Dyslexia in the news

Early internvention and evidence-based reading instruction

How do kids learn to read? What the science says (EduWeek, Oct. 2019)

Narrowing the third-grade reading gap: Embracing the science of reading (EAB)

Defining Dyslexia – From the US Centre on Improving Literacy

Brain differences in dyslexia

Neurological Considerations for Dyslexia (National Centre on Improving Literacy)

Ask an expert: What do we know about what’s different in the brain of a person with dyslexia? (Dr. Guinevere Eden)

Opinion: We need to be more open about our conditions or nothing will change, Peter Kyle, Labour MSP for Edinburgh Southern, The Herald, Nov. 3, 2019

Stigma

Ask an Expert: What can we do to combat the stigma of dyslexia? John Gabrieli Ph.D., a neuroscientist at MIT: “If we can make it less mysterious…if we can make it very objective and scientific I’m hoping we can drive away the stigma, and just say it’s another element of human diversity and one happily that we can support so that the rest of that child’s promise fully flowers in that child.”

Dyslexia news from Canada

When your kid is diagnosed with dyslexia (Lauren Ferranti-Ballem, Today’s Parent, Oct. 2019)

2019 Right to Read inquiry:

Video of the announcement (Oct. 3, 2019)

Background materials – OHRC

Reading inquiry launched (CTV Barrie)

Human rights commission launches public inquiry into reading levels in Ontario (Canadian Press/Globe and Mail, October 2019)

Human rights commission launches public inquiry into reading levels in Ontario

Inquiry into EQAO results begins (Drydon Now, Oct. 2019)

Human rights commission launches public inquiry into reading levels in Ontario (SooToday, Oct. 2019)

General:

• Dyslexia and how to understand it (Interview with Christine Stayley, Dyslexia Canada)
• Problem-solving mom helps dyslexic daughters thrive in Sask. school system
• Award-winning USask professor shares personal journey with dyslexia (Oct. 2019)

• The Fonz gives thumbs up in a letter to dyslexic students in BC (Nelson Star, June 20, 2019)

• Harden: Ontario’s accessibility standards are falling woefully short (Op-Ed, The Ottawa Citizen, May 30, 2019)

• Collective Voice: Kids with dyslexia need support (Op-ed by grade 9 student, Madeleine C., The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, March 25, 2019)

• How Paul Dewar is living and dying with love and community (Ottawa Citizen, September 7, 2018)

• 15-20% of children in the classroom have dyslexia (Radio interview, Ryan Jesperson, 630 CHED, Dyslexia Awareness Month interview with Dyslexia Canada Executive Director Christine Staley)

• Sopel: I wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia until I was 35 (TSN, October 2018)
• All children should feel like they belong at school (Toronto Star, Sept. 2, 2018)
• Ableism rife in Ontario schools (CBC, August 30, 2018)

• Midland student hoping to erase stigma surrounding dyslexia (Midland Mirror, May 2018)

• Grade 8 math scores improve across Canada over six-year period, except in Ontario, report finds (Globe and Mail, April 2018)

• Why some parents of children with dyslexia feel they have to take matter into their own hands (Global News, Nov. 2017)
• Lack of funding in B.C. makes helping students with dyslexia a challenge (Global News, Nov. 2017)
• Interview with Keith Gray, Dyslexia Canada (Video, CTV News, Oct. 2017)
• Updated Curriculum, New Report Cards Coming to Ontario Schools (MOE website, Sept. 6, 2017)
• Dyslexic kids in Canada deserve better (op-ed by Keith Grey, Dyslexia Canada,  Globe and Mail, August 27, 2017)
• Half of Grade 6 students fail to meet Ontario math standard (Globe and Mail, Aug. 30, 2017)
• Red Deer grandma returns to school at age 76 to graduate alongside her granddaughter (CBC, May 11, 2017)
• Undiagnosed and misunderstood, students with dyslexia face stigma and shame (CBC, September 9, 2016)
• Return to basic skills first step to fixing Ontario’s math problems, teachers say (CBC, Sept, 10, 2017)
• Ontario says it won’t close schools for students with learning disabilities (CBC, Aug. 8, 2016)
• University accused of discrimination for requiring dyslexic student to take course in French (CBC, April 25, 2016)
• David Lepofsky: Special Education Update (Video, TVO, March 2016)
• How universities are helping students with ‘invisible’ disabilities (Macleans, Feb. 9, 2016)
• An alphabet soup of remedies for dyslexia (Globe and Mail, Oct. 23, 2015)
• Dyslexics of the world untie (Maclean’s, Sept. 28, 2013)
• Educational Implications of Supreme Court ruling on Moore case (LDAO, Jan. 2013)
• B.C. school area discriminated against dyslexic boy, top court rules (CBC, Nov. 9, 2012)
• Beating the Odds (Sudbury.com, May 5, 2011)

