November 4, 2025 • 29 mins
Paperwork doesn’t teach a child to read. We dig into how to turn dyslexia policy into real progress by aligning instruction with brain science and holding ourselves to clear, measurable outcomes. Our guest, Russell Van Brocklen, is a New York State Senate-funded researcher who overcame severe dyslexia. Russell shares a framework that helps districts meet HB 3928 requirements, avoid legal pitfalls, and, most importantly, move students toward grade-level reading and writing.
We explore what “evidence-based” really means in practice: documented training, fidelity logs, and interventions designed to leverage the dyslexic brain’s strengths. Russell explains why general-to-specific instruction backfires for neurodiverse learners and how flipping the sequence: specific questions first, then broader synthesis, using writing to organize thought. He shows how to build intensity without breaking budgets by anchoring instruction in each student’s specialty, turning deep interest into daily stamina, vocabulary growth, and rapid skill gains.
Data is the heartbeat of this approach. We outline how to monitor progress every four to six weeks with reliable measures, use those checkpoints to adjust instruction, and set a bar that demands gap-closing growth rather than stagnant percentiles. Russell also maps the legal landscape: the cost of delayed screening, the risks that drive private placements, and why “trying something” isn’t enough if impact isn’t documented. Along the way, you’ll hear a parent-led case study of a student jumping from the single digits to the 60th percentiles in months, plus a pragmatic roadmap for training teachers quickly and partnering with families effectively.
If you’re a Texas educator, administrator, or advocate looking to meet the letter of HB 3928 while honoring the science of reading and the lived reality of dyslexic students, this conversation offers a practical playbook you can use tomorrow. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review with the one change you’re committing to implement next week!
________________________________________
Learn more about Russell, his research, and more! -
https://dyslexiaclasses.com/
_________________________________________
Get more information, details and resources on Know Your Regulator - https://www.belolaw.com/know-your-regulator
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
This podcast is for educational purposes only, does
not constitute legal advice, anddoes not create an
attorney-client relationship.
If you need legal assistanceabout a legal problem, contact
an attorney.
SPEAKER_00 (00:36):
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (00:38):
Absolutely.
So, Russell, let's start withhow you got into dyslexia
research.
You're a New York Senate fundedresearcher.
Talk to us about that for asecond.
SPEAKER_00 (00:50):
Well, I was not supposed to do this.
This is the last thing in theworld I was supposed to be
doing.
I was supposed to be abureaucrat for the New York
State government.
But I signed up for the Assemblyinternship and I had a first
grade reading and writing level.
So they accommodated the heckout of me.
As a result, they submitted backto the State University of New
(01:11):
York Center at Buffalo,political science department.
They looked at theseaccommodations, which were
extraordinary, and therecommended grade of 3.
But they said they didn't likethe accommodations.
Even though literally the NewYork State government made
these, and they said, so here'syour 15 credits of F.
All right.
And it's still there 27 yearslater.
(01:33):
And the only person it's everhappened to.
So I said, I'm tired of thediscrimination.
So I asked my professors how Ican teach other dyslectics to
read and write.
And they said, go to law school.
So I audited a class withProfessor Warner, who was the
dyslectic contracts professor.
Second day of class, he calls onme.
And unlike the rest of thestudents, I argued with him for
(01:54):
15 minutes.
He raised his hand and said, Wecan't, we ran out of time.
You couldn't be any morecorrect.
Thank you.
I learned to read within amonth.
Writing took a couple of years.
And I went back to the New YorkState government.
I said, okay, I want the Senateto fund my research.
And that created a whole host ofthings I had to go through with
(02:14):
the State Education Department,everything else.
They eventually did it.
And what we did is we took abunch of highly motivated,
intelligent high school juniorsand seniors in a public school
and we increased their writingfrom the middle school level to
average eventering graduateschool students.
So I'm telling you all thisbecause of the laws we're going
(02:35):
to be discussing.
It has to be based on thescience.
This is the top book in myfield, Overcoming Dyslexia by
Sally Shea, what's real?
This is dyslexia.
Do you see how the back part ofyour brain has all this massive
neuroactivity and mine has nextto nothing?
Now, do you see how the frontpart of my brain is about two
(02:56):
and a half times overactive?
SPEAKER_01 (02:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (02:58):
Okay.
Now that two and a half timesoveractive is important because
that's how I'm going to tell youhow to comply with your rules in
your handbook.
According to Yale, that dealswith articulation followed by
word analysis.
I use the graduate records examanalytical writing assessments.
Do you see how analytical andarticulation are essentially the
same thing?
SPEAKER_01 (03:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:20):
That was the connection that allowed these
students to jump seven, eightgrade levels at a cost of New
York State of under$900.
They all went on to college,they all graduated for under
$900.
SPEAKER_01 (03:34):
Yeah, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (03:35):
Right.
But now, how now what I'm goingto do after I discuss the rules
with you, I'm going to tell youhow to implement things.
So basically, what we're kind ofrunning into is a problem here.
So today we're discussing HB329-28 in the 2024 dyslexia
(03:57):
handbook.
The problem is most schooldistricts treat this like a
compliance exercise.
They check boxes, fill out theforms, and they just hope they
don't get sued.
But the handbook actuallyrequires evidence-based
intervention.
So here's the three biggestthings that the schools run into
problems with.
(04:17):
Number one, it must beevidence-based with documented
fidelity of implementation.
Okay?
You're not just buying a programwith research behind it.
You need proof that yourintervention is delivered
correctly with training logs.
I cannot emphasize that enough.
(04:43):
Well, did you implement itcorrectly?
Well, you know, it's not goingto cut it.
SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
Right.
I think it's important thatteachers and regulators, you
know, or anyone who's reallygoing to be implementing this
in, recognize that scientificevidence right there.
The dissectic brain isfundamentally different, that
it's thinking differently.
And that's kind of where itstarts with this.
