leave.

The answer, therefore, isn’t to think about what’s going wrong at school. It’s instead to make home less nurturing, less comfortable - essentially to make school seem better by making home worse.

This isn’t a good idea on mental health grounds. If you think about it, we’ve got a child who is unhappy at school, but happy at home. The advice is to make them less happy at home, so that school will, by comparison, seem better. This is a race to the bottom. It cannot help the situation.

One mother told me that they followed this advice and ended up with a child who was not allowed to do anything during the school day, but who sat on the stairs and stared into space – and who still preferred that than going to school.

This advice can also damage a child’s relationship with their parents, because the parents are the people who have to ‘make home less fun’ and who enforce the rules.

If there are problems at school, then that’s where the interventions need to start. Making home less nice is never going to be a good idea.