Decoding Dyslexia-AK

08/23/2026

If a fifth grader is reading at a second-grade level, “let’s keep trying MTSS” is not an adequate plan.

The gap is already three years wide.

MTSS can provide support, but it cannot become a holding pattern. When a child is this far behind, the team needs to be asking why and whether there is reason to suspect a disability.

And if there is suspicion of a disability, Child Find applies. MTSS cannot be used to delay or deny an evaluation.

Intervene, absolutely. But investigate, too.

A three-year gap deserves more than another tiered intervention.

08/23/2026

08/22/2026

Systemic failure in our public educational institutions.

In 1955, Rudolf Flesch published Why Johnny Can’t Read.

In 1981, he followed it with Why Johnny Still Can’t Read.

And here we are in 2026.

At what point do we stop calling this a mystery and start calling it institutional amnesia?

We have decades of research on how children learn to read. We know the importance of explicit, systematic instruction. We know what happens when struggling readers do not receive effective intervention. And we have decades of data documenting the consequences when we fail to act on what we know.

Yet every generation seems to rediscover the literacy crisis as though no one saw it coming.

The question is no longer why Johnny can’t read.

The question is why, after 71 years, we are still pretending we don’t know why.

08/22/2026

08/19/2026

So true, and so sad.
My 1 in 5 got sent to a resource class where zero effective intervention was had. They referred to it as “the walk of shame”… school-induced trauma through no fault of their own.

Children know when they are falling behind.

They see what their classmates can do. They notice which group they are placed in. They know who gets called on and who doesn’t. They feel the frustration of working harder and getting nowhere.

And far too often, instead of questioning whether the instruction or intervention is working, adults start questioning the child.

Did they try hard enough?
Were they paying attention?
Did they practice at home?
Are they motivated?

Over time, those questions become something much more damaging: a child who begins to believe there is something wrong with them.

We have to stop turning instructional failure into childhood shame.

When a child isn’t learning, the adults need to ask what needs to change.

08/18/2026

It should not have to be so hard for our 1 in 5 students who have dyslexia. :(

This is my child walking into his first day of pre-K.

Look at that face. He was excited, confident, and ready to learn. He had no idea that learning to read would become one of the hardest parts of his childhood. Neither did I.

I didn’t know then that years of balanced literacy and ineffective reading instruction would put hurdles in his path that never needed to be there. I didn’t know how much repeated reading failure could change the way a child sees school—or himself.

Intensive, evidence-based intervention eventually helped him overcome those hurdles. He learned to read. He regained his confidence. He became a role model and advocate for others. And he finished high school with that same big smile on his face and a 4.0 GPA.

But it never should have been so hard.

We should not be dimming the light of children like him because we refuse to use evidence-based reading instruction in every classroom. And it should never require due process petitions, lawyers, and litigation for a parent asking for something so fundamental:

Teach my child to read.


Share your stories. They give the next family hope and the spirit to fight.

08/15/2026

The struggle is real!
And here is a parent with a law degree! What about the rest of us who are just gaslit at every step, denied services and delaying any intervention for remediation.

Why did I leave a perfectly good job and a long career as a federal public defender? This is my why- 7 years ago I spent my nights and weekends fighting alone against a school district with a budget in excess of $450,000,000 begging them to help my child. No attorney would take my case, so I had to represent myself. From my first request to the school for help for my child with dyslexia to finally getting an IEP took well over 600 days, countless emails and many meetings. In the interim— my child struggled, lost confidence in himself and his abilities and developed school related anxiety. My family spent thousands in private services that should have been provided by the school. The “victory” I won at that time was only for my child. By opening my law firm, I’ve come back to help yours.

08/13/2026

Truth!

There is a predictable response whenever we start asking hard questions about public education: change the subject.

Instead of asking why children aren’t learning, why disabilities went unidentified, why interventions failed, or why legal obligations weren’t met, the conversation suddenly becomes about whether the people asking those questions are being “too critical” of educators.

That deflection protects systems. It does nothing for children.

We can value educators without pretending public education is above scrutiny. And we can support teachers without silencing families who are demanding answers about what happened to their children.

When accountability feels uncomfortable, the answer isn’t less accountability. It’s fixing what went wrong.