SPEAKER_00 (05:03):
Yes.
I'll get to more details on howto implement this much better.
But number two, you must includemonitoring at regular intervals
using reliable measures.
A lot of times, teachers willtry to get away with
observation.
He's trying really hard.
It's not going to cut it.
You need to standardize scoresabout every four to six weeks to
(05:27):
show qualifiable growth.
Any questions on that one?
SPEAKER_01 (05:31):
That makes sense.
I would want to see that myself.
SPEAKER_00 (05:33):
The thing is, a lot of schools will try to get away
with maybe I'll do it once asemester, maybe twice a
semester.
No, really, the number I foundwhen I was researching this in
Texas, it's four to six weeks,is the recommended process, is
the recommended amount.
Number three, you must deliversignificant intensity and impact
to actually close the gap.
(05:56):
This is probably the one thatyou're going to be dealing with
most lawyers.
You must the school that mustdeliver sufficient intensity,
impact that actually closes thegap.
Note the word actually andcloses the gap.
The handbook doesn't just wantsome improvement, it expects
interventions with kids towardsgrade level performance, not
(06:20):
keeping them stuck in the samepercentile year after year.
It's not a money thing.
It's how to actually find theright program and to implement
it correctly.
All right.
So what I want to do now is Iwant to go in and I want to
explain precisely how we can dothat.
(06:42):
All right.
So first, based on the dyslecticbrain that I showed you before,
remember the back part.
Because here's what's going onthe school system is
fundamentally designed to makethese kids fail.
They're not doing it on purpose,but they're fundamentally doing
this to make them fail.
Why?
Because 80 plus percent of thestudent population is not
(07:03):
neurodiverse, which dyslexia isthe most severe for, generally.
Okay.
They're doing this because theback part of the brain that you
saw that massive neuroactivity,what they do is they found that
works really well, is they'llgo.
Do you remember in high schoolEnglish you did book after book
after book?
SPEAKER_01 (07:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:22):
Do you remember how you were taught generally from
the big picture to the specific?
SPEAKER_01 (07:27):
Sure.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:28):
Okay.
That is the exact wrong thing todo with the selections until
they get to grade level.
Let me be very clear.
Once you get a child to gradelevel, you can put them in with
their typical students and theywill be a little slower with
reading and writing, but theteachers can work with that.
But until they get them to gradelevel for reading and writing,
(07:51):
you can forget trying to teachthat way.
So let me give you an example.
What after I did my originalresearch, I'm presenting this to
New York City public schoolteachers.
They asked, Does this work fortypical students?
I said, Absolutely not.
It works for the elite, the mostmotivated, the most
intelligence.
They said, Well, come back afteryou know how to deal with normal
(08:12):
students, which took eightyears.
So what I did is I went back tothe overactive front part of the
brain and I switched it fromarticulation followed by word
analysis to word analysisfollowed by articulation.
Okay.
But I couldn't get the kids toactually do the work.
So then what I found is I had tofind out about their speciality,
(08:36):
their area of extreme interestand ability.
For example, the most requestedbook I have when I do this
personally is Walt Disney, TheTriumph of the American
Imagination.
It's a thousand pages designedfor high school juniors or
seniors, minimum.
And I will give that to a10-year-old.
Why?
Because the kids are soincredibly interested.
(08:59):
So for example, have you everbeen to a Disney park?
SPEAKER_01 (09:02):
I have, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:04):
You go into Main Street USA in Disneyland in
Disney World or Disneyland.
SPEAKER_01 (09:08):
Mathical.
SPEAKER_00 (09:09):
What's that?
Yeah, did you feel the Disneymagic?
SPEAKER_01 (09:13):
Totally.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Okay.
The kids want to know about theDisney magic.
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:18):
You walk in, and that's the Main Street USA.
Well, that's Marceline,Missouri.
That's where what was betweenfive and ten, he's tried to
spend the rest of his lifethere.
The kids want to knowdesperately what it is.
What and it's two universalthemes.
Why am I spending so much timeon this?
Because I will have a10-year-old reading the book
(09:39):
designed for 17-year-olds, eventhough she's reading at like
she's seven years old, you know,because she's at the second
grade level, and we will focuson that book until she can read
the book.
And that might take two years.
One book for two years.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:55):
All right.
Not a bunch of books, one bookin their area speciality.
This even works for ADD and ADHDkids.
One of the biggest complaintsyou're going to get is my
dyslectic kids will, the ADHDkids, I can't get them to
concentrate.
Get them in their specialty,they're hyper-focused.
So what you essentially need totell the school districts, and
(10:19):
they don't want to hear aboutthis, but you have to tell them
this.
I'm going back to the thirdstep, where you really have to
focus on making sure you'reimplementing something that
actually works.
So during the interventionperiod, we have them focused on
their speciality.
(10:40):
Next, during the interventionperiod, this is critically
important.
We don't teach from the generalto the specific.
So we don't teach what effectdid Martin Luther King have.
Famous speech, I have a dreamspeech have on the American
Civil Rights Movement in the1960s.
It's like grabbing fog.
Dyslectics can't deal with it.
But if we ask what personallycompelled Martin Luther King to
(11:03):
give his speech, you're going tofind you get the answer by
looking it up.
That answer gives you aquestion.
We answer that.
We keep doing that.
That forces the brain toorganize itself by using writing
as a measurable output.
SPEAKER_01 (11:16):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (11:17):
Okay.
Now, this is so critical.
Why does that work?
Because dyslectic fullprofessors of major research
universities tell me that's howthey learn, specific to the
general.
So if you ask a dyslectic intheir speciality, do you have
ideas flying around your head atlight speed?
Key question, but with little tono organization, they're going
to say yes.
(11:37):
So then what the best thing todo is to force the brain to
organize itself by using writingas a measurable output.
I've been teaching this in NewYork State, New Jersey for the
past 10 years.
