What happens when parents start fighting for every child’s right to learn to read? I’m joined by Brett Tingley, President of Parents for Reading Justice, for a powerful conversation about parent advocacy, dyslexia, and the role families can play in transforming literacy instruction across the country. Brett’s journey began as a mom searching for answers…
Phonics is foundational — but it’s not the finish line! You’ve learned about phonemic awareness, phonics, and decodable text — but what happens when words get longer? When spelling gets more complex and sound alone doesn’t tell the whole story? When students can read a word but don’t fully understand how it works? There’s a…
What if the English spelling system isn’t nearly as irregular as we’ve been led to believe? What if the letters we sometimes call “silent” are actually telling us something important about a word’s structure, identity, or history? Sue Scibetta Hegland, author of Beneath the Surface of Words: What English Spelling Reveals and Why It Matters…
All 50 states now have dyslexia legislation on the books. So why are so many students with dyslexia still caught in a “wait to fail” system? Dyslexia advocate, Missy Purcell joins the show to explore the gap between passing legislation and actually changing outcomes for students. Missy shares the deeply personal story of advocating for…
Emmy-nominated actor, dyslexia advocate, and speaker Ameer Baraka explores the human side of unidentified dyslexia. Ameer takes us back to his childhood, when difficulties with reading left him feeling isolated, ashamed, and convinced that he simply wasn’t capable of learning. As his struggles went unidentified, school felt like it wasn’t a place of possibility, and…
What does dyslexia actually look like – from preschool through high school – and how can educators recognize when a student’s struggles may be telling us something more? In this Dyslexia Awareness Month bonus episode, Certified Dyslexia Therapist and teacher educator Barb Golub joins the show for an honest, practical, and incredibly fun conversation about…
What happens when schools treat academics and behavior as two completely separate systems? Dr. Dawn Miller and Dr. Pamela Radford of MTSS Innovations help us explore what it really means to build an integrated Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS): one that recognizes that students’ academic, behavioral, social, and emotional needs don’t exist in isolation. We…
Dr. Sarah Brown and Dr. Kelly Powell-Smith, co-authors of Routines for Reading Results: A Practical Approach for Accelerating Growth, alongside Dr. Stephanie Stollar and Beth Madden unpack the principles of Direct Instruction and explain why effective reading instruction depends not only on what we teach, but on the intentional design and delivery of instruction. They…
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) affects approximately 1 in 14 people, yet many educators have never heard of it. So what might DLD actually look like in the classroom? How can we better support students when difficulties with language intersect with dyslexia, ADHD, executive function, reading, spelling, and writing? Speech-language pathologists, Kathleen Love and Beth Coppoc…
Decodable texts are an important tool for helping readers apply their phonics knowledge, but are we squeezing everything we can out of them? Dr. Wiley Blevins – longtime educator, researcher, author, and one of the most recognized voices in phonics instruction – shares all about choosing and using decodable texts. When it comes to choosing…