Tools, books, and free resources I have used, recommended, or built. Nothing is here just to fill the page. Everything below is grouped so you can find what you need quickly: free tools first, then the science of reading, then the cheat sheets and IEP guides, then phonics gear and books.
The tools I built live on this site and are free to use.
Tools & Access
Start here when your child understands more than they can independently read, needs assistive technology for school or home, or needs accessible books and materials now.
Assistive Technology & Reading Access: accessible-book services, text-to-speech, built-in device tools, the difference between access and remediation, and what to ask for in an IEP.
Free interactive tools
These three tools live on this site. They help parents translate evaluation reports, reading scores, and IEP language into something you can actually use.
- Confidence Interval Calculator: Paste in a test score and see the range your child’s actual score sits inside. Most reports show a single number; that number has a margin of error.
- Reading Profile Builder: Drop in your child’s evaluation scores and see where the gaps are in plain English. Built for IEP meeting prep.
- Spelling Under Load: A working-memory simulator that shows why kids with dyslexia can spell fine in isolation and fall apart in a paragraph. Useful for teachers who do not yet see the pattern.
Assessments and test cheat sheets
If you are staring at an evaluation report and the acronyms are not making sense.
- Assessments 101: the hub with every cheat sheet linked.
- Assessments Library: the searchable directory of every test.
- What You Need to Know About Tests: how to interpret what shows up in the report.
- Direct cheat sheet links: WISC-V, WIAT-4, KTEA-3, CTOPP-2, TOWRE-2, GORT-5, CELF-5, GFTA-3, Beery VMI, BRIEF-2, BASC-3, Conners-3, SDQA.
IEPs and advocacy
- How to read your child’s PLAAFP: a line-by-line review guide for the most important section of the IEP.
- Related services in the IEP: what your child may be entitled to that the school did not mention.
- IEP accommodations are the school’s job: not a favor.
- Why your reading report says “on track”: when you can see otherwise.
- Screener accuracy: sensitivity and specificity: the math behind why a passed screener does not mean clear of dyslexia.
- Confidence intervals and IEP qualification: why a single score is rarely the whole story.
Reading science (parent-friendly)
- Phonics fixed everything, right?: why reading is bigger than decoding.
- Why dyslexic readers stumble over “the” and “of”: orthographic mapping in plain English.
- Why your struggling reader is not catching up: the Matthew Effect.
- The reading strategy you have never heard of: but should absolutely be using.
- Writing is the reading skill nobody is talking about.
- Where did all the books go?: what is actually in your kid’s reading curriculum.
Phonics gear, games, and printables
Only included if I would actually recommend.
- Phonics games for kids who hate phonics
- Phonics books for reluctant readers
- 4 fidget tools that work at school
- Dry-erase pockets for reusable printables
- Voice recorder for speech practice
- Parts-of-speech cheat sheets (Teachers Pay Teachers)
External resources I trust
Sites and people I keep going back to.
- The Reading League: research-grounded organization, Compass Magazine, conferences, podcast.
- Reading Rockets: accessible, evidence-based reading site for parents and teachers.
- Shanahan on Literacy: Tim Shanahan’s blog. Direct, data-driven takes.
- Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity: research-backed reading on dyslexia and 2e.
- International Dyslexia Association: policy, definitions, fact sheets.
Investigations: Latest Rabbit Holes
I follow the threads hiding in assessments, policies, research, and school systems. I translate what I find for parents. These previews update automatically; the complete investigations live on Substack.
- Curriculum Associates submitted the i-Ready Diagnostic plus the 1:1 Literacy Task. Even together, they didn't clear Michigan's bar.
- A hidden cutoff, a skipped domain, and how adaptive testing fails our most vulnerable readers
- i-Ready is the gatekeeper for reading intervention in many of the largest school systems in the country. Michigan says it isn't accurate enough to play that role.
Michigan K-3 Reading Screener Reviews: all ten state-approved vendors compared, including what each one actually measures and what it skips.