Advertise on podcast: The Literacy Keys - The World of Dyslexia and Struggling Readers by an Orton Gillingham Tutor

You just opened your teens backpack and found three weeks of crumpled math worksheets resting at the bottom. In this episode, you’ll learn how to get organized using simple, realistic routines that turn school chaos into calm consistency without nightly fights. Middle school brings a sudden jump in workload, rotating classes, and digital portals that easily overwhelm a neurodiverse student's executive functioning skills. When kids with dyslexia or ADHD start falling behind, their working memory is simply running on empty after a long day of processing. For parents wondering how to help your teenager get organized, the answer isn't buying fancier planners or nagging them every hour. Instead, it’s about putting frictionless systems in place that lower their daily overwhelm, and bypass fatigue. Here is what you'll walk away with after tuning in: A streamlined paper management system your teen can actually maintain. Tech-enabled voice-to-text that eliminates spelling anxiety. A routine that makes your mornings smoother. Actionable scripts to de-escalate pushback. Are you ready for personalized, 1:1 support that helps your struggling reader thrive? Head to The Literacy Keys to schedule a conversation today. If this episode brought some peace to your week, please share it with another parent who needs it. Then hit follow, and leave us a quick rating! Find Us Instagram: @theliteracykeys YouTube: @theliteracykeys Facebook: theliteracykeys Website: TheLiteracyKeys.com CHAPTERS 00:00 - Navigating Organizational Challenges 05:10 - Organizational Resistance 11:07 - Frictionless Organization 19:14 - Leveraging Tech to Get Organized

The worksheet has been sitting on the kitchen table since four o'clock, and at 9pm it’s still blank. When a child refuses to do school work night after night it's usually a sign of something. You need to know what that refusal is actually telling you.  I've learned from sitting across the table from students of all ages, that when a child refuses to do school work, the refusal is a coded message. It’s usually one of four things. Most parents can only think of one message. The other three are quieter and are easier to miss. But they get louder right as the support at school gets pulled out from underneath your child. Let’s sort out which message is happening in your house. Then I'll walk you through the 5 practical things I share with parents in my practice. One takes about thirty seconds to set up and usually ends the two hour homework night on its own. Another costs you nothing and tells you more about your child's issue than a report card has in three years. Lastly, I’ll share a question to ask, and a place to ask it. You want an honest answer and most parents ask it at the wrong moment. If tonight's battle is still fresh, let's talk. Book a free fifteen minute consultation at The Literacy Keys and bring your questions about your child. Fifteen minutes, and you'll leave knowing what to look at first. If you know another parent sitting at the kitchen table wondering why this is so hard, please share this episode with them. Then hit follow, and leave a rating so more families can find us. Discover: Instagram: @theliteracykeys YouTube: @theliteracykeys Facebook: TheLiteracyKeys Website: TheLiteracyKeys.com Cheers,Tracy Young,  Orton Gillingham Tutor

Books about dyslexia either hand you the key to understand your child, or leave you more confused than when you started your journey. By the end of this episode you'll know which three books about dyslexia are worth your time, and which one to open first if your child is an older student. As part of my Orton Gillingham certification training, I had to read at least ten books on dyslexia. A few were clinical enough to put me to sleep. Three of them are perfect for parents. In fact, one of the three named the exact situation that a reading specialist once told me could not be happening with my daughter. (Spoiler alert: schools don’t know a lot about dyslexia.) What you'll take with you: Language you can use the next time someone says your child just needs more reading practice A framework your teen can actually see themselves in A way to understand the kid who reads well out loud but cannot spell for beans Which of the three books about dyslexia to start first, depending on your child's age Permission to read none of them by Friday, because sleep is a good thing Books about dyslexia can only take you so far. If you want a plan built around your child, grab a free fifteen minute call at https://theliteracykeys.com/contact/. If another parent doesn’t know where to start, please send this episode to them, tap follow, and leave a quick rating so more families can find us: Instagram: @theliteracykeys Facebook: theliteracykeys YouTube: @theliteracykeys Website: TheLiteracyKeys.com Cheers, Tracy Young, Orton Gillingham Tutor and Educational Therapist Chapters 00:00 - Understanding Dyslexia 05:17 - The Foundational Guide: Shaywitz's Overcoming Dyslexia 10:39 - Unlocking Potential: The Dyslexic Advantage 16:26 - Action Guide: Empowerment Plan 24:26 - Your Role transcript

