Decoded: the Dyslexia Bulletin from NDA, July 2026
- teresa0302
- Jul 27
- 4 min read
Nebraska Dyslexia Association, est. 1984
July 2026
Do you want to advocate effectively for your child? Do you want to help other families in your community navigate the dyslexia journey?
The FREE Inclusive Education Lay Advocacy Project at Disability Rights Nebraska seeks to engage interested people in lay (non-legal) advocacy for students with disabilities and their families. Lay advocates will be provided with education and training to support families in the mastery of educational information, the understanding and implementation of legal rights, and the effective navigation of educational systems to secure inclusive educational opportunities for students with disabilities.
The Inclusive Lay Advocacy Program:
Stands by the belief that interested people, when given the opportunity, will be strong advocates for all children
Provides training, based on a proven model, to citizens who commit to standing with other families in advocating for inclusive education for their children
Offers Individual Education Plan clinics to help families understand their rights and responsibilities for developing inclusive education plans
The next cohort begins August 25. Learn more here.
Want to connect with other families on the dyslexia journey?
Nebraska Dyslexia Association hosts a bi-monthly virtual Parent Support Group meeting. Next meeting is scheduled for August 25 beginning at 6:30 PM.
Join us as we learn about parental rights, IDEA and state law, and how to help your child with emotional well-being. Parenting a child with dyslexia can sometimes feel bewildering and isolating. You don't have to go it alone. Sign up for an invitation here.
10 Ways to Prepare Your Dyslexic Child for a Successful School Year
A new school year can bring both excitement and anxiety for children with dyslexia and their families. Preparing early can reduce uncertainty, strengthen communication, and help your child begin the year with confidence.
1. Review the IEP or 504 Plan. Read the plan carefully and make sure it reflects your child’s current needs. Note any goals, accommodations, services, or evaluation dates that may need attention.
2. Confirm accommodations. Do not assume that accommodations automatically follow your child from one teacher or classroom to another. Confirm how supports such as extended time, audiobooks, reduced copying, or assistive technology will be provided.
3. Understand intervention services. Ask who will provide reading intervention, what program or instructional approach will be used, how often services will occur, and how progress will be measured and reported.
4. Communicate with teachers early. Introduce yourself before school begins or during the first week. Briefly share your child’s strengths, challenges, effective supports, and any concerns about the transition.
5. Help teachers understand your child. Consider providing a one-page profile that explains how your child learns best, what causes frustration, and what helps them feel capable and included.
6. Set up an organization system. Create a consistent location for backpacks, school papers, devices, and supplies. Color-coded folders, checklists, and visual reminders can reduce the executive-function demands of school.
7. Establish predictable routines. Begin adjusting sleep, morning, homework, and bedtime routines before school starts. Predictability allows children to use their energy for learning rather than managing constant transitions.
8. Prepare assistive technology. Make sure devices, audiobook accounts, text-to-speech tools, and speech-to-text programs are working. Practice using them before assignments begin.
9. Empower your child. Review accommodations in age-appropriate language and help your child practice asking for them. Self-advocacy is a skill that develops gradually with support.
10. Focus on strengths and reassurance. Remind your child that dyslexia affects reading and writing—not intelligence. Celebrate creativity, persistence, problem-solving, and other strengths they bring to the classroom.
Early preparation will not eliminate every challenge, but it can create a stronger partnership among families, teachers, and students—and help your child begin the year feeling understood, supported, and ready to learn.
Our dyslexic children need role models. Many successful people have dyslexia.
Cher, one of the world’s most beloved and acclaimed entertainers, has struggled with both dyslexia and dyscalculia, a learning condition which makes math extra challenging. Not only did words feel like another language, numbers also felt foreign, she said in her autobiography, The First Time.
“I couldn’t read quickly enough to get all my homework done, and for me, math was like trying to understand Sanskrit,” she wrote.
Teachers also could not figure out what was holding Cher back, she said, noting that the student was not living up to her potential in the classroom. To get through, Cher said she taught herself to learn through listening.
It wasn’t until she was already a mother of two that she discovered the source of her learning difficulties: dyslexia. In her autobiography, Cher said she had taken her son who was having trouble reading, to a testing center when doctors told her he, too, had the trait. Finally, the puzzle began to take shape.
“I told them how my mind raced ahead of my hand, how I’d skip letters in the middle of a word. I told them how I kept transposing numbers, and that I’d get so cranky trying to dial long-distance calls that someone would finally have to take the phone and dial the number for me,” she wrote. “It was like a big, Ohhh…Now I understood everything, why I had so much trouble with school. It all fit together.”
Cher said he still has “no relationship” with numbers today, and struggles with reading at times, but she’s learned to embrace her dyslexia as something that makes her unique.
If she could change that about herself, would she?
“No! It caused pain, but it’s me!” she told a fan online.
Nebraska Dyslexia Association will come to you!
Does your school, church, volunteer organization, teachers' group, or professional organization want to learn more about dyslexia? We can tailor informative presentations to your audience, in person or via Zoom.
Nebraska Dyslexia Association is a 100% volunteer-led 501c(3) organization dedicated to raising awareness, training educators, and supporting families since 1984. Want to support our work? Want to get involved? Contact us.
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