5.3 Resources for Students

Depending on their age, students with dyslexia are well aware that they have difficulty reading and/or understanding what they read. They may have challenges with keeping up with assignments, with organizing or prioritizing materials, with asking for or managing the extra time they will need to write a paper, or with note-taking and study strategies. There are a number of resources available that provide students with techniques and tips, as well as those that share success stories about others with dyslexia. Parents can help their children locate and use such resources, including those below.

Books for Children

• All Kinds of Minds: A Young Student’s Book about Learning Abilities and Learning Disorders (1992), Mel Levine, M.D.
• Close to Famous (2012), Joan Bauer
• Dyslexia: Talking It Through (2003), Althea Braithwaite
• Fish in a Tree (2017), Lynda Mullaly Hunt
• Hank Zipzer: The Greatest Underachiever (2005), a series by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
• My Name is Brain Brian (1994), Jeanne Betancourt
• Thank You, Mr. Falker (2012), Patricia Polacco

Other Resources for Students

The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, Tips from Students webpage created by students for students) offers ideas that students with dyslexia have found helpful.

In Colorado, Learning Ally offers a program called YES! which stands for Youth Examples of Self-Advocacy. Started by the Rocky Mountain Branch of the International Dyslexia Association, YES!  is designed to help students with dyslexia learn about dyslexia and self-advocacy skills, and to strengthen their self-confidence and self-esteem. YES! can be contacted through Learning Ally’s YES! Program website.

Friends of Quinn, which was founded by filmmaker and author Quinn Bradlee, is an online community for older students and young adults with learning differences and is sponsored by the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

 In 1998, a group of college students with learning and attention issues from Brown University sat down with similarly labeled elementary school students from Fox Point Elementary in Providence, R.I. The Brown students’ project, called Project Eye-to-Eye, had one simple goal: Give these younger students hope. Today, the Eye-to-Eye program is working nationwide to establish mentoring programs where high school students with learning differences, including dyslexia, mentor similarly identified middle school students. The project has recently started sites in Colorado. Its website is Eye to Eye National.

SuperD!ville (formerly Dyslexiaville) is the first media company for kids with dyslexia and other learning differences. Its mission is to help kids succeed in school and life because of — not in spite of — their learning differences. Its series “Super d! Show” can be seen on YouTube.

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More Information

Computer-Based Information

“Information for Parents and Guardians,” which is the title of Chapter 13 of the California Dyslexia Guidelines, offers 14 pages of ideas and suggestions for parents. Tips and activities are arranged by age and grade level and can be found on Pages 81-94.  The California Dyslexia Guidelines can be accessed online.