Children with dyslexia can be bright, curious, articulate learners and still struggle significantly with reading and spelling. Dyslexia does not reflect low intelligence or a lack of effort. It is a learning disability that primarily affects the development of accurate and fluent word reading and spelling.

For families, one of the most confusing parts of a dyslexia diagnosis is figuring out what should happen next at school. Does your child need an IEP? Would a 504 Plan be enough? What should reading intervention actually include? And what kinds of goals and accommodations are appropriate?

The answers depend on the individual child, but there are several principles that can help families and educators develop an effective educational plan.

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), dyslexia can fall within the category of Specific Learning Disability. Federal guidance specifically states that schools may use the term dyslexia in evaluations, eligibility decisions, and IEP documents when appropriate.

IDEA recognises academic difficulties in areas that commonly affect students with dyslexia, including basic reading skills, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and written expression.

Importantly, a school does not have to wait for a child to fall dramatically behind before considering an evaluation. Response-to-Intervention or MTSS services can be helpful, but federal guidance states that these processes should not be used to delay or deny an evaluation when a disability is suspected.

Accommodations are important, but accommodations alone do not teach a child to read.

Students with dyslexia typically benefit from explicit, systematic, cumulative instruction in the structure of written language, including systematic phonics and phonemic awareness. This type of instruction is often referred to as Structured Literacy.

The International Dyslexia Association describes Structured Literacy as an umbrella term for approaches that directly and systematically teach the structure of spoken and written language. Instruction typically addresses:

• Sound-symbol relationships and phonological awareness
• Spelling patterns, syllables, and morphology
• Vocabulary and sentence structure
• Reading comprehension

Rather than asking children to discover reading patterns primarily through exposure, the teacher directly teaches the pattern, models how it works, provides guided practice, and builds on previously mastered skills.

Parents of children with dyslexia frequently hear about Orton-Gillingham (sometimes abbreviated OG).

Orton-Gillingham is not simply a particular set of worksheets or a single commercial reading programme. It is an instructional approach developed specifically for individuals who have difficulty learning to read and spell. Its principles helped shape many of the Structured Literacy approaches used today.

Orton-Gillingham instruction is generally:

• Explicit. Skills are directly taught rather than assuming a student will infer reading and spelling patterns independently.
• Systematic and sequential. Instruction follows an organised progression, moving from simpler language concepts to increasingly complex ones.
• Cumulative. Previously learned material is continually reviewed and incorporated into new lessons.
• Diagnostic and individualised. Instruction is adjusted according to the child's errors, strengths, progress, and specific skill deficits.
• Phonics-based. Students receive direct instruction in the relationships between sounds and written letters or letter combinations.
• Often multisensory. Instruction may intentionally involve visual, auditory, tactile, and kinaesthetic experiences together.

That said, it is important not to become overly focused on the name of a particular programme. Research strongly supports the components of effective reading intervention, including explicit, systematic phonics instruction; phonemic awareness; repeated practice; decoding and word-analysis instruction; and careful monitoring of progress.

Rather than asking only "Does the school use Orton-Gillingham?", parents may want to ask:

That question gets closer to what really matters.

A multisensory approach engages several pathways during instruction, for example, seeing a letter, saying its sound, hearing the sound, and writing or manipulating the letter.

Examples might include:

• Saying sounds while writing the corresponding letters
• Using letter tiles to build and change words
• Tapping or moving objects while segmenting sounds
• Marking prefixes, suffixes, vowels, or syllable patterns
• Building words by changing one sound or letter pattern at a time

These activities should not simply be added because they are engaging. They should reinforce the specific sound-symbol relationships, phonics patterns, spelling principles, or word structures being taught.

A child does not overcome dyslexia simply by tracing letters in sand or using coloured manipulatives. The essential instructional work remains teaching the structure of language clearly, directly, sequentially, and with enough practice for skills to become increasingly automatic.

The following are examples rather than goals that should automatically be used for every child. Actual goals should be based on the child's evaluation results and baseline performance.

Phonemic Awareness Given spoken words, the student will segment, blend, delete, and manipulate phonemes with at least 90% accuracy across three consecutive data collections.

Decoding When presented with unfamiliar regularly spelled words containing previously taught phonics patterns, the student will accurately decode at least 90% of words across three consecutive assessments.

Multisyllabic Word Reading Given unfamiliar multisyllabic words, the student will apply taught syllable division and word-analysis strategies to read the words with at least 85% accuracy across three consecutive probes.

Spelling/Encoding When given dictated words containing previously taught sound-symbol relationships, syllable patterns, and morphological elements, the student will spell the words with at least 85% accuracy across three consecutive assessments.

Reading Fluency When reading an instructional-level passage, the student will increase oral reading accuracy and fluency from the established baseline to the individually determined target while maintaining adequate comprehension across three consecutive measurements.

Reading Comprehension After reading appropriately levelled text with needed decoding supports, the student will identify the main idea, important supporting details, and relevant inferences with at least 80% accuracy across three consecutive assessments.

Note: Not every child with dyslexia requires a comprehension goal. Some children understand language very well when material is read aloud but struggle to demonstrate that understanding because decoding consumes so much effort.

An IEP should do more than specify that a child will "receive reading support." Families should be able to answer:

• What skill is being taught?
• How often is it being taught?
• Who is providing the instruction?
• How will we know whether it is working?

Progress should be measured regularly using tools that are sensitive to the specific skills being taught. If the child is making little progress, the instructional approach, intensity, group size, amount of practice, or intervention target may need to change.

IEPs and 504 Plans serve somewhat different purposes.

An IEP is generally needed when a student qualifies under IDEA and requires specialised instruction to address disability-related educational needs.

A Section 504 Plan provides protections and supports for a student whose disability substantially limits a major life activity such as reading, but who may not require special education under IDEA.