Watching your child stare at a worksheet covered in red ink is exhausting, but this is Dyslexia Awareness Month and we are flipping the script on those correction marks for good. You’ll walk away from this episode with the exact, low-stress script you need to talk to your child about reading struggles without tears or panic. For too long, the color red has meant one thing on your child's schoolwork: wrong, wrong, wrong. But staying silent about "the D-word" to protect them actually backfires. It leaves kids to fill in the blanks alone, where they usually assume the struggle means they aren't smart. They might even think they're stupid! The truth is, dyslexia is simply a difference, not a measure of intelligence. In this episode, host Tracy Young (ALTA-certified Orton-Gillingham Tutor and mom to a dyslexic daughter) shows you how to trade red pen drama for bold confidence. Here’s what you’ll walk away with: The exact reason why avoiding the word "dyslexia" backfires at home (and the simple 1-word shift that lowers your child’s anxiety). A low-pressure formula for having "the conversation" in settings where your child feels safe to open up. How to leverage October's global Go Red movement to turn past school struggles into a source of pride. Simple role-play scripts that teach your child how to advocate. Resources: Ready to give your struggling reader individualized, structured support that builds lasting confidence? Visit https://theliteracykeys.com/custom-shop/ to explore our personalized tutoring options today! If this episode brought you some peace of mind, please hit follow, leave a 5-star rating, and share it with another parent who needs some encouragement this week! Find Us: Instagram: @theliteracykeys Facebook: theliteracykeys YouTube: @theliteracykeys Website: TheLiteracyKeys.com Mentioned in the episode ⁠I'm Not Stupid video⁠ ⁠Go Red for Dyslexia⁠ Chapters 00:00 Flipping the script 00:58 What red means 03:59 Why not saying dyslexia hurts kids 11:37 Dyslexia Go Red 15:39 Empowering your child Transcript

If you're raising a neurodivergent adhd learner who struggles with reading, math, or school stress, you don't have to carry the load alone. Discover how to trade overwhelming burnout for a calm, structured plan to build your child’s ultimate support team. When learning differences like dyscalculia or dyslexia overlap with neurodivergent adhd, standard classroom approaches often fall short. Trying to manage school friction, homework battles, and accommodations single-handedly leaves both you and your child exhausted. In this episode, guest Lisa Richer joins host Tracy Young to share how trusting your intuition changes the entire trajectory. We discuss moving away from isolated battles so you can advocate with clarity and confidence. By the end of this episode, you’ll know how to: Spot early "yellow flags" in math and reading that traditional school evaluations often miss Select the exact specialists for your child Turn tense IEP meetings into collaborative partnerships Recognize parental burnout signs Ready to get tailored support for your neurodivergent adhd kid? Schedule a consultation at The Literacy Keys and explore advocacy resources at Journey 2 Bloom. If this episode gave you hope, please follow the podcast and pass it along to another parent who needs support today! Find Us Instagram: @theliteracykeys Facebook: theliteracykeys YouTube: @theliteracykeys Website: TheLiteracyKeys.com CHAPTERS 00:00 From burnout to bloom 03:25 Self-discovery clarity 07:28 Coexisting differences (dyscalculia) 12:51 Support dream team 20:42 What asking for help really means transcript

