Resources | Orton Gillingham Tutor
welcome to
YOUR RESOURCES
Orton-Gillingham tutor, and mom to an amazing dyslexic daughter, Tracy Young, pulls back the curtain on the world of literacy. She shares essential “keys” to unlocking reading success through a mix of practical, evidence-based strategies, inspiring success stories, sprinkled with “war accounts” from the front lines of parenting and tutoring. Some people like to read and some people prefer to listen so we’ve offered both. Choose which format works best for your lifestyle.
It's the information she needed when her daughter was a struggling reader
The Podcast
Join your host, Tracy Young —a trained Orton-Gillingham tutor and mom to an amazing dyslexic daughter—as she pulls back the curtain on the world of literacy. It’s a podcast dedicated to empowering parents of struggling readers and kids with dyslexia.
If you’re raising a child with dyslexia or a kid who’s struggling to read, write, and spell, stop guessing what to do next. I’m Tracy Young, a Certified Orton-Gillingham tutor, dyslexia specialist, and this podcast will empower you to unlock reading, writing, and spelling success for your child. You’ll uncover structured literacy tips and practical advice about dyslexia (in plain English) to help you turn I can’t into I can.
Follow our weekly episodes and share them with others! Contact TheLiteracyKeys.com for a dyslexia tutor.
If you've been searching for how to improve reading comprehension for your tween, teen, or even yourself, this episode hands you the missing piece that everyone forgets to share. Plus you’ll find three fixes you can try this week.
Somewhere between Middle School and High School the format of our books change. The sentences get longer, twistier, and they start hiding ”who did what to whom” inside layers of clauses. So someone who was a perfectly fine reader in the lower grades can suddenly hit a wall in reading comprehension. New research suggests that understanding sentence structure can provide improved comprehension in older students.
In this episode, I walk you through that research in plain English, including the sneaky little sentence that inspired this title.
After listening, you'll:
Know why readers suddenly struggle in the upper grades, and why it's not laziness, attention, or too much screen time.
Be able to spot the exact moment a tricky sentence derails your child's understanding, using one simple question that takes thirty seconds.
Have three practical ways to improve comprehension at home this week, including the one technique with the strongest research behind it.
- Understand what not to waste your time on.
- Walk away knowing a short list of learnable patterns.
If your older student is hitting this wall and you're wondering whether this is the missing piece or something more, let's figure it out together. Book a free 15-minute consultation at The Literacy Keys
If you know another parent whose child has hit a mysterious reading comprehension wall, please share this episode with them. Don't forget to follow the show so next week's episode finds you.
Cheers,
Tracy Young, Orton Gillingham Tutor
The Literacy Keys
p.s. – Check out episodes on YouTube
Resources mentioned:
Natalie Wexler, ”A (Relatively) Easy Way to Boost Reading Comprehension”
Chapters
00:00 How to improve reading comprehension
01:50 Unmasking the problem
08:10 What outperforms vocabulary in reading comprehension?
18:20 Avoid this activity
24:32 Unlock reading comprehension
The Blog
3 Tips on How to Improve Reading Comprehension
Somewhere between Elementary and High School the sentences in the books change. They get longer, twistier, and they start hiding who did what to whom inside layers of clauses. A perfectly fine reader in the lower grades can hit a wall without anything being wrong with them. New research suggests that sentence structure plays a […]
Are Graphic Novels For Kids Real Reading? Yes +5 Ways To Help
You’ve been told your whole life that real reading looks like a thick chapter book with no pictures. Real books are classic and timeless. Anything else is not “real” reading. That’s the wrong way to view graphic novels for kids and this post explains why. Graphic Novels for Kids Right around age nine, the number […]
Parents of Struggling Readers: Explore The Science of Reading
I recently sat down with two powerhouse guests who have devoted their careers to struggling readers: Laura Stewart, Chief Academic Officer at 95 Percent Group, and Brett Tingley, founder and president of Parents for Reading Justice. All three of us share something beyond our work. We are moms of struggling readers. It’s Not a Comprehension […]
Dyslexia Therapist’s Advice
Has your school told you they can’t test for dyslexia until third grade? You’re not alone. Here’s the part nobody tells you. That advice is wrong. In fact, according to a dyslexia therapist, waiting until 3rd grade is the most expensive advice you’ll ever get. What Is a Dyslexia Therapist? I recently sat down with […]