Summer Edition, August, 2014

The Oasis features new pages and information available at the website, the latest dyslexia news and short original content not found elsewhere.

1) The Guides are Coming

2) Know your Rights: Special Education and Dyslexia Laws

3) Summer Reads

4) Dyslexia Debate Epilogue: Fizzle

The Guides are Coming

Over the summer we have been hard at work authoring the first ever Dyslexia Reading Well Parent Guide. It's been a huge project, but a labour of love, and is nearing completion.

There are over 80 pages packed with information parents need to know:

• Dyslexia fundamentals: symptoms, causes, assessment, testing and reading programs

• Comprehensive tables of state by state resources: schools, tutoring centers, community organizations, and more

• A state by state list of dyslexia related laws and what they mean for you as a parent

• A primer on IT including recommended software applications and a summary of helpful types of hardware

• Unlike other parent guides which are often thin on content, text heavy and simply dull, our guide is content rich, presented with beautiful pictures, graphics and dyslexic friendly styling throughout

Watch for release in early September!

Know Your Rights!

Laws of the land are not the first thing parents think about upon learning that their child is struggling in reading, but in the U.S., Federal and State law can become very important once you begin seeking extra support for your child within the public school system.

We have added a detailed page on U.S special education law that explores three critical pieces of legislation that parents should know about:

• Rehabilitation Act
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

These laws underpin student 504 plans and Individualized Education Programs which are critical tools for dyslexic students.

Summer Reads

Summer may be winding down, but it's not too late for a curling up in the hammock with a great dyslexia read - fiction or non. Finding good fiction with dyslexia themes or dyslexic characters is difficult, but we've listed a few we think are worthy of your time. let us know of others you like.

Nonfiction

• Ben Foss: The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan (2014)
• Sally Shaywitz: Overcoming Dyslexia (2008)
• Nancy Mather et al: Essentials of Dyslexia Assessment and Intervention (2011)

Fiction:

• Rick Riordan: Percy Jackson Series (2006-12, children/young adults)
• Henry Winkler: Hank Zipzer Series (2003+, children/young adults)
• N.E. Lasater: Farmer's Son (2014, young adults/adults)
• Jennifer Weiner: In her Shoes (2003, adults)

Dyslexia Debate Fizzles

It started with sound and fury but finished with a fizzle. The recently released Dyslexia Debate by Drs Julian Elliott and Elena Grigorenko received a lot of media attention in the spring of 2014, by claiming that the term dyslexia actually hurts kids and should be replaced with the term 'reading disability'.

But by the time the book was released in late April there was no debate to be found, outside of a few conference presentations made by the authors. I had previously written a critique of the books arguments and a short blog post.

What happened? There are 3 reasons why the book failed to gain traction after release.

1) Nobody Read it. At 285 pages it is not a light read and the 'debate' is largely at the back end of the book. At essence, the book is an academic literature review of dyslexia related research - undoubtedly the best one that currently exists. But for many casual readers, this was a bit much to plow through.

2) There never was a debate. The debate was largely an academic invention picked up media hungry for controversy. Parents, teachers and dyslexics all understand the term and never questioned its legitimacy or value.

3) Those who wanted to weigh in already had. The International Dyslexia Association, the British Dyslexia Association, our site and many others had already said all they had to say about the issue. The release of the book became a non event.

That's all good news, because we can now get back to helping kids read!