How effective is it?
People kept asking me that.
So I'm writing a book now calledLiteracy and Reading Dyslexia
(11:59):
Turnaround.
It's about Kimberly.
I met her last December 27th in2024.
Her son Reed, she washomeschooled, the state of Ohio
just tested him.
He was at the beginning of thirdgrade reading and writing level.
He's a year and a half behind.
If he was in public school forthe rest of the school year, he
was supposed to increase by twoto two and a half points.
(12:21):
That didn't happen.
He increased by 20 points, overseven times faster.
His mom worked with him an hourand a half a week.
I worked for her a half an houra week.
At the end, he was scoring, hisreading and writing went from
the fourth to the 64thpercentile and the 11 to the
65th percentile.
(12:42):
Why is this important?
His friends wanted him in publicschool for social reasons.
If it was January, he would havebeen placed in special ed and
not be with him.
Unhappy kid.
Now he's in Gen Ed classes doingjust fine.
A mom did this.
So when I teach this processwith Evelyn Whitebed, she was
(13:03):
one of the few teachers on thedyslexia task force for New York
State.
We can go in and show elementaryschools how to do this in about
three hours.
To take them to for K throughhigh school, we can do it in
about six.
SPEAKER_01 (13:17):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:18):
That's it.
SPEAKER_01 (13:19):
That's my son.
I mean, you said you wereworking with the mom for 30
minutes and she was working withher son for you said an hour 30.
SPEAKER_00 (13:26):
An hour and a half a week.
Plus, that was her working withhim.
He had a lot of homework outsideof that.
SPEAKER_01 (13:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:32):
But that was it solved.
SPEAKER_01 (13:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:36):
Okay.
And that's a homeschooling momwho did not finish an
associate's degree, but shesuccessfully taught his four
brothers and sisters to readwell using conventional methods
because they're not dyslectic.
But that's, and this is, and thereason the data that I'm using
is not the data that she gave mefrom the end of the school year.
(13:56):
I waited until August because inAugust they start early in Ohio.
I had the data is from when heactually sat down in school.
Mom wasn't within miles of it.
And that's the results I'mgiving because I think it's just
a stronger data set.
SPEAKER_01 (14:12):
That's great.
SPEAKER_00 (14:13):
But yeah, so what I'm just saying is what I said
they actually want to seeresults.
The problem you're going to runinto is if a kid is dyslectic
and they're in kindergarten, forgoodness sakes, contact Yale.
How do we diagnose dyslexia inkindergarten?
They will tell you it's cheap.
(14:35):
Get it done.
And then they say, here are allthese federally funded programs.
You do this, the kid will be atgrade level by the end of third
grade or close to it.
What I can tell you is if yourclients don't do this, federal
judges in New York State havesaid, and I quote, gross
negligence.
Because once it's fourth grade,now they're in a$75,000 a year
(14:59):
Orton Gillingham private schoolfor four to five years.
And they force the school to payfor it and to pay the legal
fees.
That's the big one.
All right, these things can runa million bucks, no problem.
And it happens all the timebecause the school didn't bother
to spend 30 bucks or 40 bucks toget the kid tested in
(15:22):
kindergarten.
SPEAKER_01 (15:24):
Yeah.
Sounds like a whole lot ofheartache for both sides.
Could have been saved for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (15:30):
Yeah, very simply.
But if they wait and you're atfourth grade, my material really
is designed for fourth grade andabove.
I designed it that way becausethat's where the real need comes
in.
I'm not competing with Yale K3.
You just Google Yale andDyslexia and you'll find it.
But above that, the older thekid is, the quicker they pick up
my material, which is different.
(15:52):
And we said, I train, I trainmoms to do this.
SPEAKER_01 (15:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:56):
So right now in school districts, they get a
little offended that I come inand say, a parent did this and
she's teaching, she's gettingresults part-time, because
remember, they had the kid 30hours a week.
She's teaching this at seventimes faster than typical in
this example.
And I said, Well, if you teachit this way, you can uh I'm sure
(16:19):
you can get even faster results,but I'm this is nothing that I
created that's based on thecontinuous Orton research from
the 1950s.
This was created because Iovercame this personally, and
then I just hooked it up tocurrent research.
SPEAKER_01 (16:34):
Yeah.
That's great.
SPEAKER_00 (16:39):
So basically, if if you would like to know more
about how to implement this orhave any questions about it, the
best thing to do is go todyslexiaclasses.com.
Uh, that's within asdyslexiaclasses.com, and just
hit the contact me form and Ican get back to you right away
with answering any specificquestions that you may have.
SPEAKER_01 (16:58):
Well, that's awesome, Russell.
Thanks for that resource.
I do want to recap.
Let's review real quick thosethree major pain points when it
comes to that first one.
You said it's gotta be scienceand evidence-based, right?
SPEAKER_00 (17:15):
Yes.
Uh, and when you're looking atthat, the problem that people
have is they're really thinking,well, this was this pass
somewhere, was the and thenthey'll find the cheapest thing,
or because honestly, the thingsout there are really expensive.
(17:36):
This Orton Gillingham, thereason why it's and this is why
you can't, this is what just soyou people know what happened in
New York State.
We tried to implement this.
We can't afford it, even thoughwe spend more on per kid than
anybody in the country.
And number two, the teachersrebel because it's going to take
so long to learn.
Like literally, the teachers'unions went crazy on this.
(17:57):
We had our best come up with thereport in you know one year.
SPEAKER_01 (18:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:02):
Okay.
So if you want to know about it,it's the New York State Dyslexia
Task Force report.
And the other things that work,like Wilson Reading, I was on a
podcast with a former schooladministrator.
She said, I spent$100,000 withthem to teach 20 teachers over a
week.
And I'm like, Are you kiddingme?
It's just so expensive.
(18:22):
The schools just don't have thebudgets for it.