For some children with dyslexia, a 504 Plan provides sufficient support. For a child who requires specialised reading instruction to remediate significant decoding, spelling, or fluency deficits, an IEP may be more appropriate.

Accommodations should address the individual child's needs. They are not intended to make school easier or lower academic expectations. They help prevent a reading disability from interfering unnecessarily with learning in subjects such as science, history, and mathematics.

Possible accommodations include:

• Extended time on tests and written assignments
• Audiobooks and text-to-speech for textbooks, novels, and content-area reading
• Speech-to-text technology when written output significantly interferes with demonstrating knowledge
• Access to electronic text that can be enlarged, highlighted, or read aloud
• Reduced copying from the board
• Teacher-provided notes or outlines
• Breaking lengthy reading assignments into smaller sections
• Alternative ways to demonstrate knowledge, such as oral responses or presentations
• Access to spelling and grammar supports when spelling is not the skill being measured
• Reduced penalties for spelling errors when spelling is not the purpose of the assignment
• Quiet or reduced-distraction testing environments
• Directions presented both orally and in writing
• Previewing unfamiliar vocabulary
• Use of a keyboard when handwriting adds an additional barrier

One important qualification: having a test read aloud may be entirely appropriate when the purpose is to assess science knowledge. It may not be appropriate when the test is specifically intended to measure independent reading or decoding. Accommodations should remove barriers without changing the skill the assessment is designed to measure.

A child who cannot efficiently decode a textbook certainly benefits from hearing the textbook read aloud. That provides access to the grade-level science, history, or literature curriculum.

But listening to the book does not remediate the reading disability.

The student may therefore need both:

• Access: Audiobooks, extended time, text-to-speech, reduced copying, and other accommodations.
• Intervention: Explicit, systematic, phonics-based instruction in phonemic awareness, decoding, spelling, fluency, and other areas identified through evaluation.

Providing only accommodations to a child who requires specialised reading instruction can leave the underlying reading difficulty untreated. Providing intervention without accommodations can force the child to use an impaired skill to access nearly every other area of learning. The two approaches serve different purposes.

Children with dyslexia sometimes spend so much time struggling to read that they have fewer opportunities to develop the rich knowledge, vocabulary, and ideas their peers acquire through books. That can create a secondary educational problem.

A fourth grader who reads independently at a second-grade level is still a fourth grader. Reading intervention may appropriately use carefully controlled text for decoding practice, while audiobooks, teacher read-alouds, accessible electronic text, and classroom discussion allow the same child to continue learning age-appropriate science, history, literature, and vocabulary.

IDEA requires IEPs to support students' involvement and progress in the general education curriculum, and federal guidance emphasises maintaining appropriately high academic expectations for students with disabilities.

Years of struggling with reading can affect much more than reading.

Children may begin saying things like "I'm stupid", "Everyone else can do this", or "I hate reading." Avoidance, frustration, perfectionism, embarrassment, and school anxiety can develop when children repeatedly encounter tasks that require far more effort for them than for their classmates.

Adults should be careful not to interpret slow reading, avoidance, or fatigue as laziness.

A good educational plan protects both skill development and the child's sense of competence. Children should have opportunities to use their strengths, participate in intellectually challenging material, and experience success while receiving direct instruction in areas that are difficult.

Parents do not need to become reading specialists, but a few questions can clarify whether a plan is actually addressing their child's needs:

• What specific reading skills are weak?
• What instruction will address those skills?
• Is the intervention explicit, systematic, cumulative, and phonics-based?
• How are phonemic awareness and decoding being taught?
• Does the intervention use Structured Literacy or similar evidence-based principles?
• How frequently will my child receive intervention?
• Will instruction be individual or in a group? If it is a group, how large is the group?
• Who will provide the intervention, and what training has that person received?
• How will progress be measured, and how often will progress data be reviewed?
• What will happen if my child is not making sufficient progress?
• Which accommodations will allow my child to access grade-level material while reading skills are developing?
• Does my child need assistive technology such as text-to-speech or speech-to-text?

Perhaps the most important question is simply:

That question moves the discussion away from labels and toward educational need.

Dyslexia does not prevent a child from becoming an accomplished student, but telling a child to "try harder" is not an intervention.

Children with dyslexia need instruction that directly addresses how written language works. For many students, that means explicit, systematic, cumulative, phonics-based instruction, often incorporating multisensory techniques and principles associated with Structured Literacy or Orton-Gillingham.

They may also need accommodations that allow them to continue learning while reading skills develop.

The goal is not simply to help children survive school. It is to give them the instruction, tools, and support they need to become increasingly independent readers and writers, while making sure that a difficulty with reading never becomes a ceiling on what they are allowed to learn.

Ehri, L. C., Nunes, S. R., Stahl, S. A., & Willows, D. M. (2001). Systematic phonics instruction helps students learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel's meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 71(3), 393–447.

International Dyslexia Association. Dyslexia at a Glance.

International Dyslexia Association. Effective Reading Instruction.

International Dyslexia Association. Structured Literacy: Effective Instruction for Students with Dyslexia and Related Reading Difficulties.

Stevens, E. A., Austin, C., Moore, C., Scammacca, N., Boucher, A. N., & Vaughn, S. (2021). Current state of the evidence: Examining the effects of Orton-Gillingham reading interventions for students with or at risk for word-level reading disabilities. Exceptional Children, 87(4), 397–417.

U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse. Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Dear Colleague Letter on IDEA/IEP Terms: Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and Dysgraphia. October 23, 2015.

U.S. Department of Education. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Regulations, 34 C.F.R. §300.309 and §300.320.

Educational eligibility and services are determined individually, and state requirements may provide protections or procedures in addition to federal law. This article provides general educational information and is not legal advice.