Dyslexia Awareness Month

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month, and for me, it is a reminder that behind every diagnosis is a child who deserves not only the right instruction, but the opportunity to believe, “I can do this.” 

Hope does not always spring eternal. Sometimes, after enough difficult experiences, hope begins to wear away. In my decades of teaching, I have seen bright, capable children lose confidence—not because they lack ability, but because they have experienced too many moments when their effort did not result in success. For a child with dyslexia, this can mean struggling to read a word, spell a familiar pattern, or complete a writing assignment while watching classmates seemingly do it with ease. 

Eventually, the struggle can become bigger than the academic task: Maybe I just can’t do this.

Research has shown that some students with dyslexia experience lower academic self-concept and more negative feelings about reading and school. That is why I believe these students need more than encouragement. They need to experience success.

At Horizon Academy, our instruction is diagnostic and prescriptive. We identify what each student knows, what they are ready to learn, and how best to teach it. Research supports explicit, systematic reading instruction for students with dyslexia and other learning differences.

This impact goes beyond the academic skill itself.

The impact can be seen when a student reads a word independently that they couldn’t read last week. A child recognizes a spelling pattern without prompting. A student who once said, “I can’t,” pauses and says, “Let me try.”

Those moments may look small to someone else. They aren’t small to that child.

Research on praise also reminds us that simply telling a struggling child, “You’re so smart!” is not necessarily what builds lasting confidence. 

Instead, we can give children something more powerful: specific, genuine feedback about what they are doing and how they are growing.

“You were stuck, but you used the strategy we practiced.”

“That was difficult, and you kept going.”

“You couldn’t do that independently before, and today you did.”

The child doesn’t have to take our word for it.

They have evidence.

That is where confidence begins. For a child who has spent years experiencing academic frustration, confidence can create the willingness to take another risk, make another mistake, and try again.

Students with dyslexia do not need us to pretend learning is easy. They need appropriate instruction, patience, encouragement, and adults who continue to believe in them while they are learning to believe in themselves.

Hope isn’t found at the finish line.

Hope is what allows a child to keep walking toward it.

This Dyslexia Awareness Month, remember that behind every diagnosis is a child who deserves to experience the powerful feeling of saying:

I couldn’t do this before.

But I can do it now.

They have to feel it to believe it.