But you have to find that it'sevident-based.
Okay.
Number two, you must includeprogress monitoring, regular
intervals using reliablemeasurements.
And I actually spent quite a bitof time looking into this in
Texas.
And what I found is a lot oftimes people were trying to get
(18:45):
away with maybe we'll do it oncea semester, a couple times a
year.
You have to really do it.
The ones that are here that weredoing it what was perceived to
be correctly.
For a survey I did was aboutfour to six weeks.
They want to see some check onthat.
And it doesn't have to beelaborate.
There are ways that you can dothis so that it's relatively
(19:06):
quick, but it should be done ona monthly to every month and a
half, typically.
Okay.
And the big one, it must besufficiently intense.
So in New York State, what theywanted to do was to have the
kids who needed this to spend anextra 45 minutes a day until
(19:27):
they got caught up.
Okay, that was literally in thelegislation that they couldn't
pass because, you know, costissues, that was really pressing
it.
But you have to find somethingwhere the intensity and the
impact actually closes gaps.
So, regardless of where you gointo the country in the country,
but in Texas specifically, theydon't want to see the kids
(19:50):
saying they're behind, they'rebehind, they're behind.
Here's the problem you're goingto find with traditional
methods.
Let's take a randomnine-year-old.
I'm going to call him John.
John is two grade levels behind.
Not only is John supposed to belearning what he's learning now,
he has to make up those twoyears.
SPEAKER_01 (20:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:11):
And the older he gets, the longer this takes.
I think you can see the problemhere.
SPEAKER_01 (20:17):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (20:17):
That's why when, because this is where the this
is the problem that I find I'vebeen dealing with this for over
20 years.
And this is where people get introuble.
And this literally goes federal,where they say the intensity is
not there and certainly theimpact isn't there.
So with the process I designed,it's the it's it's to use the
(20:40):
quite frankly, the front part ofthe brain that's two and a half
times overactive, where thedyslexic has massive strength.
SPEAKER_01 (20:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:47):
At the back part of the brain, we got virtually
nothing going on.
The best thing that I recommendis the partnership between the
parents and the teachers.
And then literally, you canknock this out generally within
12 to 18 months and get the kidout.
And what does this meanfinancially?
A lot of the times across thecountry, you're spending about
(21:07):
double the amount to educate adyslexic kid.
Now imagine if you can get themout of special ed, not all the
way, but most of the way.
And you say five, 10, 15 grandper year per kid.
SPEAKER_01 (21:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
You do that when John's 10, but you got another
seven, eight years of school.
Saving 10 grand a year, fivegrand a year, times that by
thousands of kids, tens ofthousands of kids.
Totally.
You could tell your clients, howwould you like to have sports
back more?
How would you like to have musicback?
That's what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01 (21:41):
No kidding.
Yeah, absolutely.
I can see it.
That's great.
SPEAKER_00 (21:46):
And it's that simple.
If you use the part of thedyslexic brain, and I'm sorry,
yes, I am the only one thatactually does this because I did
that original research projectand I had to extend it from
there.
By doing that, you can have theintensity with something that
you can afford.
And here's the other thing thekid actually likes what they're
doing during the interventionperiod.
(22:07):
So let me give you an example.
With Reed, he did X-Men duringthe intervention period.
But then when he went to publicschool, he found out he has to
do a bunch of stuff that hedoesn't like to do.
His parents just said, You'redoing this, so did his teachers.
His biggest flare-up was mathclass.
He says, I don't like to writeduring math class because he's
(22:28):
slower at it.
Yeah, he can do it, but he'sslower.
So I told his parents and theteacher, just be a rock, be a
wall.
You're not budging.
And when a well-raised kid runsinto that, they go, Okay, I'll
do it, and then they're fine.
They like to test theirboundaries.
SPEAKER_01 (22:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
And besides that, he had one other problem.
He forgot to turn in his Google,his um memoir, his diary for
something to Google something orother.
He missed two, and so he got aC.
And then he figured that out,and now he's back up to the B
range.
That's all they want.
Once you get the kid into normalclasses and they pass the state
(23:07):
assessments, even if it's a D,if the state doesn't care.
Well, they would like better,but really they just want them
to pass.
SPEAKER_01 (23:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:16):
Okay.
And that's the key thing.
The intensity and the impacthave to be real.
And that's what's going tocapture you most of the time.
That's what happens to most ofthe federal cases that I keep
track of.
SPEAKER_01 (23:29):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Because it has legislatorsquestioning the whole thing.
That's the whole goal, right?
To really bridge the gap and getthese kids up to par and then
able to be successful in thefuture.
So can definitely see thatthat's probably the biggest one
for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (23:45):
Right.
And what this does is this willkeep you out of federal court.
SPEAKER_01 (23:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:50):
Okay.
And what and when I mean that,let me give you an example.
There was one case in theNorthern District of New York
State.
There was a very wealthy publicschool called the East Greenbush
Public School District.
They had 400 applicants perspot.
Okay.
And the teachers are in the top1%.
They were brilliant.
And a kid graduated with areading and writing skill of
(24:12):
early elementary school.
So they sued him in federalcourt.
They were asking the sun, themoon, and the stars, because
remember, he's now out of highschool.
Okay.
Very different when thathappens.
The head federal judge of thisdistrict voted him down twice.
And the Court of Appeals of theSecond Circuit overrode him
(24:34):
twice.
Okay.
This doesn't happen that often.
This judge was verycompassionate towards people
with disabilities, but the kidwanted way too much for being
out of high school.
He was overridden in part twice.
And the law firm didn't collecta dime for like, I don't know,
(24:55):
eight years or something.
That legal bill was about a halfa million.
Sure.
And the school had to pay it.
So the key thing here is andthey tried everything that they
could realistically afford.
These Orton Gillinghammulti-sensory approach that
(25:17):
you're going to hear aboutconstantly.
