Welcome. This site is for parents who are trying to make sense of dyslexia, ADHD, IEPs, evaluations, and the science of reading. The kind of stuff that comes at you in jargon and acronyms when nobody has 30 minutes to translate.
The fastest way to find what you need is to pick the situation that matches yours and start there. Each path below leads to one anchor post; the related cheat sheets and follow-on reads are linked from inside that post.
My kid was just evaluated and the report makes no sense
Standardized test reports are written in stats. The numbers and acronyms have specific meanings, and the school does not always slow down to explain them.
- Start with What You Need to Know About Tests: how to read standard scores, percentiles, and confidence intervals.
- Then look up the specific tests in your report at the Assessments 101 hub.
- If the report says “on track” but you can see otherwise, read this.
We are heading into an IEP meeting
The PLAAFP section of the IEP is where the actual disability and impact get described. If that section is vague, every other section downstream gets weaker.
- How to read your child’s PLAAFP: line-by-line review guide.
- Related services in the IEP: what your child may be entitled to.
- Accommodations are the school’s job, not a favor.
I think my kid might have dyslexia
Bright kids often slip past dyslexia screening because they compensate. The signs you are looking for are specific.
- 5 signs your smart kid might have dyslexia
- Why dyslexic readers stumble over “the” and “of”
- Screener accuracy: why a passed screener does not mean clear of dyslexia.
- CTOPP-2 explainer: the phonological awareness test that catches dyslexia early.
My kid has ADHD and reading is a battle
- 5 ADHD behaviors that look like defiance
- How to make phonics practice work when your kid has ADHD
- Stop asking what level they are on: the first question to ask before building a reading plan.
- Time blindness, checklists, and what actually works
I want to understand the science of reading
- Phonics fixed everything, right?: the Simple View of Reading and why phonics alone does not get you to comprehension.
- Why your struggling reader is not catching up: the Matthew Effect.
- Writing is the reading skill nobody is talking about
- Where did all the books go?
Want a more granular path?
If none of the five paths above quite fit, try the Find Your Stage page. It breaks the parent journey into smaller stages and routes to the right next-step post for each.