Dyslexia Awareness Month: What Every Parent Should Know
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 fridge or your IEP binder is at the end.
We lean on a new 2026 review in the journal Dyslexia by Austin, Filderman, Raine, Kjesbo, and Boman, which pulls together the current science and calls out the myths that families run into most.
First, the Bigger Picture
Reading is hard for a lot of children. According to national data, 67% of U.S. fourth graders read below the proficient level, and 37% read below the basic level. Most students who struggle to understand what they read also struggle at the word level, meaning sounding out and recognizing words accurately and quickly. Dyslexia sits at the more severe end of that word-reading continuum.
What Dyslexia Is
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that makes accurate and/or fluent word reading and spelling difficult. These difficulties persist even when classroom instruction is working for most of the child's peers. The International Dyslexia Association updated its definition in 2025, and the major definitions now agree on the core idea: dyslexia is a word-reading and spelling difficulty that is not explained by intellectual disability or by a lack of instruction.
A few things worth knowing:
It is a continuum, not an on/off switch. There is no clean cut-off where a child suddenly has or does not have dyslexia. Children fall along a range of severity, and the more severe and persistent the difficulty, the more intensive the teaching they need.
It is not about intelligence or effort. Children with dyslexia span the full range of intellectual ability, and they often work harder than their peers just to keep up.
It is not about vision. Letters do not literally flip or float because of dyslexia. Children with dyslexia have the same visual function and eye health as other children. Reversing letters is common in all beginning readers.
The word is allowed. Under federal special education law, dyslexia falls under the category of specific learning disability in basic reading skill. Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education has been clear for years that schools should not avoid the word dyslexia in evaluations, eligibility decisions, or IEPs. It is however, not a medical diagnosis, but a specifier in the DSM-IV-TR.
It is not the same as a language comprehension problem. Some children read words accurately but struggle to understand language (a pattern often called developmental language disorder). Some children have both. A comprehensive evaluation helps sort out which is which, because the teaching plan differs.
Dyslexia is not a superpower, and it is not a flaw. Research has not found that people with dyslexia are, as a group, better at visual-spatial or creative tasks. Your child will have individual strengths, as every child does, but they do not come from dyslexia, and they do not replace the need for good reading instruction.
What Is Happening in the Brain
The best-supported explanation for dyslexia is a difference in phonological processing. That is the brain's ability to notice, hold, and work with the sounds inside spoken words: hearing that cat is made of three sounds, rhyming, remembering strings of sounds, and quickly naming familiar things like letters or colors.
Reading requires linking those sounds to printed letters. If the sound system is less precise, that link is harder to build. One study of 164 children with dyslexia found a phonological weakness in 97% of them.
Three findings are especially useful for parents:
The brain differences are real. Brain imaging studies show that people with dyslexia use the left-hemisphere reading networks differently.
They are there early. Children at family risk for dyslexia show reduced activation in these areas before they have been taught to read. That means dyslexia is not caused by laziness, bad parenting, or poor teaching, and it does not simply appear after a child falls behind.
The brain still changes with teaching. Reading experience also shapes the brain. This is why timely, high-quality instruction matters so much.
Phonological weakness is the most common contributor, but it is not the only one. Dyslexia is best understood as a multiple-factor condition. Rapid naming, spoken language, and vocabulary can all play a role. It also tends to run in families, so a family history of reading difficulty is worth mentioning to your child's pediatrician and school.
Dyslexia and Executive Functioning
Dyslexia is a reading difference, not an executive functioning disorder. But the two overlap in ways that matter at home and at school.
Three thinking skills that support executive functioning are closely tied to reading:
Working memory holds information in mind while you work with it. Sounding out a long word means storing each syllable while blending them together.
Attention keeps your child focused on the task and filters out distractions.
Processing speed affects how quickly your child can match letters to sounds, blend them, and attach meaning.
Many, but not all, children with dyslexia show weaknesses in one or more of these areas, and ADHD commonly co-occurs with dyslexia. When decoding takes enormous effort, it uses up mental bandwidth that would otherwise go to understanding, remembering, and organizing. That is why a child with dyslexia can look disorganized, forgetful, or exhausted after school even when they care deeply and try hard.