I'm going to give you a schoolto check out.
It's called the Windward Schoolin the Upper East Side.
Why am I pointing it out?
Because on their website theysay they have a 98% success rate
of taking kids in and thensending them back.
They're there for four to fiveyears at$75,000 a year, and the
(25:37):
teachers get paid crap.
SPEAKER_01 (25:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (25:40):
Because there's four to one to five to one.
Compared to public educationteachers, they're getting paid
minimum wage.
Because the student-to-teacherratio is so low.
Okay.
So even if the parents win, thatmeans they might be sending kids
to a private school that's outof state.
SPEAKER_01 (26:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (26:01):
All right.
So the one that people most useis the Gowel School, G O W dot
O-R-G.
It's 86K a year.
Why am I mentioning them?
Because they celebrate their100th anniversary next year.
All right.
But even if the parents can dothat, they don't like sending
their kids away to boardingschool.
So this is how you can keep themin the public school here.
(26:25):
I just gave you the basicprocess.
SPEAKER_01 (26:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
All right.
And it's not, and as I said, inthe training time for teachers,
Evelyn and I can come in andtrain your clients in about
three hours online.
And it's because the way thatwe've designed it, they already
know what to do.
We're just showing them in adifferent order.
Why should you listen to Evelyn?
She was three to four times moreeffective than the typical
special ed teacher, and she wasone of the three or four
(26:49):
teachers for the New York StateTask Force.
Specifically, the StateEducation Department chased her
down and did everything theycould to pressure her to get on.
SPEAKER_01 (26:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:00):
Any other questions I can answer for you?
SPEAKER_01 (27:02):
Where can we get in contact with you?
I think you mentioned it alittle bit earlier in the
episode, but I want to recapwhere could teachers go to learn
more about your research?
SPEAKER_00 (27:12):
Best thing to do is just go to dyslexiaclasses.com.
That's withinaskdyslexiaclasses.com.
There's a contact me form andjust fill that out and we'll get
right back to you.
We don't charge for the initialconsultation.
We're just there to answer yourquestions.
I've been really doing a lot ofpodcasting for the past several
months.
There's 40, we met on PodMatch.
(27:33):
There's about 4,800 podcastersas for guests.
I've been the number one inSeptember.
I've been the number one inOctober.
I advise from anything fromthings like this to wine tasting
to medical instructions forpatient sleeping.
It's a process I developed usingthe craft of research, context,
problem solution that applies tojust about everything.
(27:56):
So there's nothing really you'regoing to ask me that I'm not
going to be able to tell you.
SPEAKER_01 (28:00):
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
And I'll have that linked in ourepisode description below, too.
Thank you so much, Russell, forjoining me.
I think we've given Texasdistricts, teachers, educators a
really good comprehensive lookat how they can make sure that
they're staying in compliance.
And like you said, stay out offederal court because that's not
(28:20):
a place that anyone wants tofind themselves in.
SPEAKER_00 (28:23):
And especially if you have to pay the other side's
legal bills.
SPEAKER_01 (28:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:27):
And I'm saying I've seen those go from a couple
hundred grand to sometimes overa million.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
All right.
Well, thank you again.
SPEAKER_00 (28:35):
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (28:36):
And to our viewers, thank you so much for joining us
on this special episode of KnowYour Regulator.
Texas teachers, your work makesa difference, and understanding
laws like HB 3928 help ensurethat every student with dyslexia
gets the support that theydeserve.
For more conversations thatbridge policy and practice,
subscribe to Know Your Regulatorwherever you see us.
And until next time, stayinspired and continue engaging
(28:59):
with your regulatory agency.
Know Your Regulator, the podcastthat inspires you to engage.
This podcast is for educational purposes only, does
not constitute legal advice, anddoes not create an
attorney-client relationship.
If you need legal assistanceabout a legal problem, contact
an attorney.
SPEAKER_00 (00:36):
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (00:38):
Absolutely.
So, Russell, let's start withhow you got into dyslexia
research.
You're a New York Senate fundedresearcher.
Talk to us about that for asecond.
SPEAKER_00 (00:50):
Well, I was not supposed to do this.
This is the last thing in theworld I was supposed to be
doing.
I was supposed to be abureaucrat for the New York
State government.
But I signed up for the Assemblyinternship and I had a first
grade reading and writing level.
So they accommodated the heckout of me.
As a result, they submitted backto the State University of New
(01:11):
York Center at Buffalo,political science department.
They looked at theseaccommodations, which were
extraordinary, and therecommended grade of 3.
But they said they didn't likethe accommodations.
Even though literally the NewYork State government made
these, and they said, so here'syour 15 credits of F.
All right.
And it's still there 27 yearslater.
(01:33):
And the only person it's everhappened to.
So I said, I'm tired of thediscrimination.
So I asked my professors how Ican teach other dyslectics to
read and write.
And they said, go to law school.
So I audited a class withProfessor Warner, who was the
dyslectic contracts professor.
Second day of class, he calls onme.
And unlike the rest of thestudents, I argued with him for
(01:54):
15 minutes.
He raised his hand and said, Wecan't, we ran out of time.
You couldn't be any morecorrect.
Thank you.
I learned to read within amonth.
Writing took a couple of years.
And I went back to the New YorkState government.
I said, okay, I want the Senateto fund my research.
And that created a whole host ofthings I had to go through with
(02:14):
the State Education Department,everything else.
They eventually did it.
And what we did is we took abunch of highly motivated,
intelligent high school juniorsand seniors in a public school
and we increased their writingfrom the middle school level to
average eventering graduateschool students.
So I'm telling you all thisbecause of the laws we're going
(02:35):
to be discussing.
It has to be based on thescience.
This is the top book in myfield, Overcoming Dyslexia by
Sally Shea, what's real?
This is dyslexia.
Do you see how the back part ofyour brain has all this massive
neuroactivity and mine has nextto nothing?
