What I Didn’t Know About Dyslexia - A Family’s Journey

Join me for this S1E3 interview with Katherine Casey Spengler, Ph.D., an education consultant and clinical reading therapist, as she shares her deeply personal journey discovering her daughter Anna has dyslexia. Despite being a literacy expert with decades of experience, Katherine reveals the shocking gaps in her own knowledge about dyslexia and the struggles her family faced navigating the education system.

In this powerful episode of Schoolutions, you'll discover: 

• Early warning signs of dyslexia that every parent and teacher should know
• Why 40-60% of children with dyslexia have a family member who also struggles with reading
• How to advocate for your child in both private and public school settings
• The importance of explicit phonics instruction and foundational literacy skills 
• Latest research from Dr. Nadine Gabes at Harvard on identifying reading risks as early as age 4 
• Why "balanced literacy" approaches may be unbalanced for struggling readers 
• How struggling readers can become disruptive students without proper support 
• Effective teaching strategies for student engagement and motivation in literacy
• The critical role of teacher coaching and professional development in reading instruction

Resources Mentioned:

Katherine’s Book: Literacy Coaching: The Essentials (2006)

Katherine's Recommended Experts:

• Dr. Nadine Gaab: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: linking neuroscience and education  GAAB LAB @ HGSE
• Dr. David Kilpatrick: Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties (Essentials of Psychological Assessment)
• Dr. Lynne Thrope, Ph.D.: The Reading Room - “The place where students learn to read so they can read to learn.”
• Stanislas Deahane: Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read

Chapters:

• 0:00 Introduction to Dr. Katherine Casey Spengler 
• 0:58 Most Inspiring Teacher: Dr. Nadine Gabes 
• 2:48 Katherine's Educational Journey & Teacher Coaching Background 
• 4:04 From Researcher to Teacher to Consultant 
• 5:56 The Moment That Changed Everything 
• 7:09 Anna's Early Language Development 
• 8:23 First Signs of Reading Struggles in Kindergarten 
• 9:39 The Heartbreaking Realization - When Student Engagement Fails 
• 10:32 Vision Therapy Detour 
• 11:24 Fighting for Appropriate Support & Inclusive Teaching 
• 12:14 The Importance of Listening to Parents & Family Partnerships 
• 13:06 Expert Recommendations for Teachers & Professional Development 
• 15:23 Family History and Risk Factors 
• 16:16 The Simple View of Reading (That's Not Simple) 
• 17:06 Rebalancing Literacy Instruction & Effective Teaching Strategies 
• 18:28 Final Thoughts: Empowered Educators & Student Success

When teachers, coaches, administrators, and families grow together, they create schools where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged, supported, and ready to thrive.