James Gentry, Tarleton Associate Professor, spoke to an audience about his own personal struggle with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a language based disorder that affects a nearly 15% of young people in school. Dyslexia can make language skills and learning comprehension very difficult and can lead to improper diagnosis and students being left behind in their education.
How an associate professor remained positive while struggling with Dyslexia.
Dyslexic students can be taught using alternative ways.
Gentry states that finding alternative ways to teach students with dyslexia is the key to reaching them. Not all students will learn at the same pace and to expect every student to be at the same level at the same time is counterproductive. Gentry hopes that new technologies could lead to improved education for dyslexic students.
Current studies indicate that one half of all the students who qualify for special education are classified as having a learning disability, with nearly 85 percent of those students having a primary learning disability in reading and language processing.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Key takeaways
- Thirteen to fourteen percent of students in national schools have special education needs.
- Finding alternative ways to approach students with dyslexia is key because each student is different.
- Teachers should have the freedom to make their own curriculum for struggling students.
See MTSS for schools
Is your child struggling in school?
Get your free personalized learning roadmap
You describe what you see at home. We turn it into a plan you start this week.
- Answer 5 short questionnaires about what you already notice, 30–45 minutes at your own kitchen table
- Your child sits no test and gets no score: nothing to schedule, nothing for them to dread
- You do the answering, the AI does the writing, and a person reviews it before it reaches you
- Access all 40+ courses instantly: reading, math, focus, processing and more, with new ones added regularly
Why we use AI, plainly: it writes from a knowledge base our team maintains and audits. We work through it line by line and pull anything the evidence stops supporting. The roadmap you get on Tuesday reflects what we corrected on Monday, and a human still reads it before you do.
Your school district must evaluate your child free of charge if you ask in writing, whatever your income and whatever the outcome (US, 34 CFR 300.111 and 300.301(b)). That route takes time and answers a different question than you do. This one starts today, from what you already know.
Your answers stay yours. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not hand identifiable assessment data to outside AI companies to train their models.
A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations (an IEP or 504 plan), or you suspect a vision, hearing or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too. That is the only route to those supports.