Now, do you see how the frontpart of my brain is about two
(02:56):
and a half times overactive?
SPEAKER_01 (02:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (02:58):
Okay.
Now that two and a half timesoveractive is important because
that's how I'm going to tell youhow to comply with your rules in
your handbook.
According to Yale, that dealswith articulation followed by
word analysis.
I use the graduate records examanalytical writing assessments.
Do you see how analytical andarticulation are essentially the
same thing?
SPEAKER_01 (03:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:20):
That was the connection that allowed these
students to jump seven, eightgrade levels at a cost of New
York State of under$900.
They all went on to college,they all graduated for under
$900.
SPEAKER_01 (03:34):
Yeah, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (03:35):
Right.
But now, how now what I'm goingto do after I discuss the rules
with you, I'm going to tell youhow to implement things.
So basically, what we're kind ofrunning into is a problem here.
So today we're discussing HB329-28 in the 2024 dyslexia
(03:57):
handbook.
The problem is most schooldistricts treat this like a
compliance exercise.
They check boxes, fill out theforms, and they just hope they
don't get sued.
But the handbook actuallyrequires evidence-based
intervention.
So here's the three biggestthings that the schools run into
problems with.
(04:17):
Number one, it must beevidence-based with documented
fidelity of implementation.
Okay?
You're not just buying a programwith research behind it.
You need proof that yourintervention is delivered
correctly with training logs.
I cannot emphasize that enough.
(04:43):
Well, did you implement itcorrectly?
Well, you know, it's not goingto cut it.
SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
Right.
I think it's important thatteachers and regulators, you
know, or anyone who's reallygoing to be implementing this
in, recognize that scientificevidence right there.
The dissectic brain isfundamentally different, that
it's thinking differently.
And that's kind of where itstarts with this.
SPEAKER_00 (05:03):
Yes.
I'll get to more details on howto implement this much better.
But number two, you must includemonitoring at regular intervals
using reliable measures.
A lot of times, teachers willtry to get away with
observation.
He's trying really hard.
It's not going to cut it.
You need to standardize scoresabout every four to six weeks to
(05:27):
show qualifiable growth.
Any questions on that one?
SPEAKER_01 (05:31):
That makes sense.
I would want to see that myself.
SPEAKER_00 (05:33):
The thing is, a lot of schools will try to get away
with maybe I'll do it once asemester, maybe twice a
semester.
No, really, the number I foundwhen I was researching this in
Texas, it's four to six weeks,is the recommended process, is
the recommended amount.
Number three, you must deliversignificant intensity and impact
to actually close the gap.
(05:56):
This is probably the one thatyou're going to be dealing with
most lawyers.
You must the school that mustdeliver sufficient intensity,
impact that actually closes thegap.
Note the word actually andcloses the gap.
The handbook doesn't just wantsome improvement, it expects
interventions with kids towardsgrade level performance, not
(06:20):
keeping them stuck in the samepercentile year after year.
It's not a money thing.
It's how to actually find theright program and to implement
it correctly.
All right.
So what I want to do now is Iwant to go in and I want to
explain precisely how we can dothat.
(06:42):
All right.
So first, based on the dyslecticbrain that I showed you before,
remember the back part.
Because here's what's going onthe school system is
fundamentally designed to makethese kids fail.
They're not doing it on purpose,but they're fundamentally doing
this to make them fail.
Why?
Because 80 plus percent of thestudent population is not
(07:03):
neurodiverse, which dyslexia isthe most severe for, generally.
Okay.
They're doing this because theback part of the brain that you
saw that massive neuroactivity,what they do is they found that
works really well, is they'llgo.
Do you remember in high schoolEnglish you did book after book
after book?
SPEAKER_01 (07:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:22):
Do you remember how you were taught generally from
the big picture to the specific?
SPEAKER_01 (07:27):
Sure.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:28):
Okay.
That is the exact wrong thing todo with the selections until
they get to grade level.
Let me be very clear.
Once you get a child to gradelevel, you can put them in with
their typical students and theywill be a little slower with
reading and writing, but theteachers can work with that.
But until they get them to gradelevel for reading and writing,
(07:51):
you can forget trying to teachthat way.
So let me give you an example.
What after I did my originalresearch, I'm presenting this to
New York City public schoolteachers.
They asked, Does this work fortypical students?
I said, Absolutely not.
It works for the elite, the mostmotivated, the most
intelligence.
They said, Well, come back afteryou know how to deal with normal
(08:12):
students, which took eightyears.
So what I did is I went back tothe overactive front part of the
brain and I switched it fromarticulation followed by word
analysis to word analysisfollowed by articulation.
Okay.
But I couldn't get the kids toactually do the work.
So then what I found is I had tofind out about their speciality,
(08:36):
their area of extreme interestand ability.
For example, the most requestedbook I have when I do this
personally is Walt Disney, TheTriumph of the American
Imagination.
It's a thousand pages designedfor high school juniors or
seniors, minimum.
And I will give that to a10-year-old.
Why?
Because the kids are soincredibly interested.
(08:59):
So for example, have you everbeen to a Disney park?
SPEAKER_01 (09:02):
I have, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:04):
You go into Main Street USA in Disneyland in
Disney World or Disneyland.
SPEAKER_01 (09:08):
Mathical.
SPEAKER_00 (09:09):
What's that?
Yeah, did you feel the Disneymagic?
SPEAKER_01 (09:13):
Totally.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Okay.
The kids want to know about theDisney magic.
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:18):
You walk in, and that's the Main Street USA.
Well, that's Marceline,Missouri.
That's where what was betweenfive and ten, he's tried to
spend the rest of his lifethere.
The kids want to knowdesperately what it is.
What and it's two universalthemes.
Why am I spending so much timeon this?
Because I will have a10-year-old reading the book
(09:39):
designed for 17-year-olds, eventhough she's reading at like
she's seven years old, you know,because she's at the second
grade level, and we will focuson that book until she can read
the book.
