Helpful Resources for Families
Supporting a child with learning challenges can feel overwhelming. Our goal is to provide clear, practical, research-informed guidance that helps families better understand what they are seeing and know what steps may be most helpful.
Featured Parent Guides
Start here with our most requested topics.
What Is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a language-based learning difference that makes it difficult to develop accurate, fluent, and automatic reading and spelling skills.
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Why Intensive Intervention Works
Many families have already tried tutoring or once-a-week support before seeking more intensive help.
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What the Research Shows
Research shows that students with dyslexia can make meaningful progress when intervention is intensive, structured, and evidence-based.
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ADHD, Dyslexia, or Both?
ADHD and dyslexia can look similar on the surface. Both can lead to avoidance, inconsistent work, frustration, poor focus during reading, slow task completion, and academic fatigue.
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Additional Parent Guides
Why Is My Child Struggling to Read?
If your child is bright but reading feels unusually hard, you are not alone. Many parents notice a gap between what their child can say and what they can read or write.
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Reading Tutoring Isn’t Working — Now What?
Many families seek tutoring when reading becomes a struggle. While tutoring can be helpful, some children need more than once-a-week support to make meaningful progress.
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Additional Topics Families Often Ask About
- Signs of Dyslexia by Age
- My Child Is Bright but Struggling to Read
- When Should I Seek an Evaluation?
- Why Reading Tutoring Sometimes Isn’t Enough
- Helping a Child Build Confidence After School Struggles
- Homework Battles: What They May Really Mean
New Client Forms
Fillable forms to help families prepare for their first visit.
Family Stories
Read how students and families have experienced growth, confidence, and lasting change.
Featured themes include confidence restored, academic growth, emotional healing, and long-term success.
Trusted External Resources
These trusted organizations provide additional information and resources for families seeking to learn more.
Professional Organizations
- International Dyslexia Association (IDA) Fact Sheets
- Arizona Branch of the International Dyslexia Association
- Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity
- National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD)
- LD Online
- Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR)
- University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI)
- MASK (Mothers Awareness on School-Aged Kids)
- CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
- Warning Signs of Language Disorders (ASHA)
Recommended Books for Parents
Recommended Parent Resources
The following books provide helpful insight into dyslexia, learning differences, executive functioning, sensory-motor development, oral language, self-regulation, and supporting children’s academic and emotional growth.
Dyslexia & Reading Development
From ABC to ADHD: What Every Parent Should Know About Dyslexia and Attention Problems
Edited by Eric Q. Tridas (2007)
This parent-friendly resource provides practical information about dyslexia, attention challenges, and learning differences, along with guidance for supporting children at home and school. The chapter on developmental dyslexia was authored by Dr. Ann Wellington Alexander, founder of the Wellington-Alexander Center.
Overcoming Dyslexia
By Sally Shaywitz and Jonathan Shaywitz (2020, Second Edition)
A trusted, research-based resource that helps parents understand dyslexia, reading development, identification, and evidence-based intervention.
The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain
By Brock L. Eide and Fernette F. Eide (2023, Revised and Updated Edition)
Focuses on the strengths often associated with dyslexic thinking, including creativity, problem-solving, spatial reasoning, and big-picture thinking.
Dyslexia: A Very Short Introduction
By Margaret J. Snowling (2019)
A concise, research-based overview of dyslexia, including causes, identification, intervention, and common misunderstandings about reading difficulties.
Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties
By David A. Kilpatrick (2015)
An in-depth professional resource on reading assessment and intervention, with emphasis on phonological processing, word recognition, and evidence-based literacy practices.
Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers
By Louisa Cook Moats (2020, Third Edition)
A highly respected resource explaining the relationship between spoken language, written language, phonology, orthography, morphology, and effective literacy instruction.
Oral Language & Literacy
The Learning Brain: Lessons for Education
By Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and Uta Frith (2005)
Explores how brain research can inform education, learning, memory, attention, reading, and child development.
Developing Language and Literacy: Effective Intervention in the Early Years
By Julia M. Carroll, Claudine Bowyer-Crane, Fiona J. Duff, Charles Hulme, and Margaret J. Snowling (2011)
Describes intervention approaches that support phonological skills, vocabulary, grammar, and early literacy development in young children at risk for reading difficulties.
Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can’t, and What Can Be Done About It
By Mark Seidenberg (2017)
Explains how reading develops in the brain and why strong language, knowledge, and evidence-based instruction matter for literacy success.
The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System—and How to Fix It
By Natalie Wexler (2019)
Highlights the importance of vocabulary, background knowledge, oral language, and content-rich instruction for reading comprehension and academic success.
Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction
By Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan (2013, Second Edition)
A practical, research-based guide to vocabulary instruction that supports language comprehension, academic language, and reading comprehension.
Oral Language & Literacy
The Learning Brain: Lessons for Education
By Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and Uta Frith (2005)
Explores how brain research can inform education, learning, memory, attention, reading, and child development.
Developing Language and Literacy: Effective Intervention in the Early Years
By Julia M. Carroll, Claudine Bowyer-Crane, Fiona J. Duff, Charles Hulme, and Margaret J. Snowling (2011)
Describes intervention approaches that support phonological skills, vocabulary, grammar, and early literacy development in young children at risk for reading difficulties.
Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can’t, and What Can Be Done About It
By Mark Seidenberg (2017)
Explains how reading develops in the brain and why strong language, knowledge, and evidence-based instruction matter for literacy success.
The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System—and How to Fix It
By Natalie Wexler (2019)
Highlights the importance of vocabulary, background knowledge, oral language, and content-rich instruction for reading comprehension and academic success.
Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction
By Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan (2013, Second Edition)
A practical, research-based guide to vocabulary instruction that supports language comprehension, academic language, and reading comprehension.
Sensory-Motor Development & Brain-Body Connection
Move More, Learn More!: Harnessing the Brain-Body Connection in Early Childhood
Edited by Mike Kuczala and Lynne Kenney (2026)
Explores the connection between movement, early learning, brain development, executive function, social development, language, reading, handwriting, and learning.
Sensory Secrets: How to Jump-Start Learning in Children
By Catherine Chemin Schneider (2001; Second Edition 2006)
Explains how sensory processing and sensory experiences support attention, behavior, movement, foundational skills, and learning.
The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind
By Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson (2011)
Helps parents understand how brain development, emotional regulation, connection, and integration can support behavior and learning.
Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children
By Angela J. Hanscom (2016)
Explores the importance of movement, outdoor play, sensory experiences, balance, and motor development for attention, regulation, confidence, and learning readiness.
Executive Function, Regulation & Social-Relational Development
Helping Students Take Control of Everyday Executive Functions: The Attention Fix
By Paula Moraine (2012)
Provides structured strategies to help students improve attention, organization, planning, flexibility, memory, self-advocacy, and independence.
Smart but Scattered: The Revolutionary Executive Skills Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential
By Peg Dawson, Richard Guare, and Colin Guare (2024, Second Edition)
A practical guide for helping children build executive skills, including organization, planning, emotional control, task initiation, and follow-through.
Late, Lost, and Unprepared: A Parents’ Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning
By Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Laurie Dietzel (2024, Second Edition)
A parent-friendly guide to understanding executive functioning and supporting children with planning, organization, emotional regulation, independence, and everyday demands.
The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success
By Peg Dawson and Richard Guare (2016)
Designed for teens and adults who want practical strategies for improving focus, planning, organization, time management, and follow-through.
The Shut-Down Learner: Helping Your Academically Discouraged Child
By Richard Selznick (2008)
Offers practical strategies for supporting children who feel discouraged, anxious, avoidant, or overwhelmed by school and learning challenges.
Musical Thinking? 5 Simple Steps to Teaching Kids How They Think: The Quick Start Manual
By Lynne Kenney (2016)
Uses music, rhythm, movement, and metacognitive strategies to support children’s thinking, attention, memory, learning, and self-regulation.
Bloom: 50 Things to Say, Think, and Do with Anxious, Angry, and Over-the-Top Kids
By Lynne Kenney and Wendy Young (2015)
A brain-based parenting resource with practical language and strategies for supporting children who are anxious, angry, emotionally reactive, or overwhelmed.
Bloom Your Room: Growing Social-Emotional Literacy Through Art, for Educators, Schools and Clinicians
By Lynne Kenney; illustrated by Meg Garcia (2017)
Uses art, creativity, and social-emotional learning activities to help children build emotional literacy, communication, self-expression, and regulation skills.
Recommended Books for Children
Recommended Children’s Books About Dyslexia & Learning Differences
The following books can help children better understand dyslexia, ADHD, learning differences, perseverance, self-advocacy, and the unique strengths that often accompany different ways of learning.
The Don’t-Give-Up Kid and Learning Disabilities
By Jeanne Gehret (1992)
A child-friendly and encouraging book that helps explain learning differences, including dyslexia, while emphasizing perseverance, confidence, and self-understanding.
The Alphabet War: A Story About Dyslexia
By Diane Burton Robb; illustrated by Gail Piazza (2004)
A gentle and accessible story that helps children understand dyslexia and recognize that reading difficulties are not a reflection of intelligence.
I Can’t Sit Still!: Living With ADHD
By Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso; illustrated by Marta Fabrega (2009)
A supportive and relatable introduction to ADHD written for children, helping them better understand attention, movement, impulsivity, and self-regulation challenges.
My Name Is Brain Brian
By Jeanne Betancourt; illustrated by Kellee Riley (2005)
A relatable chapter book about a student navigating school challenges associated with dyslexia and learning differences while discovering his strengths and confidence.
Dyslexia Is My Superpower (Most of the Time)
By Margaret Rooke (2018)
Written from the perspective of children with dyslexia, this encouraging book highlights both the challenges and strengths associated with dyslexia while helping children feel understood, capable, and confident.
Brilliant Bea
By Shaina Rudolph and Mary Vukadinovich; illustrated by Fiona Lee (2021)
A thoughtful and empowering picture book about a child with dyslexia learning to advocate for herself, understand her learning differences, and recognize her many strengths.
Fish in a Tree
By Lynda Mullaly Hunt (2015)
A highly recommended middle-grade novel about a bright student with dyslexia who learns to recognize her strengths and develop confidence with the support of an understanding teacher.
A Walk in the Words
By Hudson Talbott (2021)
An autobiographical picture book in which the author shares his experience growing up with dyslexia and the emotional challenges often associated with reading difficulties.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians Series
By Rick Riordan (2005–2009)
A highly popular fantasy adventure series featuring a main character with dyslexia and ADHD. Many children with learning differences connect deeply with Percy’s character and find encouragement in seeing neurodiversity portrayed as a strength.
Two-Minute Drill
By Mike Lupica (2009)
A sports-themed middle-grade novel featuring a student with learning challenges who discovers confidence and success through football, perseverance, and supportive relationships.
You Don’t Have to Navigate This Alone.
Wherever you are in the process—whether just beginning to ask questions or ready for the next step—we are here to help.
