Last week I was privileged to have the opportunity to speak at a teachers’ convention for teachers from private church schools who are members of the Alabama Christian Educator’s Association.  The workshops are small by design, about 25 teachers typically attend a workshop session.  That gives great opportunity for me to make eye contact with each teacher, to take time for questions several times during each presentation and to linger in the hallways for follow-up conversations.

In the first two workshops, I presented information about what dyslexia is, and what the characteristics of dyslexia are by age category.  We role played how it feels to have dyslexia, and teachers had opportunity to ask questions.  It was heartening to hear the intelligent, informed questions posed.  The theme of the questions was generally the same, with teachers basically understanding what dyslexia is, and asking what to do for the students in their classrooms whom they suspect are dyslexic.

The teachers are on the right track, and I so appreciated that!  Teachers need to not only understand what dyslexia is – a brain architecture issue – they also need to be well versed in using the best approach for teaching those dyslexic students to overcome their reading and spelling struggles. That best approach is Orton-Gillingham.

This dual pronged need reminds me of a quote Chris Guillebeau of the podcast “Side Hustle School” tosses out in nearly every episode.  “Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is even better.”  I could paraphrase Chris’ pithy saying as “Understanding dyslexia is good, but a plan of targeted instruction for a dyslexic learner is even better.” It’s what every teacher needs to know about dyslexia.