Decoding Dyslexia North Carolina

Resources

North Carolina Resources

  • Procedural Safeguards: Handbook of Parents’ Rights – Learn your rights by reading this document. This is a must read for North Carolina parents.
  • Dyslexia Topic Brief – The Exceptional Children Division at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction developed “Dyslexia Topic Brief” to provide accurate information regarding the evaluation, identification and instruction of students with dyslexia within a school setting. The original document was published in 2015. The link above points to the revised version published in December 2019.
  • The Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center (ECAC) – ECAC is committed to improving the lives and education of all children through a special emphasis on children with disabilities and special healthcare needs. They provide 1:1 assistance to parents and families of children with special needs. They also offer in-person training and online webinars, free of charge.
  • Disability Rights of North Carolina – Legal advocacy agency that fights for the rights of people with disabilities. They handle cases involving discrimination, abuse and other rights violations. All of their services are at no cost to North Carolinians with disabilities. 
  • North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA) – NCSEAA has two programs that are available to meet the financial needs of students with disabilities – The Disabilities Grant and the Education Savings Account. Families can apply for more than one program. A child must have a NC Individualized Education Program (IEP) dated within the last three years.
  • Parents Guide to Special Education in North Carolina – Children’s Law Clinic-Duke University
    This 149-page document written in 2017 by Jane Wettach, Children’s Law Clinic, Duke Law School, is a comprehensive resource guide to special education terms and concepts, evaluations and educational testing, IEP meetings, 504 Plans and many other topics. The Children’s Law Clinic is a community law office that provides free legal advice, advocacy and legal representation to low-income children and their parents regarding special education matters. The clinic is staffed by Duke Law students who bring their compassion, commitment and energy to the task of advocating for at-risk children.
  • North Carolina Branch of the International Dyslexia Association
  • NC-PTA Dyslexia Resolution

North Carolina Laws and North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Federal Resources

National Resources

  • Wrightslaw – Popular resource for education law, special education law and special education advocacy.
  • Understood – Nonprofit organization dedicated to people who learn and think differently with articles and videos for families, educators, young adults and the workplace.
  • International Dyslexia Association – Founded in the 1920s, the International Dyslexia Association is the oldest organization dedicated to the study and treatment of dyslexia.
  • National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) – NCLD fights to improve outcomes for people with learning and attention issues by actively shaping local and national policy to reduce barriers and ensure opportunity and access for all.
  • Learning Disabilities Online – The LD Online website features hundreds of helpful articles, Q&A resources on a wide range of topics (e.g., IEPs, Adults with LD, ADHD, Response to Intervention, etc.), a comprehensive resource guide and active forums.
  • Learning Ally – The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution is an assistive technology that offers 80,000 human-narrated audiobooks. Their audiobooks are available to those who have a demonstrated learning disability, visual impairment or physical disability that makes it difficult to read using traditional print. For legal reasons, they require documentation from a qualified professional for each member. There is an annual fee to use the app although the NC Department of Public Instruction has provided funding for a limited number of K-12 public or charter school students with print disabilities to have NC state-funded Learning Ally memberships.
  • Yale Center For Dyslexia & Creativity
  • Orton Gillingham
  • Bright Solutions for Dyslexia
Documents and Presentations
Helpful Articles
Teacher Resources
  1. Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Needs to Know
  2. The Dyslexia Toolkit: National Center for Learning Disabilities
  3. Dyslexia Assessment: What Is It and How Can It Help?
  4. Made by Dyslexia Dyslexia Awareness Training (Two free 1 hour sessions)
    Books
  5. Dyslexia Advocate!: How to Advocate for a Child with Dyslexia within the Public Education System
  6. The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain
  7. The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan: A Blueprint for Renewing Your Child’s Confidence and Love of Learning
YouTube Videos