If you just received an At-Risk Letter, discover what to do with that information. Do you know which specific skill the dyslexia screener actually flagged? Most parents never find out, and that answer changes everything about what you do next. This episode will help you reframe a dyslexia screener as the eye chart, not the glasses. By the end of this episode you'll be able to understand an at-risk letter for what it really says, and walk into the school with five questions that get you real answers. More than half of US states now require schools to screen young children for reading risk, which is why these letters are suddenly being sent to parents. In Georgia, every student from kindergarten through third grade is screened three times a year, and the school has fifteen school days to notify you in writing. I'm Tracy Young, an ALTA certified Orton-Gillingham tutor and mom to a dyslexic daughter. A screening takes five to twenty minutes and samples a few narrow skills. It's like the nurse at the pediatrician’s office saying your child should probably see an eye doctor. She didn't prescribe glasses. Discover how to: 1.Tell the difference between a dyslexia screener and a full evaluation 2.Read the subscores and know which flag deserves a closer look 3.Send one email with five questions that starts a key paper trail 4.Spot the quieter signs in an older child who never got a letter at all If you know another parent who received an at-risk letter about a dyslexia screener, please share this episode with them, tap follow, and leave a quick rating. Cheers, Tracy Young Orton Gillingham Tutor Find The Literacy Keys Instagram: @theliteracykeys Facebook: theliteracykeys YouTube: @theliteracykeys Website: TheLiteracyKeys.com Chapters 00:00 Understanding the at-risk letter 04:15 Dyslexia Screeners: what they measure 08:33 Three things to know 12:10 Five questions to ask the school 19:47 Final thoughts transcript

Picture your four-year-old standing on the front porch in a backpack that hangs down past their knees. Everybody is smiling for the first-day-of-preschool photo. Not one person in that picture is thinking about the early signs of dyslexia. After this episode, you'll know what to watch for in a two year old toddler, in a four year old preschooler, and for a six year old child. Plus discover one easy thing to do that takes five minutes a day. Brain differences linked to reading show up in babies who are still in diapers, years before anyone hands a child a book. Meanwhile, the average child in this country isn't identified until after the third grade. The windows are in the wrong order, and that gap is where families lose years they never needed to lose. I missed every one of these signs in my own daughter, which is exactly why I'm walking you through the early signs of dyslexia. Learn to: 1. Recognize the early signs of dyslexia by age  2. Read your family tree like a detective 3. Explain what at risk actually means 4. Use the five-minute-a-day activity that predicts reading success  5. Ask your child's school the specific question about reading instruction  If you know another parent of a struggling reader who's been told to wait and see, please share this episode with them. Tap follow so next week's episode finds you, and leave a quick rating. If you're seeing a cluster of these early signs of dyslexia in your child and you want a second set of eyes on it, book a free 15-minute consultation at https://theliteracykeys.com/contact/ No pressure and no pitch, just a clear next step. Cheers, Tracy Young,  Orton Gillingham Tutor  The Literacy Keys Find The Literacy Keys  Instagram: @theliteracykeys  Facebook: theliteracykeys  YouTube: @theliteracykeys  Website: TheLiteracyKeys.com Resource mentioned: Yu X, Ferradal S, Dunstan J, et al. "Patterns of Neural Functional Connectivity in Infants at Familial Risk of Developmental Dyslexia." JAMA Network Open, 2022: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2797787

Picture your child at the table, counting a small handful of coins for the third time while telling time on the clock is a total mystery. You’re concerned but aren’t sure why. Let me share that dyscalculia symptoms rarely announce themselves in one dramatic moment. By the end of this episode, you'll know nine signs to look for; understand what is dyscalculia in plain language and discover five books that will make your journey feel a lot less lonely. A while back, a family asked if I could help their dyslexic son with math. I said yes, and then went straight down the research rabbit hole. Dyslexia and dyscalculia travel together far more often than parents are told. Roughly 30% of kids who have dyslexia will also have dyscalculia. That doesn’t mean that you need to have dyslexia to have dyscalculia.  Here's what this episode hands you: Recognize the nine dyscalculia symptoms parents and teachers miss: from telling time on an analog clock, to retrieving basic math facts. This will help you explain: “what is dyscalculia?” to your child's teacher, without any clinical jargon.  Then discover 5 must-have books on the subject. If your child is fighting reading or math and you are not sure where the foundation cracked, book a free 15-minute consultation at https://theliteracykeys.com/contact/ No pressure and no pitch, just a clear next step. Lastly, if you know another confused parent, please share this episode with them, follow the show so next week's episode finds you, and leave a quick rating. Cheers, Tracy Young Orton Gillingham Tutor  Find The Literacy Keys  Instagram: @theliteracykeys  Facebook: theliteracykeys  YouTube: @theliteracykeys  Website: TheLiteracyKeys.com Key Points (00:00) What is dyscalculia? (06:42) Recognizing signs of dyscalculia (13:07) Dyscalculia challenges (15:39) Recommended books on dyscalculia

