Dyslexia Articles: I have struggled with dyslexia for my entire life. School—because it involved reading and writing—was a nightmare for me. But I survived and even learned to thrive. Now I try to share helpful information as a dyslexia advocate so that parents and educators can help their dyslexic children and students to understand the condition and work with it with patience, optimism, and perseverance. I’ve written many blog articles and magazine articles about dyslexia. I hope that some of the following archives will be helpful to you and your family.
Audio is available for many of these blogs in case you prefer to listen to them.
Genetics and Early Diagnosis of Dyslexia
Genetics of Dyslexia: Part 1
Genetics of Dyslexia: Part 1 While there is no one “dyslexia gene,” genetics do play a role when a child develops dyslexia. It’s important to note that genetics is just one part of dyslexia; a…
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Early Detection of Dyslexia: Genetics of Dyslexia Part 2
Early Detection of Dyslexia: Genetics of Dyslexia Part 2 Frequently, children are suspected to be dyslexic learners after they are already enrolled in school and have been consistently demonstrating difficulties with reading and spelling. Once…
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The Multiple Deficit Model of Dyslexia
The Multiple Deficit Model of Dyslexia A few years ago, my wife and I drove her parents to Houston in their new van. It was a top-of-the-line Honda, spacious and comfortable, but my wife’s stepdad…
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Dyslexia and the Reading Brain
Dyslexia and the Reading Brain When I was a boy, I loved taking mechanical things apart. All the moving parts that created a functioning clock, watch, radio, and so on just fascinated me. I was…
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Dyslexia and the Visual Brain
Dyslexia and the Visual Brain If you ask me, life is too full of acronyms as it is. And today we’re discussing yet another one. But this one refers to an important area of the…
Read MoreArticles About Adult Dyslexia
Dyslexia and Relationships
Dyslexia and Relationships. It’s a fact: many folks struggle with their relationships, especially in marriage. All too often, couples split up or divorce. As a child from a broken home, I was determined never to…
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Adult Dyslexia and Reading
Adult Dyslexia and Reading In both the fields of research and education there is a tremendous focus on diagnosing dyslexia in children and developing reading remediation programs to help them learn to read. This is…
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Dyslexia Anxiety in the Workplace
The 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can is the story of Frank Abagnale, a man with a troubled childhood who ran away from home as a teen and began to support himself as a…
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5 Hallmarks of Adults Living with Dyslexia
I never wanted to be a writer. If someone had told my young self that I would become a writer one day, I would have laughed—or thrown up—or run away. The idea of becoming a…
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Living with an Adult with Dyslexia
In my last blog, I talked about 5 hallmarks of being an adult with undiagnosed or misunderstood dyslexia. In my youth and well into adulthood, I knew I was dyslexic, but it was just a…
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Adult Dyslexia: When It’s as Good as It Gets
I was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child. It never goes away, so now as an adult, I have adult dyslexia. Being an adult with dyslexia is exhausting. We are always working incredibly hard to…
Read MoreArticles about Children and Dyslexia
Getting the Right Diagnosis with ADHD and Dyslexia
Getting the Right Diagnosis with ADHD and Dyslexia Recognizing a child’s learning challenges is the first step toward getting them help. Sometimes, getting an accurate diagnosis for a kid with learning issues can be particularly…
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Audiobooks, Dyslexia, and the Brain
Audiobooks, Dyslexia, and the Brain Some people wonder if audiobooks are a “legit” way for dyslexic students to read? A recent conversation with a frustrated parent led me to look for a way to help.…
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Dyslexia Is Like Black-and-White Photography
Dyslexia Is Like Black-and-White Photography Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about all the ways a person can live with a limitation. Sometimes limitations are imposed upon us by others—a curfew for a teen, HOA…
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How Reading Shapes the Brain
How Reading Shapes the Brain The other day I came across a quote that stopped me in my tracks. It read, “Reading is everything, and saying so is more than an inspirational slogan. It’s now…
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Early Signs of Reading Difficulties
Early Signs of Reading Difficulties: Interview with reading specialist Faith Borkowsky One of the most dynamic, energetic people I know is fellow author Faith Borkowsky. Faith has decades of training and experience as a specialist…
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Challenging Teaching Situation: Teachers in the Trenches, Reading and Dyslexia
Challenging Teaching Situation: Teachers in the Trenches, Reading and Dyslexia, 2022 ALTA Summit Part 1 I love when I get to interact with teachers—they’re the folks with boots-on-the-ground experience in education. Being an educator is…
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Reading Teacher Challenge: Dyslexia
Reading Teacher Challenge: Dyslexia 2022 ALTA Summit Part 2 Welcome back to the continued discussion as reading specialists responded to my question, “What are your greatest challenges when working with children with dyslexia?” Reading Teacher…
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How Childhood Beliefs Are Formed and Why They Matter
How Childhood Beliefs Are Formed and Why They Matter In my last blog, I discussed ways a parent can begin to untangle their child’s behaviors by digging deeper into any mistaken beliefs the child has…
