Episode 138|“If You Can Write It, You Can Read It”: Rethinking Dyslexia with Russell Van Brocklen

Dr. Adam Rinde sits down with Russell Van Brocklen — aseverely dyslexic researcher whose writing program was funded by the New York State Senate — to unpack why dyslexia is a strength waiting to be activated,not a deficit to be accommodated. Russell explains the brain science behind dyslexia, then demonstrates his method live: find the child’s “specialty,” ask specific-to-general questions, and use word analysis followed by articulation to force the brain to organize itself through writing. The results he reports are startling — middle schoolers writing at graduate level, a homeschoolergaining 20 points in under six months, and an 11-year-old jumping eight grade levels. Practical, replicable, and hopeful for any parent or teacher of astruggling reader.Show NotesAbout the GuestRussell Van Brocklen is a dyslexia researcher and educatorbased in New York State. Severely dyslexic himself, he developed his method by combining the brain research in Sally Shaywitz’s Overcoming Dyslexia with JamesCollins’s Strategies for Struggling Writers. His original program was funded bythe New York State Senate; he has trained New York City special-ed teachers forover a decade at the Everyone Reading Conference and is co-authoring the forthcoming book Literacy and Reading: Dyslexia Turnaround.Resources & Links•       Russell’s website + free guide: dyslexiaclasses.com(“Download Free Guide” — The Three Reasons Your Child Is Having Trouble inSchool Due to Dyslexia)•       Overcoming Dyslexia (2nd ed.) — Sally Shaywitz, MD(Yale)•       Strategies for Struggling Writers — James Collins•       Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination —Neal Gabler•       The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt — Edmund Morris•       The Craft of Research — Booth, Colomb & Williams