Your child holds it together for seven hours at school, but then walks in the door, drops their backpack on the floor and quickly comes undone over a granola bar! For many 2e kids, that end-of-the-school-day meltdown is the most honest assessment you’ll get all year. Discover what makes 2e kids unique. By the end of this episode you will know what the term means and what to do with it. Learn * Why strong grades and real struggle can live inside the same child * The kind of evaluation that actually finds the gaps * The two grades where twice exceptional teens most often stop coping My guest is Mark Talaga, owner and director of the Center for Identity Potential, a practice in Michigan and Chicago that works with gifted, neurodivergent, wonderfully complicated kids. Mark got fired from a video game job years before anyone told him that he was twice exceptional. He believes the 2e label is too small, and that most of these kids are closer to 10e. That's why so many 2e kids get told they are too smart to qualify for an IEP. Now, if you are wondering whether your child's reading, writing, and spelling struggles are the whole story, book a no pressure, free 15-minute consultation at https://theliteracykeys.com/contact/ If you know another parent whose bright kid is quietly running on empty, please share this episode with them. Hit the +follow button (under the three ... on the top right) so next week's episode finds you. Cheers, Tracy Young, Orton Gillingham Tutor The Literacy Keys Resources mentioned: Center for Identity Potential: https://www.centerforidentitypotential.com/ Mark's podcast: The Hopelessly Gifted Podcast, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Find The Literacy Keys Instagram: @theliteracykeys YouTube: @theliteracykeys Facebook: TheLiteracyKeys Website: TheLiteracyKeys.com

This episode is all about read alouds and unlocking why oral reading is important for your child. Hint: Because their ears are years ahead. By the end of this episode, you’ll:  Know why picking up books for read alouds does more for your child than another thirty minutes of sounding out words. Explain why your child's listening brain is years ahead of their reading brain, and exactly how long that head start lasts Use the stop, swap, and go method to hand your child a new word in about six seconds, without turning the story into a vocabulary quiz Pick the right book for a read aloud,  Run the whole plan in fifteen minutes a night, three nights a week If you're wondering whether read alouds are enough, or if your child also needs decoding work, book a free 15-minute consultation at https://theliteracykeys.com/contact/ No pressure and no pitch, just a clear next step. If you know another parent who quietly put the bedtime book away too soon, please share this episode with them, follow the show so next week's episode finds you, and leave a quick rating. Cheers, Tracy Young,  Orton Gillingham Tutor Find The Literacy Keys  Instagram: @theliteracykeys  Facebook: theliteracykeys  YouTube: @theliteracykeys  Website: TheLiteracyKeys.com Resources mentioned: Core Knowledge, Listening and Learning research summary: https://www.coreknowledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Listening-and-Learning-research.pdf Key Points: 00:00 Unlocking Success with Read Alouds 03:06 How Listening Comprehension Outpaces Reading Until Early Teens 10:11 How Read Alouds Combat The Matthew Effect For Struggling Readers 12:43 Engage Your Reader With Stop, Swap, and Go 18:42 Tips For Older Kids