Dyslexia news from the UK

• How a little girl branded unteachable at school grew up to become a children’s best-seller (The Sunday Post, Scotland, May 28, 2019)

• Microsoft signs pledge to assist people with dyslexia (Computer Weekly, October 17, 2018)

• ‘People were very tough on me’ – Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip reveals dyslexia battle after misreading name on tv (Independent, Oct. 30, 2018)

• Richard Branson on dyslexics: We’re wired differently (USA Today, Oct. 15, 2018)

• Theo Paphitis: How dyslexia gave me confidence to tackle anything in business (CNBC, Oct. 18)

• Dyslexic employees could help to solve the skills shortages of the future (Open Access government, Oct. 19, 2018)
• The Value of Dyslexia by Made By Dyslexia and EY (Oct. 9, 2018)

• Matt Hancock dyslexia struggles ‘strengthen case against cuts’ (the Guardian, Oct. 4, 2018)

• Health Secretary Matt Hancock reveals his dyslexia (The Telegraph, Oct. 2, 2018)

• Nick Jones, the Soho House founder, on why he thinks dyslexia is an advantage (GQ, October 2018)

• Reading standards in England are best in a generation, new international test results show  (December 4, 2017)

• Did Richard Branson just pull a prank about dyslexia and sperm banks? (Stat, March 31, 2017)
• Largest UK sperm bank turns away dyslexic donors (The Guardian, December 2015)

Dyslexia news from the US

• Medford parents frustrated with school district over dyslexia screening: ‘Something is really wrong here’ (June 24, 2019)

• What parents of dyslexic children are teaching schools about literacy (PBS, April 30, 2019)
• People in prison are more likely to have dyslexia. The justice system set them up to fail. (Mother Jones, April 30, 2019)
• David Flink on how we can all think differently about learning (Alan Alda podcast, April 15, 2019)
• Hard words: Why aren’t kids being taught to read? (APM Reports, Sept. 2018)
• Master teacher helped children overcome dyslexia 
• Dyslexia found in high numbers in prison (June 18, 2018)
• By focusing on dyslexia, we address the needs of all children (IDA, April 2018)
• Rethinking how students with dyslexia are taught to read (NPR ED, March 2018)
• The Gap Between The Science On Kids And Reading, And How It Is Taught (NPR Ed, February 2018)
• When dyslexic students are denied in school (NPR podcast, Dec. 6, 2017)
• Hard to Read – States’ laws to support dyslexic children mostly lack funding, accountability, training mandates (October 24, 2017, APM Reports)
• They are turning the picture around – Sally Taylor and her husband, Dean Bragonier, are both dyslexic and share stories from their youth about being viewed as “slow.” (Boston Globe, Oct. 20, 2017)
• You are special, now stop being different (New York Times, October 12, 2017)
• My frenemy, Dyslexia (David Andrés Kietzman, HuffPost, October 11, 2017)
• Ashley Graham: ‘Being OK With Who You Are Is a Revolutionary Act’ (Glamour, Oct. 11, 2017)
• Hard to read: How American schools fail kids with dyslexia (APM Reports, Sept. 11, 2017)

• Finally getting serious about educating kids with dyslexia (NY Daily News, Sept. 6, 2017)

• From Words To Images: Understanding The Dyslexic Mind (WNPR, May 25, 2017)

• Unidentified Dyslexia Takes Heavy Toll (Kyle Redford, Education Week Teacher, May 24, 2017)
• Denied – How Texas keeps tens of thousands of children out of special education (Houston Chronicle series, 2016)
• His Teacher Told Him He Wouldn’t Go To College, Then He Did (NPR, April 23, 2017)

• Does dyslexia even exist? (Medidcal Republic, March 27, 2017)

• Lost in my mind (Brent Sopel, The Players’ Tribune, February 2017)
• Unlocking Dyslexia (National Public Radio series, December 2016)
• How Children Learn to Read (The New Yorker, February 2015)
• The Advantages of Dyslexia (Scientific American, August 2014)
• The Paradox of Dyslexia: Slow reading, fast thinking (Yale Scientific, 2011)

Twice exceptional – giftedness and LD

• Gifted, but struggling to read (Daily Journal, April 13, 2019)
• Why So Many Gifted Yet Struggling Students Are Hidden In Plain Sight (NPR Ed, May 2018)

Dyslexic talents/Role models

• Happy Birthday Sir Paul McCartney! (USA Today Network, June 18, 2019)
• Why I’m finally proud to be dyslexic by CEO Vanella Jackson
• Dyslexia has played a vital role in my success by CEO Vanella Jackson
• How Dyslexia Helped Me Cheat My Dyslexia (Lisa Wood Shapiro, Wired, June 2018)
• The Dyslexic Professor: Story of survival (Youtube video)

• I Was Always Told My Dyslexia Was a Disability. Then I Developed a Relationship With It. (Gil Gershoni, Medium, April 23, 2018)

• Dyslexic spies: There are benefits worth waiting for (The Independent, September 22, 2014)
• Dyslexia and me: How identifying a hidden disability revealed new strengths. One man’s story of how he was catapulted into a successful career at GCHQ (Oct. 10, 2016, GCHQ website)
• Those with dyslexia don’t just think outside the box, they build a new one…(Theo Paphitis, Linkedin, October 4, 2017)
• 7 Amazing Children’s Authors With Dyslexia (Scholastic, Oct. 11, 2017)
• ‘I was very bad in school:’ Swiss Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 winner (The Local, Oct. 26, 2017)
• ‘People always assume it’s awful’: Broadcaster/author Cerrie Burnell on her life with dyslexia (BookTrust, Oct. 2, 2017)
• My Letter to Dyslexia by Vernon François (Youtube video, Oct. 4, 2017)
• A DYSLEXIC teenager who was turned away from 30 schools has started his dream course at university (Bracknell News, Oct. 3, 2017)
• Ameer Baraka – Undiagnosed dyslexia turned him to a life of crime, now he’s helping children learn to read (Sept. 28, 2017)
• Loyle Carner and Benjamin Zephaniah talk art, dyslexia and Shakespeare (The Independent – video – Sept. 28, 2017)
• Jamie Oliver is right: people with dyslexia really do look at things differently (The Guardian, Sept. 5, 2017)
• “I HAVE DYSLEXIA”, profile of Graphic Designer Hope Oliver (Ligature journal, April 18, 2017)
• Young and dyslexic? You’ve got it going on – Benjamin Zephaniah (The Guardian, Oct. 2, 2015)
• Dyslexic entrepreneurs – Why they have a competitive edge (The Guardian, Jan. 15, 2015)
• The Advantage – Interactive Installation (Madalyne Marie Hymas, design blog)
• Danny Glover – Lake Oswego Review (June 29, 2017)
• Cath Kidston – I’m not someone who wants to be famous – (The Guardian, July 4, 2017)
• Nigel Lockett – Disability on Campus: ‘I have decided to go public as the Dyslexic Professor’ (The Times Higher Education, May 25, 2017)
• ‘I’m just wired differently’: Why advertising seems to have so many people with dyslexia (Digiday, April 28, 2017)
• What would I tell my younger self? (Child Mind Institute – videos – May/June 2017)

What dyslexia feels like

Mental health

• Almost half of Ontario youth miss school because of anxiety, study suggests (Toronto Star, Nov. 14, 2017)
• How to handle anxiety-fueled refusals to go to school (Mindshift, Oct. 17, 2017)

• One in 6 women with learning disabilities has attempted suicide (Science Daily, June 21, 2017)

• Five Stages Of Developing A Positive Dyslexic Identity (Dyslexic Advantage website, April 26, 2015)

Diagnosis

• When your kid is diagnosed with dyslexia (Today’s Parent, Oct. 3, 2017)
• Talking to my 8-year-old about her dyslexia (The Washington Post, Oct. 17, 2017)

Early intervention

• 91% of teachers agree that unidentified dyslexia damages children’s self-esteem (Breaking News IE, Ireland, Oct. 1, 2017)
• Early intervention in dyslexia can narrow achievement gap – Intervention should begin in first grade, or earlier (Science Daily, Nov. 2, 2015)

Accommodations/Accessibility – school

• How to Better Support Middle and High School Students With Dyslexia: These students need to know their teachers understand their struggles and believe that they can be successful in the classroom. By Kelli Sandman-Hurley (Novemeber 20, 2020)

• STUDENT VOICE: How one college student found success by “leaning in” to dyslexia (Hechinger Report, November 14, 2017)
• “Willing, Able and forgotten”, Hechinger Report series on learning disabilities in the US (November 2017)
• Accommodations for Students and Employees With Disabilities Can Take Many Forms (Global Accessibility News, Nov. 10, 2017)
• Children with disabilities are being denied equal opportunities for a quality education across the world, including in the UK (University of Cambridge, Nov. 13, 2017)
• Don’t Confuse Accommodating Mental Health With Lowering Standards (Renu Mandhane, Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission Huff Post CA, Oct. 13, 2017)
• Sats: ‘Gone are the days when perfectly good writers are unfairly penalised’ (TES, Sept. 14, 2017)

Accommodations/Accessibility – work

• How to Create Better Employee Experiences for Workers with Disabilities – Canada (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act blog, May 15, 2018)
• What is neurodiversity? Opening the door to competitive advantage (Text Help website, April 2018)
• 8 top tips for people with learning and attention issues to find success in the workplace (Forbes, May 2018)

Education/teaching for dyslexia

• A student take on what works and what does not when it comes to teaching children with dyslexia (TES, Oct. 8, 2017)
• Five ways school leaders can demonstrate they take dyslexia seriously (TES, Oct. 5, 2017)
• Understanding Teachers Make “All the Difference” for a High School Student with Dyslexia (Office of Special Education, US, Oct. 3, 2017)
• Seven ways to increase a student’s chances of exclusion (Thinking Reading, Sept. 24, 2017)

Dyslexia and vision

• Joint Statement: Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Vision – Reaffirmed July 2014 (American Academy of Opthomology statement)

Human rights

• The opportunity to succeed: Achieving barrier-free education for students with disabilities (OHRC consultation report, 2017)

• Moore v. Her Majesty the Queen – decision in favour of the right to dyslexia accommodations at school (OHRC, Canada)
• Accommodating students with disabilities (OHRC, Canada)
• Human Rights Council (HRC) approves Resolution on Mental Health and Human Rights (Sept. 27, 2017)

Web design for dyslexia

• How to design for dyslexia (UX Blog)

Tools

• Structured literacy – Ladder of reading (Nancy Young, information sheet – pdf)

• The great and powerful graphic organizer (Cult of Pedagogy blog, Oct. 22, 2017)
• Good fonts for dyslexia (Spanish study, nd)

Reading, writing and the dyslexic brain