Teaching Dyslexia Starts With This Guide
Each fall, educators ask the same urgent question: "How do I best support the students in front of me?"
For students with dyslexia, this question isn't just about reading. It's about access, confidence, and connection. And when we get it right for our students with dyslexia, we create better classrooms for all students.
But what does “getting it right” actually look like?
Universal Best Practices for Dyslexia
The Universal Best Practices for All Learners (UBP) framework outlines 90 evidence-based practices that any teacher and leader can implement to create stronger, more inclusive classrooms. These strategies are organized into four core areas:
1. Communication and Interaction
Use visual aids, icons, and multimodal supports to reduce language load
Allow oral response options and partner reading to scaffold written expression
Teach the structure of language explicitly, including prefixes, suffixes, and word roots to build decoding and vocabulary
2. Cognition and Learning
Provide structured literacy instruction that is sequential, cumulative, and explicit
Incorporate multi-sensory teaching methods such as air writing, sand tracing, or color coding
Break down assignments into smaller parts and offer frequent check-ins for understanding
3. Social-Emotional Strengthening
Normalize learning differences by using strengths-based language when discussing dyslexia
Build student agency by co-creating learning goals and celebrating progress
Foster peer connections through cooperative learning and shared reading roles
4. Executive Functioning
Offer tools like checklists, timers, and visual schedules to support attention and task completion
Model planning and organization skills explicitly, especially for longer reading and writing assignments
Embed routines that support working memory, like summarizing aloud or teaching others
Why It Works
These are not accommodations. They are high-quality, research-backed teaching practices that benefit all students. UBP helps teachers recognize their own strengths, learn from one another, and create classrooms where students with dyslexia are known, equipped, and engaged.
Want to Go Deeper?
If you're a school leader or educator preparing for the year ahead, check out Universal Best Practices for All Learners on Amazon. It includes more than 90 strategies like these, team-building tools, and access to the Neurodiversity and Inclusion Learning Environments Profile (NAILEP).
Together, we will make all schools better.