A school district in New York just spent $57,590 on a humanoid robot named Sally, then hit pause days before the robot reached the classroom. The story behind robots for education is messy, and a lot more useful to you than the headlines made it sound. By the end of this episode, you'll know which tools can actually help your child read, and which ones to keep at arm's length. Here's what got lost in the noise. The robot was never the scary part. What matters for your child is who's in charge, and what the technology is really being used for. In this episode, host Tracy Young breaks down what happened in that New York classroom, why the backlash had less to do with the robot than you'd guess, and what it signals for the school your own kid walks into this fall. She also shares a quieter story: a group of students who built and programmed their own robot years ago, with nobody panicking at all. That one detail will change how you see this entire debate. After listening, you'll: - Tell the difference between a tool that builds your child's thinking and one that just hides the gap - Ask your school the question that reveals whether robots for education are actually being supervised - Use AI at home for practice without letting it replace the real teaching - Protect the human connection your child needs most, in ten minutes a night - Feel calm, and in control the next time an artificial intelligence in schools headline lands in your feed About Tracy: I'm Tracy Young, an ALTA certified Orton-Gillingham Educational Therapist, founder of The Literacy Keys, and mom to a dyslexic daughter. If you're worried your child is falling behind, reach out: https://theliteracykeys.com/contact/ If this episode helped in any way, please tap follow and share it with another parent. Together we can make a difference. The Literacy Keys: Instagram: @theliteracykeys Website: https://theliteracykeys.com  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/4fFa92F Spotify: https://bit.ly/4ascryE Resources: New York Focus, "NY School District Hits Pause on Robot Teacher": https://nysfocus.com/2026/07/24/new-york-robot-teacher-plan-paused #RobotsforEducation #StrugglingReaders #Dyslexia #OrtonGillingham #AIinSchools #DyslexiaInTeens Chapters 00:00 Unpacking Robot Teacher Headline 01:50 What Really Happened? 08:46 Control Factor 16:13 Role of AI and Robots in Education 21:34 Three Tips for Parents transcript

When was the last time anyone asked your teenager what they actually think of high school tutoring? My daughter Alexandrine joins me to provide her perspective. By the end of this episode you'll know why tutoring quietly fails so many in high school, and exactly what to look for and how to: Tell the difference between a tutor with one week of training and one with hundreds of logged hours Ask the three questions that reveal whether someone can actually connect with a teenager Understand why I use spelling, not decks, to find the gaps in an older student's reading Use the three-session rule to save you from spending six months with the wrong fit Choose from four real ways to pay for tutoring, including your state's ESA funds Alexandrine was diagnosed with dyslexia as a junior in high school, and she will tell you plainly that she despised high school tutoring. Her first tutor was wonderful with little kids but had limited experience with a sixteen-year-old taking AP classes. They talked about the alphabet. Alex shut down completely, and stayed shut down. That wasn't a discipline problem or a bad attitude. It was a mismatch, and it's the most common reason tutoring stops working for older students. Virtual tutoring wasn't really a thing and we didn't have many high school tutoring options. If you're not sure whether your teen needs tutoring, testing, or something else entirely, book a free 15-minute consultation. No pressure and no pitch, just a clear next step. https://theliteracykeys.com/contact Resources mentioned: PRIDE Reading Program, a scripted Orton-Gillingham curriculum for parents UFLI, from the University of Florida, affordable and downloadable ESA vendor states Follow the show so next week's episode finds you and if you know another parent whose teenager has quietly given up on tutoring, please share this episode. Cheers,  Tracy Young,  Orton Gillingham Tutor The Literacy Keys p.s. Check out episodes on YouTube Chapters 00:00 Starting the high school tutoring conversation 08:36 How to choose the right tutor for your child 16:33 Customizing Orton Gillingham for different age groups 25:00 Resources for all parents of struggling readers in high school

