On 22 October 2025, the International Dyslexia Association changed its definition of dyslexia. It was the first rewrite since 2002. One line names struggles that “persist even with instruction that is effective for the individual’s peers.” Persist means months. Months are hard to see from one tired night at the table. If nothing seems to change and you cannot prove it, you are not alone.
FROM THE VIDEO
Key moments from Back to School Bootcamp Series: Part 3 – Data Notebooks with Nicole Hull:
Common questions from parents
What is a communication log for school?
What work samples should I keep in a dyslexia binder?
How do I know if an accommodation is helping?
Do I need a diagnosis before I start keeping records?
The most useful page in a dyslexia binder is not the report card. It is three dated work samples, side by side. Here is why the date matters.
What goes in a dyslexia binder besides the school paperwork?
Nicole Hull was a teacher and a school counselor. Now she is a civil-rights attorney. She also hosts the Dyslexia Mom Life podcast. In one episode, she walks through two tools. The first is a communication log. It is a dated record of every contact with the school. That means each email, each phone call and each meeting.
The second is a data notebook. It keeps progress reports, report cards, teacher notes and test results in one place. Some schools leave emailed files up for a short time only, Hull warns. Save them when they arrive. Not sure you have it all? Ask the school for your child’s full records.
Her tabs, each one filed by date:
- Communication: the log, with emails and meeting notes behind it
- Evaluations
- Sample work
- 504 or IEP plans
- Assessments
She keeps each binder to two inches, so it stays easy to use. So far, this is good filing. One tab turns it into something more.
Persist means months, and months are hard to see from one tired evening.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Which pages show whether anything is changing?
This next tip is the one I would hand every parent. Keep work samples from the beginning, middle and end of the year. Keep them in the areas where your child struggles. Strong subjects do not need a place in the binder, Hull says.
Write the date on every page. Three dated pages, side by side, answer a question your memory cannot. Is this skill moving? Or is it hard after teaching that works for the rest of the class?
Start tonight. Pull one page your child did this month in the hard subject. Write the date at the top. That is your first sample.
That second question is the one the 2025 definition points to. It names struggles that persist through teaching that works for peers. Your dated pages put that pattern on paper. Wait and see leaves it unwritten. Here is why waiting fails a child who is struggling. Waiting has never taught a child to read. Teaching does.
What is taught matters, too. Galuschka and colleagues (2014) reviewed 22 randomized trials of reading help. Systematic phonics was the only approach that reached statistical significance. So ask more than “Is my child getting help?” Ask “Is this help working for my child?” Schools have their own checks for this. Here is how school reading progress checks work.
Key takeaways
- Date every page: Three dated work samples show change that memory alone misses.
- Keep the hard subjects: Save samples where your child struggles, not where they shine.
- Test each support: Ask if it builds the skill or replaces the expectation.
How do you tell if a support is building the skill?
A common belief says more accommodations always mean more help. Our view is that more is not the same as better. Which supports build a skill is still an open question. That is why the question you ask matters.
Hull uses her log for exactly this. When did a support start? Has it had long enough to show a change? What should come next? The log holds the start date. The samples hold the before and after.
Then ask the question that counts. The question was never ‘accommodation: yes or no.’ It’s ‘is this support building the skill, or replacing the expectation that it gets built?’
Before your next meeting:
- Lay three dated samples side by side.
- Mark the date each support began.
- Ask the team what has changed since then.
This is not a case against an IEP or a 504 plan. It is a way to see what each support is doing. For words to use with the team, see our research summary on parent advocacy.
Three dated pages, side by side, answer a question your memory cannot.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
You want proof that the reading help is working. Nobody will ever advocate for your child as hard as you will. The wait-and-see habit asks you to hope instead of check. A free screener asks what you see at home. It is a starting point, not a diagnosis. Start with the free dyslexia screener.
See what All Access gives your child
Take the dyslexia test
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.