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Look Beneath the Surface of a Child’s Behavior
Look Beneath the Surface of a Child’s Behavior A recent conversation with a concerned parent reminded me how important it is to look beneath the surface of a child’s behavior. This parent shared that their…
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Learning to Read Is Not Enough for Dyslexics
I was talking with a friend the other day who is passionate about children learning to read. It was a great conversation since I am passionate about that topic as well. But as we said…
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Help a Dyslexic Child Develop a Positive Mindset
We all know how difficult it can be to develop new beneficial habits (or to ditch bad ones). Fortunately, a behavioral scientist from Stanford University can teach us a mind-blowing amount about how to do…
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Applying the Science of Reading
There is a national crisis. Several may come to mind as you read that statement, but I’m referring to the national reading crisis. Those of you familiar with my work and this blog know I…
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Dying to Read and Write
Students with undiagnosed learning difficulties such as dyslexia are at a higher risk for depression and suicidal tendencies. Why is this fact often overlooked? Read the following article by educator Faith Borkoswky, author of Failing…
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If You Change the Way You Look at Things, the Things You Look at Change
Psychologist Wayne Dyer uttered the wise words above many years ago, and I love his point. This technique of being able to see a person or a situation with new eyes is so helpful to…
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Reading Instruction and the Dyslexia Diagnosis Debate
When it comes to diagnosing and providing accommodation for dyslexia, there are more issues involved than just making sure a child can learn to read. What do I mean by that? First, there is no…
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Interview with Dr. Dan Peters: Parent Footprint
A common thread that runs through the lives of many dyslexics is their incredible struggle to read and to discover their path to success in life. This is especially true for those who were never…
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What Is Preliteracy, and When Can Parents Begin to Build It?
Life is funny sometimes; when we start a conversation about a topic, it can be interesting to see what ideas the masses have embraced. Groupthink is a term that means that a group of well-intentioned…
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Shared Reading and Parental Vocabulary as Preliteracy Tools
In my last blog I mentioned how recent scientific findings can be used to increase awareness of just how early a child’s brain begins to learn. Amazingly, babies begin to learn even before birth. The…
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Helping Your Child Understand Dyslexia
There are times in every parent’s life when they need to help their child understand a difficult concept. It could be something like the reason for someone’s emotional outburst, the illness or loss of a…
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Dyslexia: Before and After
It’s nothing short of arresting to consider the fact that even though dyslexia was identified about 150 years ago, there’s still a lot of misunderstanding and outright prejudice about it, even among some highly trained…
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Could Batman and Bottled Lightning Help Your Struggling Reader?
In a world that demands instant gratification, it can be a real challenge to teach kids the kind of perseverance that will allow them to keep problem solving, keep analyzing, keep moving forward, and keep…
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Adolescent and Adult Dyslexia Diagnosis Survival Tips
Normally around here I tend to focus my energies and strategies by writing about helping children at as young an age as possible to understand and manage their learning differences. But countless thousands of individuals…
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The Four Degrees of Action for Dyslexia and for Life
If you’ve never heard of Grant Cardone, settle in. This will be worth your time. His book, The 10X Rule, the Only Difference Between Success and Failure invites readers to adjust their thinking about what…
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Dyslexia and Grit: What You Need to Know Now
Those of us with dyslexia know (as do parents and teachers of dyslexics) that one of the frequent hallmarks of dyslexia is that accomplishing anything requires sustained levels of intensive effort with slower-than-usual-appearing results. As…
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When Reading is Hard
Author Kate Di Camillo said, “Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.” I couldn’t agree more. But the sad truth…
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Slipping Through the Educational Cracks: An All Too Familiar Story
I often write about my personal experience growing up with dyslexia in the 1960s. Thankfully, decades later, much more is understood about dyslexia and many more resources are available. Indeed, now there are real solutions…
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Literacy and Dyslexia: The Problem and the Real Solution
What if I told you there are effective ways to minimize any potential pain, frustration, and difficulty with reading that your children might face when they enter school? Most parents would be very interested in…
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Stop the Insanity! Helping Children with Learning Differences
I was recently contacted by a tutor in the UK about an 8-year-old boy with dyslexia and dyscalculia. The tutor has been working with him since he was 5. The boy suffers from anxiety and…
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Failing Students or Failing Schools? Interview with Literacy Expert Faith Borkowsky