Today's thirteen-year-olds read at about the same level teens did back in 1971. If you're raising a struggling reader that explains a lot. By the end of this episode, you'll reframe your child's struggling reading as Swiss cheese, holes you can find and fill. Kids who slip past the early school years get very good at hiding. They memorize, they guess, they lean on others. That isn't laziness. It's a gap in the system, and gaps can be filled. I'm Tracy Young, an Orton-Gillingham trained, ALTA-certified tutor and the mom of a dyslexic daughter. In this episode I walk you through how to help a struggling reader who is already past the early grades. Here's what you'll walk away with: A way to find your child's real reading level The one kind of instruction older kids almost never get A plan for finding books that respect a fourteen-year-old's age and their reading level at the same time If you'd like help mapping your own child's reading holes, book a free 15-minute consultation at The Literacy Keys. No pressure and no pitch, just a clear next step. If this episode resonated with you, please share it, follow the show so next week's episode finds you, and leave a quick rating. Cheers, Tracy Young, Orton Gillingham Tutor at The Literacy Keys p.s. Check out episodes on YouTube Chapters (00:00) The fear every parent of an older struggling reader knows (01:30) You are not imagining it, and you are not alone (04:00) Why so many older kids slipped through (06:30) The myth that steals years: "it's too late after nine" (08:30) How to help struggling readers: five things to do at home this month (14:00) Getting the school to act (18:00) Protecting the reader, not just the reading Checkout Episode 27 Struggling Readers Aren't Broken: Science of Reading for Parents with Brett Tingley & Laura Stewart transcript

If you've been searching for how to improve reading comprehension for your tween, teen, or even yourself, this episode hands you the missing piece that everyone forgets to share. Plus you’ll find three fixes you can try this week. Somewhere between Middle School and High School the format of our books change. The sentences get longer, twistier, and they start hiding "who did what to whom" inside layers of clauses. So someone who was a perfectly fine reader in the lower grades can suddenly hit a wall in reading comprehension. New research suggests that understanding sentence structure can provide improved comprehension in older students. In this episode, I walk you through that research in plain English, including the sneaky little sentence that inspired this title. After listening, you'll: Know why readers suddenly struggle in the upper grades, and why it's not laziness, attention, or too much screen time. Be able to spot the exact moment a tricky sentence derails your child's understanding, using one simple question that takes thirty seconds. Have three practical ways to improve comprehension at home this week, including the one technique with the strongest research behind it. Understand what not to waste your time on.Walk away knowing a short list of learnable patterns. If your older student is hitting this wall and you're wondering whether this is the missing piece or something more, let's figure it out together. Book a free 15-minute consultation at The Literacy Keys If you know another parent whose child has hit a mysterious reading comprehension wall, please share this episode with them. Don't forget to follow the show so next week's episode finds you. Cheers, ⁠Tracy Young, Orton Gillingham Tutor⁠ ⁠The Literacy Keys ⁠ p.s. - Check out episodes on ⁠YouTube⁠ Resources mentioned: Natalie Wexler, "A (Relatively) Easy Way to Boost Reading Comprehension" Chapters 00:00 How to improve reading comprehension 01:50 Unmasking the problem 08:10 What outperforms vocabulary in reading comprehension? 18:20 Avoid this activity 24:32 Unlock reading comprehension transcript

A parent's guide to graphic novels for kids: what they build, what to skip, and how to choose well. After this episode, you'll view graphic novels for kids for what they really are: a powerful tool to build a confident reader. Right around age nine, the number of kids who read for fun falls off a cliff. Researchers call it "the decline by nine," and it hits struggling readers the hardest. In this episode, I'll share why your child is not giving up on reading if they choose this genre. Think of graphic novels for kids as your child opening another door. Discover the surprising history of the format, what the research says about how pictures lighten the decoding load, and why the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity calls graphic novels "grand equalizers." After listening, you'll: * Understand why so many kids quietly quit reading around age nine * See how graphic novels for kids free up brain power to enjoy the story * Spot the difference between layouts  * Have five simple, low-pressure ways to build a love of reading  * Feel confident saying yes to graphic novels for teens without letting your child off easy If the decoding underneath is still a real battle, that's the work I do every day. Book a free 15-minute consultation at https://theliteracykeys.com/contact/ to discuss your needs. If you know another parent whose kid only reads graphic novels, share this episode with them, and click that follow button so next week's episode lands right in your feed. Resources mentioned: American Library Association, Best Graphic Novels for Children reading list: https://www.ala.org/gncrt/2023-best-graphic-novels-children-reading-list