Literacy means

access to employment, options

to health care, to navigating daily life.

When you learn to read, the world opens up to you.

Welcome to CADL CAST with Capital Area

District Libraries Executive Director Scott Duimstra.

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month at the Capital Area District Libraries.

We use the month to raise awareness that one in five students have dyslexia.

Cattle is also working

to build collections and services for students with dyslexia.

One nonprofit that creates awareness of reading issues like dyslexia

and works with libraries to provide education, support

and help with access to resources that help all kids learn to read.

Especially dyslexic and struggling readers, is teach my kid to read.

Joining us today is Marion Waldman, executive director of Teach

My Kid to Read.

Marion, thank you so much for joining us today.

I'm so happy to be here, Scott.

To start, could you.

Tell us about the mission of Teach My Kid to read?

Sure.

Our mission is to provide librarians, parents

and educators with education and access to tools

that help all kids learn to read, especially kids with dyslexia.

And we believe that libraries and communities offer equitable access

to resources.

And a lot of the resources that really help

all kids learn to read, but that kids with dyslexia

really must do is to learn to read are harder to access.

Libraries may not necessarily be familiar with them or stock them

or carry them, and that's old school and public libraries.

So we're really on a mission to create awareness of

just all the resources that help kids learn to read

and just help with that access by working with libraries

and communities, because we do some of our own outreach as well.

And in a recent webinar with Teach My Kid to Read,

I was moved by some of their slides because I think they show the impact

and also just the need that is out there.

And there were two of them in particular.

One said literacy means access and the other said

literacy is another way for same opportunity.

So what do those mean to you and why is building literacy

for all children so important?

Well, I mean, literacy really affects everything.

And actually, those visuals you're talking about, there are two of our six visuals

that we currently have to create awareness for Dyslexia Awareness Month.

We're going to be using them as signs for some of our literacy walks

and putting them on lines.

But to specifically answer your question.

Literacy means access to employment

options, to health care,

to navigating daily life, and for adults for tools

to support your children economically and academically.

And the other side of the coin, I mean, literacy

really is another way of saying opportunity.

When you learn to read, the world opens up to you.

And for people who, you know, for for kids

that struggle and adults that never get those literacy skills.

It's a very small world and there's a lot of just very

dire trajectories that you start to go down

when you just don't have access to the options that that many of us do.

And, you know, the disparities, too, are a lot.

They're they certainly they hit our kids with dyslexia.

There are it's often

the kids with dyslexia are often referred to as the canary in the coal mine

because they pay the steepest price for illiteracy.

And, you know, as well as kids from disadvantaged backgrounds

that have less access to books and to content that often

get misdiagnosed in school, sometimes they get misclassified

in special education or they never get identified at all.

So, you know, there's just a number of complex issues.

And, you know, the

the best thing that the best thing that we can all do is

help as many children early when it counts the most and learn

as much as we can about ways that that help all kids learn to read.

Because the way that the way that kids with reading issues

like dyslexia learn to read is the way that all kids learn to read.

Obviously, some kids might need kids that that really struggle are going to need

some intervention are certainly going to need more practice with with Dakota

bill books that will we'll discuss in a

we'll discuss in in a moment

but you know just providing

you know, literacy really is the portal into opportunity.

I agree.

And, you know,

I think about my own daughter who's dyslexic and when you were saying

that, I actually excited for her because she struggled as a reader

and as she has gone through tutoring and using tools like the portable books,

you can see her confidence

in all of her subjects kind of be lifted from that as well, too.

And and in your previous answer, you talked about two quotable books.

So could you explain what they are and why they're important

for struggling readers?

Yeah.

I mean, Dakota Board books provide the practice

for the phonics skills that children learn at school, and

the Bell Books

enable children to apply what they have learned.

And being able to apply these skills and get practice reading them

is actually the most important task in becoming a skilled reader.

There's been a lot of research studies about the amount of time

that even teachers spend on that application of skill

and has an effect on skilled reading.

And the way a lot of our kids are taught to read,

they don't necessarily get that practice.

A lot of the books are based on patterns

or guessing, and a lot of kids

a lot of kids are able to memorize

and they never really learn to decode.

And then when they get into third or fourth grade,

suddenly you realize that they're not they're not reading.

So Decoder Bell books are really important

so that all kids can become fluent.

And they're

they're based on a systematic,

explicit and cumulative approach to teaching

starting with very simple, complex phonics skills

and then getting into more

intermediate and then advanced skills.

And these books just go along and they connect the text to that practice.

It builds the confidence.