Does your child struggle to read? Does that struggle cause your child anxiety or embarrassment? Are you confused by the mixed messages you get from teachers and other professionals? If so, you are not alone.…
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Dyslexia, Reading, and Mixed Motor Messages
I recently interviewed elementary school teacher Judy Therrien on my Cardboard Box Adventures Radio Show. Judy has worked in public school education for over 50 years and for the past 40 years, she has focused…
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Children with Dyslexia: Early Detection and Intervention
It’s the rare exception for a child to be diagnosed with dyslexia before they start school. Far too many fall through the cracks entirely, and those who are diagnosed after entering school have already gone…
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Dyslexia and Kinesthetic Learning
I can’t tell you how often as a child I heard the words, don’t touch! However, we are born with a need to explore our world with more than just one or two of our…
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Understanding Your Dyslexic Friend/Child/Spouse/Student
Understanding your dyslexic friend, child, spouse, or student On February 28th I attended a screening of an outstanding documentary called The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia. (poster at right) The Rawson Saunders School in Austin hosted the…
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Dyslexia Presentation: A Few Facts From the Documentary
Last week I attended a dyslexia presentation, which featured a screening of a documentary on dyslexia called The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia. I shared my impressions of the documentary in a previous blog, and an…
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Tools and Strategies for Dealing with Dyslexia: Reading Aloud
Tools and Strategies for Dealing with Dyslexia: Reading Aloud It’s important to note that many students with dyslexia have more trouble with writing than with reading—although reading aloud can be especially stressful. That was certainly…
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Tools and Strategies for Dealing with Dysgraphia: Writing with Confidence
Tools and Strategies for Dealing with Dysgraphia: Writing with Confidence Handwriting is a struggle for dyslexics—even jotting down a little note requires a lot of extra thought and attention. So computers are great. Everyone knows…
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Alleviating the Complications of Shame for Dyslexic Children
Almost all adult dyslexics who share their personal histories mention having feelings of shame as a child (and sometimes as an adult) that created a major difficulty in living with dyslexia. Children fear revealing to…
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Encouragement for Children with Dyslexia. Also Time Travel.
Why do we need to focus on providing encouragement for children with dyslexia? A few months ago I was reading a post by fellow blogger, Fiona, and it caught my attention. Fiona’s post is a…
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Parenting With Dyslexia: Reading With Your Kids
Parenting can be difficult. And parenting with dyslexia can add its own unique challenges, especially when it comes to reading aloud to kids. Back in 2009, a British television show called Bookaboo polled 2000 parents…
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Creative Writing And Dyslexia: A Worthwhile Challenge
The Great Gatsby has been getting a lot of attention lately with the success of the latest movie adaptation ($51 million the first weekend, according to Forbes). The book itself is a staple of American…
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Science Superheroes Investigate Genetic Links to Dyslexia
What are science superheroes? Well, when I was a starry-eyed kid dreaming of superheroes, I was spellbound at their ability to get the tough stuff done and get it done with style—even with wow factor.…
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How Heroes of Self-Reference Can Help Struggling and Dyslexic Readers
The term “heroes of self-reference” may be an unfamiliar one, but it’s important to know and understand. Why? Because in children’s books, such heroes can be pivotal in helping the dyslexic or struggling reader see…
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Helping the At-Risk Reader by Fostering the Love of Story
I recently gave a presentation at the Region XIII Library and Literacy Summit in Austin, Texas, about how to help at-risk dyslexic readers by fostering love of story. It’s human nature to avoid doing things…
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Are There Advantages to Being Dyslexic?
What are the advantages to being dyslexic? I’ve often written in this blog about the challenges dyslexics face, especially when learning to read and write, but today I thought I would talk about the positive…
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Motivating Struggling Students—Does Word Choice Really Matter?
Last week I discussed the results of a study that found that revealed that word choice matters. For example, children are more likely to help clean up their messes if they have been encouraged to…
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It Only Takes One Teacher to Make a Difference
May is Teacher Appreciation month, and I wanted to offer my gratitude to two special teachers I had as a child. In general, I did not enjoy school because I almost always felt inadequate compared…
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Where Dyslexic Means Extraordinary – An Interview with Perry Stokes of the Rawson Saunders School
“Dyslexic Means Extraordinary.” This was not my experience growing up. When I started elementary school way back in the 1960s, most educators knew almost nothing about dyslexia. An unfortunate result of this was that dyslexic…
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Everyone Fails at First
As a child who struggled mightily to learn how to learn, and then struggled especially hard when it came to learning how to read and write, I well know what failure feels like. It was…
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5 Harmful Misperceptions About Dyslexia—Spread the Word!