At home, this may look like:
Homework that takes far longer than it should
Losing track of multi-step directions
Difficulty getting started on writing assignments
Meltdowns or shutdowns after a long school day
Messy backpacks, missed deadlines, and lost assignments
What helps:
Break assignments into small, concrete steps with a visual checklist
Give directions one or two steps at a time, then have your child repeat them back
Use audiobooks and read-aloud for content (science, social studies) so that decoding does not block learning, while keeping reading instruction going
Build in breaks, predictable routines, and extra time
Ask for a full evaluation if attention, organization, or memory concerns persist, so that coexisting ADHD or other needs are not missed
One caution: computerized ‘brain training’ programs marketed for working memory, attention, or processing speed have not been shown to improve reading. They tend to improve performance on tasks that look like the training and little else. Time is better spent on the reading instruction itself.
How to Talk to Your Child About Dyslexia
Children already know reading is harder for them. What they often do not have is an explanation, and in the absence of one, many conclude, I'm dumb or I'm not trying hard enough. A clear, honest, hopeful explanation is one of the most protective things you can give them.
Core messages for every age:
Your brain is not broken, and you are not lazy or unintelligent.
Reading uses a part of the brain that works differently for you, so it takes more steps and more practice.
It is real, it is common, and it has a name.
With the right teaching, you can learn to read. The teaching has to match how your brain learns.
Dyslexia is one part of you, not all of you.
Ages 5 to 8:
“Your brain is great at lots of things. Reading is one thing that is trickier for your brain, because it has a hard time connecting the sounds in words to the letters. It is called dyslexia. It is not because you are not smart or not trying. We are going to get you a special kind of help that teaches your brain how to do it.”
Ages 9 to 12:
“Dyslexia means the part of your brain that connects letters and sounds works differently. Lots of kids have it, and it has nothing to do with how smart you are. It means you may need more practice and a different way of being taught. You may get tired faster when you read, and that is real. I am on your team.”
Teens:
“Dyslexia is a difference in how your brain processes the sounds in words. It is why reading and spelling take more effort, even though you are clearly capable. It does not mean you cannot do hard things. It means you may need specific instruction and tools, and you can ask for them. Let's figure out together what helps.”
What to avoid:
Promising that dyslexia is a hidden gift or a superpower. Kids can sense when this does not match their daily frustration, and it can make them feel worse about struggling.
Saying “just try harder” or “you'll grow out of it.” Dyslexia is persistent, and effort alone does not fix it.
Comparing them with siblings or classmates.
Hiding the diagnosis. Kids do better when they have language for what is going on.
It also helps to name your child's strengths specifically and often, to keep reading together enjoyable (read aloud to them long after they can read themselves), and to let them hear you describe dyslexia matter-of-factly, the way you would describe needing glasses.
What It May Look Like, and How Challenges Change Over Time
Dyslexia is lifelong, but how it shows up changes with age and with the demands of school. Not every child will show every sign, and a child showing some of these does not necessarily have dyslexia. An evaluation is how you find out.
Stage | What it may look like | What the challenges often are |
Preschool to Grade 2 | Trouble with rhyming and playing with sounds; difficulty learning letter names and sounds; guessing at words from pictures or the first letter; trouble sounding out simple words; very inconsistent spelling | Learning to connect sounds to letters, blending sounds into words, building early decoding and spelling |
Grades 3 to 5 | Slow, effortful, or choppy reading; skipping or misreading small words; avoiding reading aloud; spelling that does not match grade level; understanding spoken material much better than written | Multi-syllable words, reading fluency, spelling, keeping up with growing amounts of text; comprehension suffers because so much energy goes into decoding |
Grades 6 to 12 | Reading that stays slow and tiring; avoiding reading and writing; weak spelling in written work; difficulty with academic vocabulary and long assignments; test performance that does not match what they know | Word parts (prefixes, suffixes, roots), subject-specific vocabulary, extended reading volume, essay writing, rising anxiety and discouragement |
Adulthood | Continued slower reading and spelling difficulty, often with strong compensating skills | Workplace reading and writing demands; the lasting effects of lost reading practice |
A few threads run through all of these stages:
Reading comprehension and writing can suffer secondarily. When decoding is effortful, children read less, so they see fewer words, build less vocabulary, and gain less background knowledge. Over time the gap can widen.
Emotional impact is common. Children may become anxious, avoid reading tasks, act out to escape them, or lose confidence. Often the first visible sign is not reading at all but school refusal, stomachaches, or “I hate school.”
Support still works later. Intensive, explicit instruction helps students at every age, including adolescents. Starting earlier is easier, but it is never too late.
