Resources
I personally recommend the following resources. They are divided into instructional materials, academic supports and tools for struggling readers (accommodations), and information about literacy and dyslexia.
Instructional Materials
Florida Center For Reading Research (FCRR) (kindergarten through 5th grade)
-FCRR is a fine place for information, but an excellent place for literacy activities. This link will take you to their center activities which are all free science-based activities that you can use with your reader. Click here for FCRR center activities.
​​
​Barton Reading (Elementary School through Adult)
-I do not have any personal experience with Barton. That said, it is considered the best out-of-the-box tool for people without training by multiple parents I know. While an out-of-the-box intervention will never be as good as a personalized intervention from an expert, it is better than nothing for those with limited options.
​
Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) (recommended for kindergarten and 1st grade).
-PALS is not a complete program. There are many things it does not teach. For example, it does not teach spelling rules. It only teaches the most common sound for each letter or letter combination and gives no explanation for when the letter or group of letters might make a different sound. It doesn't teach syllable types or syllable division. It also doesn't teach all of the graphemes (letter combinations) of the English language. What it does do, and does very well, is teach the most common sounds that graphemes make and many of the most common words that readers will see. It is also incredibly easy for a person without literacy training to follow. It can be very effective. I recommend the kindergarten and first grade PALS as a good starting resource for those grade levels. I have never used their resources beyond those grade levels, but would recommend a more intensive intervention for students who continue to struggle beyond first grade. Click here for PALS.
​
​
Academic Supports and Tools For Struggling Readers
A note about accommodations: The tools listed here are what educators refer to as accommodations. Accommodations are tools that allow students to do the same work as their peers by providing support with the aspects of that task that are difficult for that person. We all have something called working memory. Working memory is how many things we can hold in our head at the same time. Working memory is like a desk. If you put too many things on a desk, eventually you are going to push something off. In the same way, when we ask kids who struggle with reading to read and write, we put a lot on their mental desk. These are tools that can help take some of that work off of the mental desk of struggling readers so that they can focus on content for tasks where spelling or sounding out words isn't the goal. We can and should pull back on these accommodations as readers no longer need them, but they are a wonderful way to make sure they can still do all the same work as their peers.
​
Learning Ally (all ages)
-Learning Ally is a company that creates human read audio books for people with disabilities. They have an extensive library and the recordings are all high quality. Reading books to a student that they can't read on their own yet, and letting the student listen to audio books, is a great way to make sure that a word recognition deficit doesn't become an oral language deficit. Many of the words that a person learns over his or her lifetime are learned from books, and listening to books is just as good as reading them for oral language. Click here for Learning Ally.
​​
Read/Write for Google Chrome (2nd grade and up)
-When the focus of a task is to improve in spelling or reading words, we need students to spell and sound out words on their own. When the focus of a task is anything else, we want to minimize the role that spelling and reading words plays so that students can focus on the objective of the task. This is true whether the task is an essay, a job application, or just taking notes in a classroom. Google Read/Write is one of the best tools I have ever seen to fill this role. It has word prediction features which can make spelling much easier, speech to text, a picture dictionary, oral presentation features, and much much more. Clients can feel free to consult with me about which features of google Read/Write are appropriate for their reader and when to use them. It is not free, but it is relatively affordable. Teachers get one free teacher account on read/write with their school email. Click here for Google Read/Write.
​
Grammarly (2nd grade and up)
-I do not have a lot of personal experience with Grammarly, but I would rather that parents and educators know about it so you can investigate it for yourselves. The rationale for using this program is exactly the same as the rationale for using read/write. It is another way to take some of the mental load off of the plate of struggling readers. Click here for Grammarly.
​
CPEN (2nd grade and up)
-CPENs are hand held scanners that orally present text to students. They physically scan the text with the device and the device reads it to them. I generally think it is better to use a computer for auditory text than a CPEN. CPENs can be tricky to use, and only work when the text fits well with the size of the scanner. That said, for readers who truly prefer paper text or have to interact with paper text for things like math tests, CPENs can be a life saver. I have seen these devices change lives. Click here for CPENs.
​
Chat GPT/AI Language Models (3rd grade and up)
-I expect that many parents and educators will be reluctant to look at this tool. I get it. That said, AI is here to stay and can be very useful when used in the correct way. If you have never played with ChatGPT, I strongly recommend it. It can be an amazing tool. Just be aware that with this tool there is a lot of potential for misuse. Good ways to use chat GPT: Paste in an essay, email, or paragraph that you have written and ask for feedback. You can ask it about the tone of the writing, word choice, professionalism, and anything else you can think of. It gives really good feedback. You can brainstorm ideas about what to write about, or what the best way to structure an essay or a story might be. ChatGPT is very good at this kind of feedback. Bad ways to use chat GPT: Do not ask it to write an essay for you. It will, but you won't get any better at writing and you won't understand what it wrote about. Parents, be aware that if your child tells ChatGPT to write an essay that a 3rd grader, 4th grader, etc. could have written it will do a very good job of it. It can absolutely be used to cheat or get out of work. I cannot recommend enough that you do not use it in that way. Do not ask it for facts. ChatGPT can't think and it can't fact check. It is a computer program that has been exposed to so many conversations that it knows how a conversation should sound. When you ask it "How do airplanes fly?" it doesn't have any idea. What it does do is to figure out what an answer to that question might look like from the millions of times it has seen that question answered and then give you whatever looks the most right to it. It has no idea what it's saying and no way to know whether the information it is giving you is correct. It can and will give you incorrect information. Click here for ChatGPT.