And that might take two years.
One book for two years.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:55):
All right.
Not a bunch of books, one bookin their area speciality.
This even works for ADD and ADHDkids.
One of the biggest complaintsyou're going to get is my
dyslectic kids will, the ADHDkids, I can't get them to
concentrate.
Get them in their specialty,they're hyper-focused.
So what you essentially need totell the school districts, and
(10:19):
they don't want to hear aboutthis, but you have to tell them
this.
I'm going back to the thirdstep, where you really have to
focus on making sure you'reimplementing something that
actually works.
So during the interventionperiod, we have them focused on
their speciality.
(10:40):
Next, during the interventionperiod, this is critically
important.
We don't teach from the generalto the specific.
So we don't teach what effectdid Martin Luther King have.
Famous speech, I have a dreamspeech have on the American
Civil Rights Movement in the1960s.
It's like grabbing fog.
Dyslectics can't deal with it.
But if we ask what personallycompelled Martin Luther King to
(11:03):
give his speech, you're going tofind you get the answer by
looking it up.
That answer gives you aquestion.
We answer that.
We keep doing that.
That forces the brain toorganize itself by using writing
as a measurable output.
SPEAKER_01 (11:16):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (11:17):
Okay.
Now, this is so critical.
Why does that work?
Because dyslectic fullprofessors of major research
universities tell me that's howthey learn, specific to the
general.
So if you ask a dyslectic intheir speciality, do you have
ideas flying around your head atlight speed?
Key question, but with little tono organization, they're going
to say yes.
(11:37):
So then what the best thing todo is to force the brain to
organize itself by using writingas a measurable output.
I've been teaching this in NewYork State, New Jersey for the
past 10 years.
How effective is it?
People kept asking me that.
So I'm writing a book now calledLiteracy and Reading Dyslexia
(11:59):
Turnaround.
It's about Kimberly.
I met her last December 27th in2024.
Her son Reed, she washomeschooled, the state of Ohio
just tested him.
He was at the beginning of thirdgrade reading and writing level.
He's a year and a half behind.
If he was in public school forthe rest of the school year, he
was supposed to increase by twoto two and a half points.
(12:21):
That didn't happen.
He increased by 20 points, overseven times faster.
His mom worked with him an hourand a half a week.
I worked for her a half an houra week.
At the end, he was scoring, hisreading and writing went from
the fourth to the 64thpercentile and the 11 to the
65th percentile.
(12:42):
Why is this important?
His friends wanted him in publicschool for social reasons.
If it was January, he would havebeen placed in special ed and
not be with him.
Unhappy kid.
Now he's in Gen Ed classes doingjust fine.
A mom did this.
So when I teach this processwith Evelyn Whitebed, she was
(13:03):
one of the few teachers on thedyslexia task force for New York
State.
We can go in and show elementaryschools how to do this in about
three hours.
To take them to for K throughhigh school, we can do it in
about six.
SPEAKER_01 (13:17):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:18):
That's it.
SPEAKER_01 (13:19):
That's my son.
I mean, you said you wereworking with the mom for 30
minutes and she was working withher son for you said an hour 30.
SPEAKER_00 (13:26):
An hour and a half a week.
Plus, that was her working withhim.
He had a lot of homework outsideof that.
SPEAKER_01 (13:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:32):
But that was it solved.
SPEAKER_01 (13:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:36):
Okay.
And that's a homeschooling momwho did not finish an
associate's degree, but shesuccessfully taught his four
brothers and sisters to readwell using conventional methods
because they're not dyslectic.
But that's, and this is, and thereason the data that I'm using
is not the data that she gave mefrom the end of the school year.
(13:56):
I waited until August because inAugust they start early in Ohio.
I had the data is from when heactually sat down in school.
Mom wasn't within miles of it.
And that's the results I'mgiving because I think it's just
a stronger data set.
SPEAKER_01 (14:12):
That's great.
SPEAKER_00 (14:13):
But yeah, so what I'm just saying is what I said
they actually want to seeresults.
The problem you're going to runinto is if a kid is dyslectic
and they're in kindergarten, forgoodness sakes, contact Yale.
How do we diagnose dyslexia inkindergarten?
They will tell you it's cheap.
(14:35):
Get it done.
And then they say, here are allthese federally funded programs.
You do this, the kid will be atgrade level by the end of third
grade or close to it.
What I can tell you is if yourclients don't do this, federal
judges in New York State havesaid, and I quote, gross
negligence.
Because once it's fourth grade,now they're in a$75,000 a year
(14:59):
Orton Gillingham private schoolfor four to five years.
And they force the school to payfor it and to pay the legal
fees.
That's the big one.
All right, these things can runa million bucks, no problem.
And it happens all the timebecause the school didn't bother
to spend 30 bucks or 40 bucks toget the kid tested in
(15:22):
kindergarten.
SPEAKER_01 (15:24):
Yeah.
Sounds like a whole lot ofheartache for both sides.
Could have been saved for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (15:30):
Yeah, very simply.
But if they wait and you're atfourth grade, my material really
is designed for fourth grade andabove.
I designed it that way becausethat's where the real need comes
in.
I'm not competing with Yale K3.
You just Google Yale andDyslexia and you'll find it.
But above that, the older thekid is, the quicker they pick up
my material, which is different.
(15:52):
And we said, I train, I trainmoms to do this.
SPEAKER_01 (15:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:56):
So right now in school districts, they get a
little offended that I come inand say, a parent did this and
she's teaching, she's gettingresults part-time, because
remember, they had the kid 30hours a week.
She's teaching this at seventimes faster than typical in
this example.
And I said, Well, if you teachit this way, you can uh I'm sure
(16:19):
you can get even faster results,but I'm this is nothing that I
created that's based on thecontinuous Orton research from
the 1950s.
