Five Ways to Promote Dyslexia Awareness In October

It’s estimated that 20% of the population has dyslexia, yet it’s not unusual for dyslexia to be misdiagnosed or go undetected. The consequences for students who struggle to read can be significant, impacting not only their academic lives but limiting their futures as well. Increasing awareness can mean earlier detection, targeted instruction, and reading accommodations, which can open worlds of opportunity for folks who are living with dyslexia.

We’re thrilled to join the International Dyslexia Association’s (IDA) ongoing efforts to increase awareness of dyslexia, especially Dyslexia Awareness Month in October.

Increasing awareness can come in many forms. Here are five activities that can be done this month, or at anytime, to shine a light on dyslexia:

Increasing awareness can come in many forms. Here are five activities that can be done this month, or at any time, to shine a light on dyslexia:

1. Participate in the IDA “SpreadingTheWords” campaign.

Post a video to social media sharing your experience with dyslexia, or how dyslexia has impacted someone you know. Include #SpreadingTheWords and #UntilEveryoneCanRead.

2. Add a dyslexia awareness frame to your social media profiles and email signature.

We prepared several which you are welcome to use!

Social Media and Email Thumbnail Templates for Dyslexia Awareness Month

Circle Template for use in Canva

Square Template for use in Canva

3. Add a wallpaper to your phone or computer screen.
We’ve created a few to select from. To download, click on any of these mobile or desktop versions.

Mobile Device Dyslexia Awareness Wallpaper Graphics

Desktop and Laptop Dyslexia Awareness Wallpaper Graphics

4. Attend a webinar or watch a video on dyslexia, and invite a friend or colleague to join you.
Several we would suggest include:

• Building a Dyslexia Toolkit That Works: recorded webinar
• Extremely Dyslexic – Extremely Gifted: The Pthara Jeppe Story video
• Dyslexia Can be Identified as Early as Kindergarten video

5. Share an article about dyslexia on social media.
The IDA has many listed on their website and we also included some from other sources:

Definition of Dyslexia
Accommodations for Students with Dyslexia
What Educators Can Miss in Dyslexic Students
Dyslexia Resources from Where it’s AT Blog

Once dyslexia is identified, there are a number of effective ways to help, including multi-sensory learning and assistive technology accommodations that can provide access to grade-level text. When many schools are deciding how to spend stimulus money to address learning loss, putting a dyslexia plan in place could be life-changing!.