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October is officially marked as National Dyslexia Awareness Month. This creates an opportunity to shed light on the most common learning disability in the United States, one that affects millions of Americans every day. Dyslexia is not a measure of intelligence, but a unique way of how the brain processes language which ultimately presents challenges in reading and writing. This month is about raising awareness and advocating for the proper tools and resources needed to help those with dyslexia unlock their full potential. It is unfortunate that, as the most common learning disability, dyslexia remains woefully misunderstood and unnoticed. Because of this, the inability to provide better resources for educators and parents only continues to hold us back. By fostering a better understanding of dyslexia, we can create a more successful and inclusive environment for all learners.

As the co-chair of the Congressional Dyslexia Caucus, I have been a proud advocate in the halls of Congress for science-based approaches to bolster support for those who experience learning disabilities due to dyslexia. But on a more personal level, as a former school board president and the husband of a teacher, I understand firsthand the importance of providing helpful resources for educators to assist those with dyslexia and all learning disabilities. Last year, I was proud to sponsor legislation, , which emphasizes the need for a more modern understanding of the definition of dyslexia. Instead of the more overly broad definition of dyslexia as a Specific Learning Disability (SLD), it would be included in the list of disabilities that are under the definition of a "child with disability." Additionally, I recently introduced a recognizing October 2024 as National Dyslexia Awareness Month. This resolution was an important step in ensuring that educators and parents are aware of the prevalence of dyslexia and can give their students the learning resources they need. I am once again proud to have supported this resolution and am grateful to my colleagues from the House and the Senate who made this a bipartisan and bicameral effort.

As we continue through the month of October, it is important to understand that dedicating a month to dyslexia awareness is a noble cause, but it is only the first step. True change and progress will come from the continued search for improved resources and creating environments where people with dyslexia can succeed in learning. It's time for dyslexia to no longer be a barrier to greater understanding and learning. My hope is that we can commit to finding the resources needed to support evidence-based policy not only in the month of October but throughout the year.

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October is National Dyslexia Awareness Month

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October is officially marked as National Dyslexia Awareness Month. This creates an opportunity to shed light on the most common learning disability in the United States, one that affects millions of Americans every day.

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This list includes several entrepreneurs, musicians, even educators who have dyslexia and have had great successes in their careers.

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Having dyslexia makes reading, and sometimes other skills, more difficult to acquire, but having dyslexia is not necessarily a barrier to success. In fact, many individuals with dyslexia have not only been successful, they have changed the world. Research has shown that wiring in the brains of people with dyslexia is different, and many believe that this different wiring of the brain causes people with dyslexia to see problems in different ways that can support innovation and success. Whether or not you consider dyslexia a gift, clearly dyslexia is no barrier to success. Here are just a few examples of men and women with dyslexia who have found success in their lives.

Jared Blank

Marathon runner Jared Blank was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was five years old. As he moved through school, he learned that, for him, academic success would be a matter of hard work and endurance. When working with tutors he discovered that tasks that took someone else one hour, might take him three. Today, Blank has a career in collegiate athletics and advanced degrees from two universities. Blank runs for IDA's TeamQuest to help raise awareness about dyslexia.

Fred Forsley

There's a good chance that you know who Fred Forsley is, even if you have never heard his name. He is the founder of Shipyard Brewing Company, the biggest craft beer brewer in Maine and a national leader in the industry. Established almost 25 years ago, Forsley's Shipyard Brewing Company was an early pioneer in the craft brewing movement. Some of Forsley's other accomplishments include being a successful real estate broker since the age of 19, and an avid runner and sponsor of road races through Shipyard. He is also dyslexic.

Cameron Herold

Cameron Herold is one of the most sought-after business minds in North America. He has built several million-dollar companies from the ground up, as well as being a mentor to top-rated CEOs in the business world. Throughout his career, Cameron has been instrumental in the successful sale, branding, and integration of a remarkable 500 business locations with three major companies. In 2014, Cameron was the recipient of the Pinnacle Award, which was created to recognize an individual with dyslexia who has publicly acknowledged his dyslexia, made significant achievements in his field of interest, is leading a successful life, and is a role model for others with dyslexia.

Lindsay Leavitt

At only age 13, Lindsay Leavitt knew she wanted to use her "Mitzvah" project to raise awareness around dyslexia. Lindsay, who has dyslexia, launched a campaign to increase dyslexia awareness and also set fundraising goals to raise money for the International Dyslexia Association. She soon exceeded her donations goals.

