The Wrightslaw Way

“Your child is reading 7 grade levels below his peers.” How would you like to hear these words? That is what we heard after years of working with the school on behalf of our son who has ADD/LD and dyslexia. He was going into 8th grade as a primer (first grade) reader. He could comprehend […]

As a special education teacher and tutor, I would like to know what are good reading programs up to high school level? What about programs for math and writing through all the grades? We recommend Orton-Gillingham based programs. These programs have over 60 years of research that supports their effectiveness and they work for everyone. […]

My daughter’s executive function skills and processing speed are in the 1st percentile. She is far below grade level in math. She needs good instruction in programs/strategies that are scientifically based to help strengthen her executive function and math skills. The school just wants to accommodate. They say she just isn’t capable of learning math […]

Our child has a learning disability and has difficulty reading, writing & spelling. Nobody at the school understands dyslexia or how desperate our child is. We want multi-sensory learning like an Orton Gillingham approach. The school said they get to choose any curriculum/methodology at their sole discretion. Why do schools resist writing methodology into IEPs? […]

Science leads to better readers by Marcia Henry It’s a grim story to read. Fifteen years ago, Wisconsin fourth-graders placed third in the country in state rankings of reading ability known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress. By 2009, our fourth-graders’ scores plunged to 30th, with a third of the students reading below basic levels. […]

A reading program needs to be chosen based upon the unique and individual needs of a particular student. One reading program will not work for all students, even if the reading program is research based. Is your child not making progress in reading?  Do you know why? Where to Start If your child is not […]

Did you receive academic test results for your child that were much lower than you expected? In some cases parents say they received no scores for certain subjects or were told their child “either scored so low she could not be graded or she was not given the test.” What can you do? First, focus […]

You asked: “Do students need to be out of the resource room by 9th grade in order to go to college?” I’m confused about this question. A “resource room” is simply a classroom where kids with disabilities get specialized instruction to meet their unique needs, delivered (hopefully) by teachers who are trained in research based […]

I can’t find any state that requires a candidate for a certified education position (reading specialist, LD specialist, special education teacher, elementary school teacher, special education director, principal, or any other position) to have training/certification in even one research based reading program. If we were graduating and certifying people who could teach reading they would […]