Dyslexia & Language Based Learning
Disabilities

RESOURCES 

Web Resources:

International Dyslexia Association: interdys.org

Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity: dyslexia.yale.edu

Dyslexic Advantage: dyslexicadvantage.org

University of Michigan Dyslexia Help: dyslexiahelp.umich.edu

Everyone Reading Illinois: everyonereadingillinois.org

Dyslexia Action Group of Naperville: dagnaperville.com

Decoding Dyslexia Illinois: decodingdyslexiail.org

Dyslexia Buddy Network: dyslexiabuddynetwork.com

Learning Ally: learningally.org

Learning Ally’s 1 in 5 Student Initiative (for children): 1in5.learningally.org

Understood: understood.org

Books for Parents and Professionals:

• Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz

• The Dyslexic Advantage (Revised and Updated): Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain by Brock Edie

• Parenting a Struggling Reader by Susan Hall and Louisa Moats

• The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some of the Smartest People Can’t Read…and How They Can Learn by Ronald D. Davis

• Dyslexia Advocate! How to Advocate for a Child with Dyslexia within the Public Education System 2nd Edition by Kelli Sandman-Hurley

• Dyslexia Outside-the-Box: Equipping Dyslexic Kids to Not Just Survive but Thrive by Beth Ellen Nash

Resources for Children to Learn About Having Dyslexia:

• Learning Ally’s 1 in 5 Student Initiative (for children): 1in5.learningally.org

• Video “What I Wish My Teachers Knew About Dyslexia”:  http://decodingdyslexiail.org/what-i-wish-my-teachers-knew-about-dyslexia/

• Visit http://www.dyslexia.yale.edu/YPbooks.html for an excellent list of books for young people, including the books listed below.

• Looking for Heroes: One Boy, One Year, 100 Letters by Aidan A. Colvin (July, 2016): From Amazon:  In this true story, dyslexic high school student Aidan Colvin decides to ask them. Over the course of one year, he writes 100 letters to successful dyslexics. He doesn’t expect anyone to write back, and is genuinely surprised when people do. This book features letters from Writer John Irving, Arctic Explorer Ann Bancroft, Surgeon and CEO DelosCosgrove, Sculptor Thomas Sayre, Poet Phillip Schultz and others. It also features conversations with Comedian Jay Leno and Filmmaker Harvey Hubbel.  This is a story about growing up, fostering grit and humor in the face of challenges, and seeing one’s differences in a new light. It is also a story about the importance of heroes — for kids like Aidan, but also for anyone. Throughout the book, Aidan shares tips that have helped him succeed in the classroom.

• Fish In A Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt is a chapter book about a young girl who struggles with reading so engages in disruptive behaviors in school to draw attention away from the fact that she cannot read – that is until she has a teacher who is able to finally help her.

• Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco is a wonderful, empathic story about a youngster with a reading disorder.  It’s a great book for children in the mid-to-late elementary school age.

• The Alphabet War: A Story About Dyslexia by Diane Burton Robb.  Adam starts school, and although he loves stories, he can’t seem to get the words to make sense. Over the next few years, he slowly despairs of ever learning to read. Instead, he imagines that he is being held captive by an evil king who torments him with vowels. His parents hire tutors to help, but it isn’t until a specialist comes in at the beginning of third grade and diagnoses him as dyslexic that things start to look up. For Adam, it has become a much bigger problem than just learning how to read-he must also find the self-confidence that years of failure have robbed from him.

• The Don’t-Give-Up Kid – And Learning Differences by Jeanne Gehret, M.A..  Alex is inventing a cookie snatcher, but his lack of reading skills and impatience means that he needs extra help. There are discussion starters for parents and professionals, and positive solutions are presented to help build a positive image for the learning-disabled child.

• It’s Called Dyslexia by Jennifer Moore-Mallinos.  The girl in this story knows the alphabet, but she sometimes has trouble putting all the letters together to read words. No matter how hard she tries, she often mixes up the letters or writes them backwards. She’s unhappy until her teacher explains that she has dyslexia, and that she can be helped to read and write correctly.

• The Adventures of Everyday Geniuses: If You’re So Smart, How Come You Can’t Spell Mississippi? By Barbara Esham.  This is the story of Katie and her very smart father who is a highly successful attorney.  Katie cannot understand how her father can be so smart yet struggle with her spelling words.  It discusses about how people who have trouble with reading and writing can go on to become and do great things.

• The Adventures of Everyday Geniuses:  Last to Finish – A Story About the Smartest Boy in Math Class by Barbara Esham.  Children and teachers alike will celebrate the message, conveyed poignantly in Last to Finish, that mathematics is much more than memorizing math facts and taking timed tests . Many children are mathematical thinkers and are fascinated by the world of numbers and quantitative concepts. Esham richly captures the dilemma when one such youngster encounters difficulties with memorizing math facts but, in fact, is a deep thinker of mathematics just the same.