Anthony Raneri

When Anthony Raneri-lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist for the punk band Bayside-was doing a Facebook Live chat with some of the band's more than 200,000 followers on the social media site, he could finally, publicly, put a name to what used to undermine his confidence: He told his fans he has dyslexia.

Kendra Thomas

Kendra Thomas would tell herself, "I can't be a writer, I can't do this, I can't do that-I'll never be a straight-A student." She didn't think of herself as an intelligent person. But three published books and one play later, despite her struggles with dyslexia and ADD, Kendra is a successful principal at a school in Texas working on her dissertation and a fourth book.
Do you have a success story you would like to share? IDA would love to hear your story. Contact us at communications@DyslexiaIDA.org

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Success Stories - International Dyslexia Association

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Having dyslexia makes reading, and sometimes other skills, more difficult to acquire, but having dyslexia is not necessarily a barrier to success. In fact,

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One of the first school intervention systems to support individuals with Dyslexia

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What Is the
Orton-Gillingham Approach?

The Orton-Gillingham approach empowers educators to develop an individualized, structured, multisensory plan to teach reading and vocabulary skills. Orton-Gillingham is a step-by-step learning process involving letters and sounds that encourages students to advance upon each smaller manageable skill learned throughout the process. It was the first approach to use explicit, direct, sequential, systematic, multi-sensory instruction to teach reading, which is effective for all students and essential for teaching students with dyslexia.

The Orton-Gillingham approach is made up of components that ensure that students are not only able to use learned strategies, but can also explain the how and why of phonological strategies. This instructional approach encourages students by seeing, saying, sounding, and writing letters to master decoding and encoding of words. The Orton-Gillingham approach emphasizes multisensory learning, which combines sight, hearing, touch, and movement. This approach works well for students with dyslexia who lack a basic level of phonemic awareness.

Critical Components of the
Orton-Gillingham Approach

The teaching of new concepts incorporates visual, auditory, and kinesthetic pathways. With this approach, students learn language by ear (listening), mouth (speaking), eyes (seeing), and hand (writing).

Structured, Sequential, and Cumulative

Through direct, explicit instruction, it progresses logically at the primary level and progresses to more advanced concepts that build upon the previous skill learned, with practice and review.

Through assessment, differentiation, and grouping, teachers can instruct students based on their needs.

Directly teaches the fundamental structure of language, starting with sound/symbol relationships and progressing to more complex concepts such as higher-level spelling rules and Greek and Latin Bases.

The Five Pillars of Literacy

See Orton-Gillingham as a Part of Structured Literacy Training in Action

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Orton-Gillingham | The Orton-Gillingham Approach

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Orton-Gillingham is a structured approach that breaks reading and spelling down into smaller skills involving letters and sounds and builds on these skills.

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This is a Tier 3 intervention available to provide training and programs for those who work with individuals with Dyslexia.

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Instruction for Students with Dyslexia

Wilson Reading System ® (WRS) is the flagship program of Wilson Language Training ®and the foundation of all other Wilson ® programs. The Tier 3 Structured Literacy (SL) program is based on phonological-coding research and Orton-Gillingham principles.

Everyone Deserves To Learn To Read

By providing intensive WRS instruction in small groups or individually with a highly skilled teacher, reading and spelling success is achievable.

Based on more than three decades of data, WRS is designed for students in grades 2-12 and adults with word-level deficits who are not making sufficient progress through their current intervention; have been unable to learn with other teaching strategies; or who require more intensive structured literacy instruction due to a language-based learning disability, such as dyslexia.

Student focus

All students in grades 2-12 and adults who are not making sufficient progress in intervention or who may require more intensive instruction due to a language-based learning disability/dyslexia

Group Size

Small group (ideally up to 4 students), one-to-one

Lesson Length

One full lesson consists of all 3 Blocks of instruction (approximately 30 minutes to complete each Block); minimum of two complete lessons per week

Setting

Special education classroom, resource room, literacy center, adult education

Instructor

WRS Level I Certified Wilson ® Dyslexia Practitioner (W.D.P.) or WRS Level II Certified Wilson ® Dyslexia Therapist (W.D.T.)

Professional learning & support

● Wilson Academy ®/WRS Learning Community (online)

● Program workshops and instructor-led courses

● In-person and online courses on intensive instruction

● Basic and advanced word study

● WRS Level I and II Certification with practicum observations and implementation seminars

● Sustainability plans

Overview of Wilson Reading System

WRS supports college- and career-readiness standards by providing students who have a language-based learning disability with the foundational and language skills that are necessary to access grade-level text. This comprehensive program can follow students from grade to grade, as needed.