I have the best readers! And I love it when you share your experiences. So many of us with dyslexia have not felt heard or understood until very recently, with the influx of new data…
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An Interview with Peggy Stern About Dyslexiaville: Helping Kids with Dyslexia and Attention Issues
When I was diagnosed with dyslexia in the first grade, the intervention I received helped me to cobble together some basic reading skills, though barely at best. Once I achieved a certain baseline level in…
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The Precious Gift of Reading
I had the privilege of giving a speech in Georgia earlier this month at this year’s Decatur Book Festival (September 3, 2016). I spoke about the challenge that learning to read presents to children with…
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Dyslexia 101: What Every Parent, Teacher and Dyslexic Needs to Know
I like to imagine a short course called Dyslexia 101 that covers the basics of dyslexia. Ideally, every person diagnosed with dyslexia (and their family members and teachers) would take this course right after diagnosis.…
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Helping ALL Kids Learn to Read
Reading, in the not-so-distant past, was a right and privilege limited to royalty, the wealthy, or religious clerics. Books were rare and expensive. But fast-forward a couple of thousand years and, thankfully, the printed word…
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Helping Teachers Help ALL Kids Learn to Read
In my last blog, I talked about how hundreds of thousands of children either cannot read well or cannot read with meaningful comprehension due to reading challenges, such as dyslexia. Tragically, a staggering 66% of…
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Children Don’t Learn When They’re in Pain
This is the remarkable story of a mother and son who never gave up. Once in a while, I get to meet someone who is so inspiring, so tenacious, and so filled with hope that…
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Comics as a Coping Skill: Part 1
Now that the 2020-2021 school year has begun, things are crazier than ever, and you might wonder what relevance comics as a coping skill might provide. If your school district has opened its doors, you…
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Helping Dyslexic Children Illustrate Their Feelings (Comics as a Coping Skill Part 2)
In my last blog post (Comics as a Coping Skill: Part 1), I shared the work of Edith Zimmerman, a cartoonist and blogger who uses her art to express and process her feelings, and to…
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Understanding Dyspraxia
Understanding Dyspraxia. When I was a kid, my mom called me a bull in a china closet. For those unfamiliar with this term, it means that the person is really clumsy and accident prone and…
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Effects of Dyscalculia
What is dyscalculia? What are the causes and effects of dyscalculia? It is a sibling condition to dyslexia. It affects a person’s ability to do math, work with numbers, and perform tasks that require doing…
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Dyslexia and Heroes of Self-Reference
Dyslexia and Heroes of Self-Reference. Reading can be a daunting task for anyone, but when dyslexia is added to the mix, it can feel like an insurmountable challenge. One tool that can encourage struggling readers…
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Shame Can Affect Your Health
Shame Can Affect Your Health. Shame is a powerful emotion that can have significant effects on our physical and emotional health. Recent studies have shown that feeling shame reduces immunity, lowers cognitive function, and elevates…
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The Power of Expectation
The Power of Expectation and a Horse. The power of expectation on the part of parents and educators can have a strong influence on young learners, especially those who struggle with reading. How so? We…
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Understanding Dysgraphia
Understanding dysgraphia. Dysgraphia is a sibling condition to dyslexia that affects a person’s ability to hold a pencil properly, perform the movements necessary to write legibly, and get their thoughts down on paper. When someone…
Read MorePublished Articles about Children and Dyslexia
- Inspiring a Love of Reading Books in Dyslexic Children by Don Winn, published in Washington Parent magazine. (link to .pdf of article)
- Mitigating the Emotional Toll of Dyslexia by Don Winn, published in City Parent magazine. (link to .pdf of article)
- The Best Storybook Heroes for Dyslexics by Don Winn, published in Story Monsters Ink magazine. (link to .pdf of article)
- Could Your Child be Dyslexic? by Don Winn, published in Bay State Parent magazine. (link to .pdf of article)
- Understanding Your Dyslexic Child by Don Winn, published in Fostering Families Today magazine
- Video – Reggie Stork: Dyslexic Hero of Self-Reference
- Dealing with Dyslexia by Don Winn, published in The Costco Connection Magazine. (link to .pdf of article)
- Is Dyslexia the Root of Your Child’s Anxiety and Behavioral Problems? by Don Winn, published on MDmonthly.com (link to .pdf of article)
- This is Then, That was Now: What Parents and Educators Can Learn From Adults with Dyslexia by Don M. Winn, published on edcircuit.com (link to .pdf of article)
Dyslexia Resources
- Faith Borkowsky of High Five Literacy is the person I call The Reading Whisperer. Her free book, Can You See Me, and her book Failing Students or Failing Schools are not to be missed. She does coaching all over the world and has amazing success stories!
- Dyslexiaville and the Super d! Show is a great web series that helps with the social and emotional needs of kids with dyslexia and attention issues.
- Boon Philanthropy is committed to helping ALL kids learn to read adequately. Find out how you can help support teacher training in explicit, multi-sensory literacy instruction.
- https://www.ncld.org/ National Center for Learning Disabilities
- https://dyslexiafoundation.org/ The Dyslexia Foundation
- https://dyslexiaida.org/ International Dyslexia Association
- http://headstrongnation.org/ Headstrong Nation
- https://dyslexia.yale.edu/resources/parents/ The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity