October is Dyslexia Awareness Month, and it is a good moment to separate what we actually know about dyslexia from what gets repeated online. Whether you are just starting to wonder about your child's reading or you have known for years, this guide covers what dyslexia is, what is happening in the brain, how it connects to executive functioning, how to talk with your child about it, what it can look like as kids grow, and what truly helps. A one-page reference guide for your

I recently co-authored a chapter on progress monitoring for a newly published educational textbook—a project I'm genuinely excited about! Progress monitoring is an incredibly powerful tool that helps educators figure out if an intervention is actually working or if it needs tweaking. In my work as a school psychologist, I’ve found that while schools share this data with families, parents often have deeper questions about what it means and how to use it to advocate for their c

What the Study Found: Your research tested a simple but powerful reading strategy called "partner reading with paragraph shrinking" with eighth-grade students in their regular science and social studies classes. The intervention, which lasted just three weeks, led to significantly improved oral reading fluency and higher comprehension scores in both science and social studies content. One of the most encouraging findings is that the positive effects occurred regardless of whe

Quick Research Summary: Dr. McKinzie Duesenberg-Marshall co-authored a peer-reviewed study examining reading interventions across more than 1,500 students. The research found that students who received targeted interventions had significantly higher reading growth than those who received typical school interventions — and performed similarly to students who were already proficient readers. This is huge! It means when reading help is matched to what a child actually needs, str