The principles of instruction have been identified by research as effective teaching principles found to increase student achievement. WRS also aligns with the International Dyslexia Association's (IDA) guidelines for working with students with dyslexia (IDA, 2008). Success is achieved through greater intensity, duration, and smaller group sizes.

Unique characteristics set WRS apart from other programs:

A systematic, explicit, cumulative, intensive, and focused approach is used to teach the structure of the English language/total word structure for decoding and encoding.

A systematic and integrated approach to decoding, morphology and the study of word elements, encoding and orthography (internalizing the rules that govern English), high frequency word instruction, oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Orton-Gillingham principles make all instruction direct, multisensory, and interactive. Consistent links are made between visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways to enhance memory and learning of written language.

Unique "sound-tapping system" attunes students to the separate phonemes in a word, develops the understanding that the sounds of spoken language work together to make words, and facilitates segmentation and blending of sounds.

Material is presented in 12 Steps, not corresponding to school grade levels, that are further divided into 63 incremental substeps, each building upon the previous one. Mastery of each substep is required before progressing to the next one, making the demands of the subsequent substep manageable and achievable.

A ten-part lesson plan that addresses the following in a sensible and logical fashion: decoding, morphology and the study of word elements, encoding and orthography (internalizing the rules that govern English), high frequency word instruction, oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

A penciling technique for scooping sentences and passages into meaningful phrases facilitates reading with prosody.

Concepts are taught through the manipulation of sound, syllable, and word element (prefix, base element, and suffix) cards.

One of the most extensive collections of controlled and readable text (wordlists, sentences, stories) for students beyond the primary grades provided.

Three levels of vocabulary offered.

Criterion-based assessments are built into the program to measure student progress and success.

To learn more about our approach, please visit Our Approach to Program Design page.

After feeling frustrated and unprepared to help my struggling students, I was beyond fortunate to receive a Wilson Reading System kit from an assistant principal. This gift started my journey into Wilson training and ultimately led to phenomenal success for countless students. I have learned so much during my practicum opportunities, and through these experiences with Wilson materials, I became empowered to confidently support struggling readers and writers. My students and their parents will tell you: Wilson works!
Renee Bernhardt, M.Ed., President, International Dyslexia Association, GA, Wilson Dyslexia Practitioner (W.D.P.)

WRS Level I and Level II Certification Accredited by the International Dyslexia Association

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) focuses on the complex issues of dyslexia, promoting effective teacher preparation and intervention strategies for students with dyslexia as one of their goals. Following an independent review process, Wilson Language Training and Wilson® Accredited Partners received the AccreditationPlus designation by the IDA as an Independent Teacher Training Program, indicating our alignment to IDA's Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading (KPS). This recognition demonstrates that Wilson certified educators are well-qualified to provide instruction to students with dyslexia based on recognized best practices and standards in the field.

WRS Curriculum

Familiarize yourself with the skills and concepts of the Wilson Reading System ® (WRS).

WRS Implementation

Learn how to identify students appropriate for the WRS and how to implement it successfully in your classroom.

WRS Materials

WRS instructor and student materials make learning multisensory and explicit.

Implemented Across the Country

Wilson Reading System ® (WRS) effectively develops the reading skills of struggling readers, including individuals with a language-based learning disability.

See what states have recognized WRS

Wilson Reading System® Learning Community

With Wilson Reading System, you gain access to this membership-based companion site, which supports individuals teaching Wilson's programs. Gain access to reference and instructional materials, expert tips, and more.

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Wilson Reading System - Wilson Language Training Corporation

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Everyone Deserves To Learn To Read By providing intensive WRS instruction in small groups or individually with a highly skilled teacher, reading and spelling success is achievable.

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An additional tutoring system for those with Dyslexia. This is based off of the Orton-Gillingham approach

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Barton | Reading & Spelling System Since 1998

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Barton System | Reading & Spelling System Since 1998 | Barton

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The Barton Reading & Spelling System is a one-on-one tutoring system that will greatly improve the spelling, reading, and writing skills of children, teenagers or adults who struggle due to dyslexia or a learning disability.

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Graphic organizers to help with reading comprehension

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Graphic organizers to help with reading comprehension

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Kids who struggle with reading can improve their reading comprehension by using graphic organizers. These simple, visual tools allow kids to break down stories and nonfiction texts. They also help kids keep track of thoughts as they read.