Kids get very excited and it's a very wide

it's a growing and wide genre of books.

There's often certain programs will just have passages in stories

that go along with the skills that some teachers that schools may use.

And there's the quotable books that are specific

to certain phonics skills, and especially for older kids.

A lot of those tactical books are also for pleasure.

They're books that kids can just go to the library

and read and there's there's decoder books

for older children with lots of engaging topics.

So it's, again, just giving everyone the opportunity to come to the library

and be able to check out a book that

to check out a book that they can read.

In my introduction, I shared the statistics

about one in five students having dyslexia.

And as a library system, we're usually the kind of first place

that parents go to for literacy, building and learning.

And I'm shocked that that more public libraries don't focus on students

with dyslexia because, again, they make up 20% of the student body.

And that's how I sound, teach my kids, read as I was looking at

who could we partner with or who could help us develop a collection and services.

And and so I wanted to give you the chance to explain

what does teach my kid to read do for libraries?

Well, it's an interesting question.

And, you know, it's

it's kind of funny because we started out we're a pretty new nonprofit.

And my background is in educational publishing and I've always worked

somewhat with with libraries, but I love libraries.

Libraries are like a lot of us, you know, just that special.

And they've always been that that special place.

There's still something

I know it sounds corny, but there's still magic about working.

There is. There is. There's nothing corny about that.

There is. Okay.

I mean, when I travel, I sometimes go to the library to have that space.

But when we started out as a nonprofit, one of the things that we did was

we partnered with about 50 libraries in New York,

and we were at that point just asking a question about

we always wondered like, how come libraries weren't able to be

a better resource for families of really struggling readers?

And I suppose early too, because it's helpful to help you see those skills then.

But we just wondered, you know, why

libraries that are so focused on literacy and reading and access to all

just we're so unfamiliar with our world and so many of them didn't

carry two critical books.

And so at that point, we really just were asking some questions

and then partnering with libraries

to create awareness for Dyslexia Awareness Month and feature some Dakota books.

And we discovered that that the majority of librarians really wanted to help.

They just were unfamiliar with these books.

And, you know, over time, then the pandemic hit and we kind of evolved.

And, you know, fast forward a couple of years, we've grown a bit as an

organization and we have a pretty robust library committee.

And I work as you as you

experienced very, very closely with our our library chair

and we uncovered in the process of trying to help libraries

learn about Dakota Books, learn about struggling readers.

So we read that there were just a whole bunch of rabbit holes

that and barriers that you start to go down

and how could we partner with libraries to really enable them

to, you know, enable libraries to better serve, to enhance their service?

So we discovered first professional development that we needed

to create a course that, you know, is still a work in progress.

We've done a number of times, but that we provide some type of background about the

the the literacy world today and how many kids in all communities

all over the world, you know, let's say the country, although we do work

with some libraries in other countries, but just

what the data tells us about

who's not learning to read the inequities

and what reading instruction looks like, what we've learned from from science.

And then, you know, how we could help,

how library programing can possibly support skilled reading,

even with storytime, or just access to high level books and audio books.

And then we we provide information about decodables

how they how they fit in the world, also with leveled readers

and all of the other, you know, the other books that that are out there.

And then we usually have a librarian we've partnered with.

Talk a little bit about their experience creating collections or starting to

move into this world because it's a process.

So that's really

that's a long answer to our first two to PD and to professional development.

So we, we definitely we offer that piece and we're growing that, that piece.

We offer help creating collections, choosing the books.

We help with the ordering because we discovered

that there's a barrier that a lot of the distributors

don't carry the books and they're not necessarily library friendly.

So, you know, that's an area that we still on a day in and day out

basis uncover different ways to, you know, maybe make it easier

for a librarian to create records, to put a sticker or two.

We've created spine stickers cause we're always trying different bins and shelving.

So we have kind of a technical piece we provide support with in creating

these hubs. What's your budget?

Is it very small?

And with with libraries

that are in high needs communities, sometimes with restricted donations,

we're allowed we have the option to also help libraries with

get started on a collection

as well due to the generosity of different donors or sponsors.

And then finally, my, my favorite part is really the outreach

and the marketing piece, and that's a new area that we're developing as Ted,

but it's something that we already partner with libraries on.

And that's that's explaining how these books work to parents,

providing parents with information about literacy for early readers,

providing information and options for parents of struggling

readers, and helping libraries librarians be connectors

for more families.

You know, through literacy, through literacy and.

Barnes or just through the information for Page Friends.

And then we have a free membership program for librarians, which is like a portal

for us, really, of our materials. So

that's that's how we work with, with libraries.

You talked a little bit about about parents.

What advice do you have for parents who are working with their child,

who's struggling with reading?

Well, you know, I

think certainly learn learn as much as you can.

I'm going to say, you know, go to our Web site, has a lot of resources.

We have information about how we about how we learn to read.

We have, you know, different organizations, different programs.

We have lists of Dakota, all books.

You know, I have.

And, you know, I'll say subjectively, if I you know, people often say,

what would you have done differently, you know, as a parent,

even though I was in publishing, in education, I knew nothing.

I was very new to this world. And,

you know, I just took it for granted that when my daughter went to school

realized that there were issues that it would be taken care of.

I didn't pay close attention.

I just presume that, you know, I have full faith in education,

that they would be able to teach her to read.

And that's something, you know, to you really have to take matters into your

as you probably, you know, into your your own hands and learn what you can,

what there are, you know, there there's definitely

there is books that you can work with your kids yourself on.

The big fan of the I see Sam books beginning reading instruction.

We have the free e-books on our website and we were actually

working directly with the creator of that series.

He passed away about a year ago, and on Saturday we do a walk

to commemorate him and to raise money so we can continue printing his books.

But the bride, also known as the Icy Sam series, are very,

very easy for parents to work with their kids if they're struggling.

But there's I mean, if you

go to our website, too, I want to understand

the different components that lead to skilled reading and some of the skills

that you as a parent should know blending and segmenting and

also making sure that spelling and writing

aren't left out when your child starts getting the help they need.

That's what I wish I knew, because we were so focused on reading

that we were less concerned about spelling,

being cognizant of spelling and writing, and that there, you know,

besides the Dakota books, there are homeschool programs.

Again, these are on our websites and there's other organization

and you can certainly that you'll see

on our website under resources, but there is lots of directions you can go.

I mean, so many of the public

and there's video we have videos on our website

that are also excuse me, on our YouTube channel

that can be very helpful for for parents.

And most of those videos are created by the Dakota Book Publishers.

You know, we always like to end with a library type question.

So do you have a recommendation for our listeners of a title that this could be a

title for

your work, but it can also be just one that you use to relax.

And so a title that you've read, watched or listened to that

you would recommend to someone.

Well, when you I saw that, you know, I guess I have to two answers.

One, it's true just to relax.

Sometimes I read books that are a little bit

different than literacy, because all day long

I'm trying to learn everything I can about literacy.

And I read so many articles, the book that has affected me

the most that I've read recently is Richard Powers.

The Overstory was one.

It was one of the few books that when I first started reading it,

I actually thought it was a few short stories.

I thought, Am I missing something?

But as soon as I finished it,

I started reading it again because I wanted I felt like I

there was so much information and I wanted to

I just wanted to to to be able

to get all those details that I might have missed on the first round.

So for me, that really affected me, just the concept of the trees as the theme

all the way through.

And it was a surprising book for me.

I mean, I read it as well too, and I had the same reaction.

I thought I was just reading

a collection of short stories and the way that they all connected together as well.

It was amazing. That's a that's a great recommendation.

Well, I'm glad that you read it, too, but it's probably

I read there's a lot of wonderful books I read,

but that one really has stuck with me and I'll probably read it a third time.

And then I guess I do have to make it.

It's not a pitch, but for the literacy space.

One of our our former literacy specialist wrote a series of books

and they're called If Only I Would Have Known Series.

And there are three little books. You can get them.

You can get them the three in one.

And they're what I wish.

The pediatrician, preschool teacher and library

librarian would have told me about language literacy and dyslexia.

And these books are really nice

because they're written in such an easy way in a play format.

And if you just want to get your arms

around, you know, this,

everything that you've been hearing about maybe the science of reading

or how we learned to read or what I should be asking, it's a really nice way

that you don't have to spend 6 hours in a really dense book.

You can get everything you need in a quick read and refer to it.

So I'm a big fan of those books.

Mary Ann, thank you so much for joining us today

and for all the work that you do for students who are dyslexic

and also struggling with reading as well, too.

What I find about your organization is you're truly doing some some great work.

And in fields where parents are looking for

answers and students are looking for help as well.

Thank you. It was wonderful to be here.

I appreciate the opportunity and I hope that everybody creates awareness.

In October.

And for more information about Teach My Kid to read,

you can go to their website.

It’s teachmykidtoread.org

That's all one word dot org

and we'll have a link to it in the episode notes as well too.

As always, thank you so much for listening to the Carl Guest.

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