​
​​
Dyslexia Information
Dyslexia Information for Parents and Families
​​
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA)
-The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is a wonderful organization for learning about dyslexia, and about reading in general. Click here for IDA.
​​
Reading Rockets
-Reading Rockets has been around for a long time and is a shockingly good source of information. You can even find expert articles from people like Dr. Louisa Moats, Dr. Linneah Ehri, and other giants in literacy research. If you don't know those names, they are to literacy nerds as people like Michael Jordan are to basketball fans. This site is an endless source of good evidence-based information. I can't recommend it enough. Click here for Reading Rockets.
​
Emily Hanford Podcasts
-Emily Hanford is a journalist who has done excellent work in terms of trying to understand how public schools in the United States began teaching reading using strategies that researchers tell us are either ineffective or even harmful. While the reporting focuses on the United States, these same problems persist in many English speaking countries around the world. The two podcasts that I recommend are Hard Words and Sold A Story, but all of her materials are good. You can find the podcasts here. Click here for Hard Words. Click here for Sold A Story.
​
Book Recommendations:
Overcoming Dyslexia by Dr. Sally Schaywitz.
-This book is a little out of date, and there are some things that are no longer quite accurate as we understand them now, but this is the best family oriented book on dyslexia that I have ever read.
​
Smart But Scattered Series by Peg Dawson
-I found this series after seeing Peg Dawson present at a reading conference. These books are not about literacy. They are about ADHD. That said, anybody who works with struggling readers knows that attention challenges and reading struggles go hand in hand. The books in this series focus on different age groups from young children up through adults. They explain what executive functioning skills are, why some people struggle with them, and how to help. As an adult with ADHD, I can only say that I wish these books had existed when I was younger.
​
Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
-Born On A Blue Day is a bit unique on this list. It isn't a how to resource, it has nothing to do with literacy, and it has nothing to do with nearly anything else on this site. I believe that one of the greatest challenges that students with dyslexia or any other learning disability faces is that they often feel isolated and misunderstood. They often do not understand why things that seems easy to others is so hard for them. Often times, neither do their family or friends. These misunderstandings can create problems with self esteem and the feeling that they are not very smart. I believe that one of the most important things we can for for people who struggle with any area of learning, and people in general, is to be empathetic and to try to understand what it feels like to be them. Born On A Blue Day is on my recommended list because it is a very good autobiography that is written by a person whose brain works differently from most people. In this case, the author has autism and synesthesia. What makes this book so unique is that the author does an outstanding job of relating exactly what it feels like to be him. He likely won't have much in common with your struggling reader, but he can give you a very good sense of what it feels like to have a brain that works differently from most people. I hope that it will help people pause the next time they are frustrated that their child, friend, spouse, etc. has made the same mistake for what seems like the millionth time and try to understand what the task is like from that person's perspective. When we understand a person, we can help work towards solutions rather than just feeling frustrated and can approach the situation with understanding and empathy. Empathy, in my experience, is the most important quality that a person can have when supporting a struggling reader.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Dyslexia Information for Educators and Professionals
​
IMSLEC (The place to go for all trainings)
-IMSLEC is the organization that certifies that graduate programs or private companies offering training are providing training that is aligned with the science of reading. There are many many trainings out there. By far, the most impactful training for me was my pursuit of my CALT. That said, if IMSLEC certifies the training, it is good. Click here for IMSLEC.
​
ALTA
-Alta is the organization that is responsible for training CALTs and CALPs. I will admit to personal bias here, but I have done multiple Orton Gillingham trainings, LETRS training, and many other literacy trainings. My training as a CALT was the best training I have ever undergone. Click here for ALTA.
​
Neuhaus
-Literacy trainings can be incredibly expensive. So can curricula. Neuhaus is the most affordable place I know of to buy good literacy curricula and resources. It is often where I look first when I need resources. Click here for Neuhaus.
​​
Book Recommendations:
​
Multisensory Teaching Of Basic Language Skills by Dr. Judith Birsh, Dr. Suzanne Carreker, and Dr. Louisa Moats
-This book is almost 1,000 pages of accumulated research in literacy. It is the best overview of literacy on the market.
​
Speech to Print by Dr. Louisa Moats.
-This book is the source material for the legendary LETRS training (which you should also do if you have the opportunity). It is one of the best books on the market regarding how we learn to read.
​
Reading In The Brain: The New Science of How We Read by Dr. Stanislas Dehaene
-Dr. Dehaene is one of those rare individuals who is able to push the boundaries of science with his research and to explain that research in ways that ordinary people can understand. He is a neuroscientist who has studied how the brain reads, how the brain learns, and how the brain experiences consciousness. It was his research that determined the crucial role of the visual word form area in the brain which Dehanne appropriately dubs the brain's letterbox. This book is somewhat dated but there is no other book like it on the market that I have seen.
​
Phonological Awareness From Research to Practice by Gail T Gillon
-I wanted to understand phonological awareness as deeply as possible since it plays such a crucial role in the development of reading skills. That quest led me to order this little known book. It remains the best book I have ever read on the subject.
​
I have listed the books that have made the greatest impression on me personally, but there are many other amazing books out there on the science of reading. Here are some authors that you might want to research to learn more. This list is not exhaustive, but it will get you started.: Dr. Mark Seidenberg, Dr. Maryanne Wolf, Dr. David Kilpatrick, Dr. Louisa Moats, Nancy Hennessy, and Dr. Kathleen Maloney