Graphic organizers come in many forms. The six downloads included here are intended for grade-schoolers. But older students may also find them useful. Each graphic organizer comes with a template and a filled-in example.

Kids can use these graphic organizers in one of two ways:

Need more guidance?

Get answers to all your questions with the Understood Assistant.

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Download: Graphic organizers to help kids with reading

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These free graphic organizers for reading come with filled-in examples. Download them now to help kids with reading comprehension.

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International Dyslexia Association - ...until everyone can read!

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Resources and Support

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Dyslexia is a common learning disability in reading. It doesn't go away. But there are teaching strategies, tools, and tips for building skills. Discover resources to help with dyslexia.

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Structured literacy (SL) teaching is the most effective approach for students who experience unusual difficulty learning to read and spell printed words. The term refers to both the content and methods or principles of instruction. It means the same kind of instruction as the terms multisensory structured language education and structured language and literacy.

Structured literacy teaching stands in contrast with approaches that are popular in many schools but that do not teach oral and written language skills in an explicit, systematic manner. Evidence is strong that the majority of students learn to read better with structured teaching of basic language skills, and that the components and methods of Structured Literacy are critical for students with reading disabilities including dyslexia.
Content of SL Instruction: Language
Dyslexia and most reading disorders originate with language processing weaknesses. Consequently, the content of instruction is analysis and production of language at all levels: sounds, spellings for sounds and syllables, patterns and conventions of the writing system, meaningful parts of words, sentences, paragraphs, and discourse within longer texts.

Phoneme awareness. Becoming consciously aware of the individual speech sounds (phonemes) that make up words is a critical foundation for learning to read and spell. A phoneme is the smallest unit of speech that can change the meaning of a word. For example, the different vowel phonemes in mist, mast, must, and most create different words. Although linguists do not agree on the list of phonemes in English, it has approximately 43 phonemes-25 consonants and 18 vowels.

In preschool and early kindergarten, children typically learn the underpinnings for phoneme awareness, including rhyming, counting spoken syllables, and reciting phrases beginning with the same sound. By the end of kindergarten, children should identify each speech sound by ear and be able to take apart and say the separate sounds of simple words with two and three sounds. More advanced phoneme awareness skills, especially important for spelling and reading fluency, include rapidly and accurately taking apart the sounds in spoken words (segmentation), putting together (blending) speech sound sequences, and leaving out (deleting) or substituting one sound for another to make a new word. These exercises are done orally, without print, and should be part of instruction until students are proficient readers. A large proportion of individuals with dyslexia has difficulty with this level of language analysis and needs prolonged practice to grasp it.

Phoneme awareness is an essential foundation for reading and writing with an alphabet. In an alphabetic writing system like English, letters and letter combinations represent phonemes. Decoding print is possible only if the reader can map print to speech efficiently; therefore, the elements of speech must be clearly and consciously identified in the reader's mind.

Sound-Symbol (phoneme-grapheme) correspondences. An alphabetic writing system like English represents phonemes with graphemes. Graphemes are letters (a, s, t, etc.) and letter combinations (th, ng, oa, ew, igh, etc.) that represent phonemes in print. The basic code for written words is the system of correspondences between phonemes and graphemes. This system is often referred to as the phonics code, the alphabetic code, or the written symbol system.

The correspondences between letters and speech sounds in English are more complex and variable than some languages such as Spanish or Italian. Nevertheless, the correspondences can be explained and taught through systematic, explicit, cumulative instruction that may take several years to complete.

Patterns and conventions of print (orthography). Through explicit instruction and practice, students with dyslexia can be taught to understand and remember patterns of letter use in the writing system. For example, some spellings for consonant sounds, such as -ck, -tch, and -dge, are used only after short vowels. Some letters, like v and j, cannot be used at the ends of words. Only some letters are doubled. Some letters work to signal the sounds of other letters. These conventions can all be taught as part of the print system or orthography.

Print patterns and conventions exist as well for representing the vowel sounds in written syllables. It is a convention that almost every written syllable in English has a vowel grapheme. Structured Literacy programs usually teach six basic types of written syllables: closed (com, mand), open (me, no), vowel-consonant-e (take, plete), vowel team (vow, mean), vowel-r combinations (car, port), and the final consonant-le pattern (lit-tle, hum-ble). Recognizing written syllable patterns helps a reader divide longer words into readable chunks, and helps in understanding spelling conventions such as doubling of consonant letters (little vs. title).