What Actually Helps
The approach with the strongest evidence is structured literacy: explicit, systematic, step-by-step teaching of how language works. That includes sounds, letter-sound connections, syllable patterns, decoding, word parts, vocabulary, sentences, and text structure, with plenty of practice, review, and immediate corrective feedback, and with decodable text that lets children use what they have been taught.
Here is the key point for families: children with dyslexia do not need a completely different kind of instruction. They need the same evidence-based instruction, delivered with more intensity. Intensity can be increased in several ways, which gives you good questions to bring to your child's school:
Dosage: How many minutes per session and sessions per week?
Group size: Is my child in a small group, ideally 1:1 to 1:5?
Practice: How many chances per lesson does my child get to practice and respond?
Explicitness: Is the teaching direct, with clear modeling and immediate feedback?
Targeting: Is the instruction matched to my child's specific skill gaps, based on assessment data?
Teacher knowledge: Is the person teaching trained in evidence-based literacy instruction, and are they supported to do it well?
Popular Approaches That Do Not Have Evidence Behind Them
Because dyslexia is so misunderstood, an industry has grown up around it. Some of the most common approaches have not been shown to improve reading:
Colored overlays, tinted lenses, and special lamps. Reviews of the research find insufficient evidence of benefit.
Special dyslexia fonts. In research, children with dyslexia did not read faster or more accurately in dyslexia-specific fonts than in common ones like Arial.
Vision therapy and eye exercises. Dyslexia is not a vision problem, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has said vision training does not treat it.
Action video game training. Early positive findings have not held up in independent replication.
Brain training for working memory, attention, or processing speed. See above: it does not transfer to reading.
Whole language and balanced literacy approaches. These de-emphasize systematic phonics and encourage guessing from pictures and context. They are not enough for students with dyslexia.
A note on multisensory instruction and Orton-Gillingham. Many families are told that multisensory teaching (touching, seeing, and hearing at the same time, such as tracing letters in sand) is essential. The evidence does not show that. Orton-Gillingham-based programs are explicit, systematic, structured, and diagnostic, and those features are well supported by research. The simultaneous multisensory element is the part that has not been shown to add benefit. In practice, this means a good Orton-Gillingham-based program may work well because of its structured teaching, not because of the sand tray. When choosing a program, look for the structured literacy features rather than the label.
Unsupported treatments cost families money, but the larger cost is time. Every hour spent on something that does not work is an hour not spent on instruction that does. Be cautious of anything promising a quick fix or a cure, and check claims against independent research, not just testimonials or social media.
When to Seek an Evaluation
You do not need to wait to see if your child catches up. Consider an evaluation if your child is struggling to learn letters and sounds, reads slowly or inaccurately for their grade, avoids reading, has persistent spelling difficulties, or has a family history of dyslexia or reading difficulty.
A comprehensive evaluation can clarify whether dyslexia is present, how severe it is, and whether other things, such as ADHD, a language disorder, or anxiety, are also in the picture. It also gives you the specific language to request the right supports from your child's school. If you are working with a school, you can request an evaluation in writing.
At Minds in Progress, we provide comprehensive evaluations that look at reading, spelling, language, attention, and emotional well-being, and we help families make sense of the results and navigate IEP and 504 conversations. If you would like to talk about your child, visit minds-in-progress.com to get in touch.
Resources.
International Dyslexia Association: dyslexiaida.org (definition and structured literacy overview)
Understood: understood.org (parent guides, IEP and 504 help)
Reading Rockets: readingrockets.org (reading basics, videos, strategies)
Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity: dyslexia.yale.edu
National Center on Improving Literacy: improvingliteracy.org (including state-by-state dyslexia laws)
Decoding Dyslexia: decodingdyslexia.org (parent advocacy; find your state chapter)
Bookshare: bookshare.org (accessible digital books for students with qualifying reading disabilities, often free through schools)
Learning Ally: learningally.org (audiobooks for students with reading differences)
Wrightslaw: wrightslaw.com (special education rights and advocacy)
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: dese.mo.gov (search “dyslexia”)
Need an evaluation? Minds in Progress · minds-in-progress.com
Sources
Austin, C. R., Filderman, M. J., Raine, D., Kjesbo, R., & Boman, C. D. (2026). Dispelling myths and misunderstandings about defining and remediating dyslexia. Dyslexia, 32, e70049. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.70049
Please note that this post is for general education and is not a substitute for an individualized evaluation.
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