Morphology. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. Morphemes include prefixes, roots, base words, and suffixes. These meaningful units are often spelled consistently even though pronunciation changes as they are combined into words (define, definition; nation, national; restore, restoration). Recognizing morphemes helps students figure out and remember the meanings of new words. In addition, knowledge of morphology is an aid for remembering spellings such as at-tract-ive and ex-press-ion.

Syntax. Syntax is the system for ordering words in sentences so that meaning can be communicated. The study of syntax includes understanding parts of speech and conventions of grammar and word use in sentences. Lessons include interpretation and formulation of simple, compound, and complex sentences, and work with both phrases and clauses in sentence construction.

Semantics. Semantics is the aspect of language concerned with meaning. Meaning is conveyed both by single words and by phrases and sentences. Comprehension of both oral and written language is developed by teaching word meanings (vocabulary), interpretation of phrases and sentences, and understanding of text organization.

Reading comprehension is a product of both word recognition and language comprehension. Throughout structured literacy instruction, students should be supported as they work with many kinds of texts-stories, informational text, poetry, drama, and so forth, even if that text is read aloud to students who cannot yet read it independently. Reading worthwhile texts that stimulate deep thinking is a critical component of Structured Literacy.
Principles and Methods of SL Instruction
Explicit. In SL instruction, the teacher explains each concept directly and clearly, providing guided practice. Lessons embody instructional routines, for example, quick practice drills to build fluency, or the use of fingers to tap out sounds before spelling words. The student applies each new concept to reading and writing words and text, under direct supervision of the teacher who gives immediate feedback and guidance. Students are not expected to discover or intuit language concepts simply from exposure to language or reading.

Systematic and cumulative. In an SL approach, the teacher teaches language concepts systematically, explaining how each element fits into the whole. Instruction follows a planned scope and sequence of skills that progresses from easier to more difficult. One concept builds on another. The goal of systematic teaching is automatic and fluent application of language knowledge to reading for meaning.

Hands-on, engaging, and multimodal. Methods often include hands-on learning such as moving tiles into sound boxes as words are analyzed, using hand gestures to support memory for associations, building words with letter tiles, assembling sentences with words on cards, color-coding sentences in paragraphs, and so forth. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are often paired with one another to foster multimodal language learning.

Diagnostic and responsive. The teacher uses student response patterns to adjust pacing, presentation, and amount of practice given within the lesson framework. The teacher monitors progress through observation and brief quizzes that measure retention of what has been taught.
References
Birsh, J., & Carreker, S. (2019). Multisensory teaching of basic language skills, 4th ed. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.

Brady, S. (2011). Efficacy of phonics teaching for reading outcomes: Implications from Post-NRP research. In S. Brady, D. Braze, & C. Fowler (Eds.), Explaining individual differences in reading (pp. 69-96), London, UK: Psychology Press.

Denton, C. A., Fletcher, J. M., Taylor, W. P., Barth, A. E., & Vaughn, S. (2014). An experimental evaluation of Guided Reading and explicit interventions for primary-grade students at-risk for reading difficulties. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 7(3), 268-293.

Ehri, L., Nunes, S. R., Stahl, S., & Willows, D. (2001). Systematic phonics instruction helps students learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel's meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 71, 393-447.

Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., Furgeson, J., Hayes, L., Henke, J., Justice, L., Keating, B., Lewis, W., Sattar, S., Streke, A., Wagner, R., & Wissel, S. (2016). Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade (NCEE 2016-4008). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from the NCEE website: http://whatworks.ed.gov

International Dyslexia Association. Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading. https://dyslexiaida.org/knowledge-and-practices/

Kilpatrick, D. (2015). Essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming reading difficulties. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

McCardle, P., & Chhabra, V. (Eds.). (2004). The voice of evidence in reading research. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

Moats, L. C. (2010). Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers, 2nd ed. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

National Early Literacy Panel (NELP). (2008). Developing early literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Bethesda, MD: National Institute of Child and Human Development.

Seidenberg, M. (2017). Language at the speed of sight: How we read, why so many can't, and what can be done about it. New York, NY: Basic Books.
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) thanks Louisa Moats, Ed.D., for her assistance in the preparation of this fact sheet.
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA). IDA encourages the reproduction and distribution of this fact sheet.
If portions of the text are cited, appropriate reference must be made. Fact sheets may not be reprinted for the purpose of resale. © Copyright 2020. The International Dyslexia Association (IDA). For copyright information, pleaseclick here.

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Structured Literacy: Effective Instruction for Students with Dyslexia and Related Reading Difficulties - International Dyslexia Association