This was created because Iovercame this personally, and
then I just hooked it up tocurrent research.
SPEAKER_01 (16:34):
Yeah.
That's great.
SPEAKER_00 (16:39):
So basically, if if you would like to know more
about how to implement this orhave any questions about it, the
best thing to do is go todyslexiaclasses.com.
Uh, that's within asdyslexiaclasses.com, and just
hit the contact me form and Ican get back to you right away
with answering any specificquestions that you may have.
SPEAKER_01 (16:58):
Well, that's awesome, Russell.
Thanks for that resource.
I do want to recap.
Let's review real quick thosethree major pain points when it
comes to that first one.
You said it's gotta be scienceand evidence-based, right?
SPEAKER_00 (17:15):
Yes.
Uh, and when you're looking atthat, the problem that people
have is they're really thinking,well, this was this pass
somewhere, was the and thenthey'll find the cheapest thing,
or because honestly, the thingsout there are really expensive.
(17:36):
This Orton Gillingham, thereason why it's and this is why
you can't, this is what just soyou people know what happened in
New York State.
We tried to implement this.
We can't afford it, even thoughwe spend more on per kid than
anybody in the country.
And number two, the teachersrebel because it's going to take
so long to learn.
Like literally, the teachers'unions went crazy on this.
(17:57):
We had our best come up with thereport in you know one year.
SPEAKER_01 (18:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:02):
Okay.
So if you want to know about it,it's the New York State Dyslexia
Task Force report.
And the other things that work,like Wilson Reading, I was on a
podcast with a former schooladministrator.
She said, I spent$100,000 withthem to teach 20 teachers over a
week.
And I'm like, Are you kiddingme?
It's just so expensive.
(18:22):
The schools just don't have thebudgets for it.
But you have to find that it'sevident-based.
Okay.
Number two, you must includeprogress monitoring, regular
intervals using reliablemeasurements.
And I actually spent quite a bitof time looking into this in
Texas.
And what I found is a lot oftimes people were trying to get
(18:45):
away with maybe we'll do it oncea semester, a couple times a
year.
You have to really do it.
The ones that are here that weredoing it what was perceived to
be correctly.
For a survey I did was aboutfour to six weeks.
They want to see some check onthat.
And it doesn't have to beelaborate.
There are ways that you can dothis so that it's relatively
(19:06):
quick, but it should be done ona monthly to every month and a
half, typically.
Okay.
And the big one, it must besufficiently intense.
So in New York State, what theywanted to do was to have the
kids who needed this to spend anextra 45 minutes a day until
(19:27):
they got caught up.
Okay, that was literally in thelegislation that they couldn't
pass because, you know, costissues, that was really pressing
it.
But you have to find somethingwhere the intensity and the
impact actually closes gaps.
So, regardless of where you gointo the country in the country,
but in Texas specifically, theydon't want to see the kids
(19:50):
saying they're behind, they'rebehind, they're behind.
Here's the problem you're goingto find with traditional
methods.
Let's take a randomnine-year-old.
I'm going to call him John.
John is two grade levels behind.
Not only is John supposed to belearning what he's learning now,
he has to make up those twoyears.
SPEAKER_01 (20:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:11):
And the older he gets, the longer this takes.
I think you can see the problemhere.
SPEAKER_01 (20:17):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (20:17):
That's why when, because this is where the this
is the problem that I find I'vebeen dealing with this for over
20 years.
And this is where people get introuble.
And this literally goes federal,where they say the intensity is
not there and certainly theimpact isn't there.
So with the process I designed,it's the it's it's to use the
(20:40):
quite frankly, the front part ofthe brain that's two and a half
times overactive, where thedyslexic has massive strength.
SPEAKER_01 (20:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:47):
At the back part of the brain, we got virtually
nothing going on.
The best thing that I recommendis the partnership between the
parents and the teachers.
And then literally, you canknock this out generally within
12 to 18 months and get the kidout.
And what does this meanfinancially?
A lot of the times across thecountry, you're spending about
(21:07):
double the amount to educate adyslexic kid.
Now imagine if you can get themout of special ed, not all the
way, but most of the way.
And you say five, 10, 15 grandper year per kid.
SPEAKER_01 (21:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
You do that when John's 10, but you got another
seven, eight years of school.
Saving 10 grand a year, fivegrand a year, times that by
thousands of kids, tens ofthousands of kids.
Totally.
You could tell your clients, howwould you like to have sports
back more?
How would you like to have musicback?
That's what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01 (21:41):
No kidding.
Yeah, absolutely.
I can see it.
That's great.
SPEAKER_00 (21:46):
And it's that simple.
If you use the part of thedyslexic brain, and I'm sorry,
yes, I am the only one thatactually does this because I did
that original research projectand I had to extend it from
there.
By doing that, you can have theintensity with something that
you can afford.
And here's the other thing thekid actually likes what they're
doing during the interventionperiod.
(22:07):
So let me give you an example.
With Reed, he did X-Men duringthe intervention period.
But then when he went to publicschool, he found out he has to
do a bunch of stuff that hedoesn't like to do.
His parents just said, You'redoing this, so did his teachers.
His biggest flare-up was mathclass.
He says, I don't like to writeduring math class because he's
(22:28):
slower at it.
Yeah, he can do it, but he'sslower.
So I told his parents and theteacher, just be a rock, be a
wall.
You're not budging.
And when a well-raised kid runsinto that, they go, Okay, I'll
do it, and then they're fine.
They like to test theirboundaries.
SPEAKER_01 (22:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
And besides that, he had one other problem.
He forgot to turn in his Google,his um memoir, his diary for
something to Google something orother.
He missed two, and so he got aC.
And then he figured that out,and now he's back up to the B
range.
That's all they want.
Once you get the kid into normalclasses and they pass the state
(23:07):
assessments, even if it's a D,if the state doesn't care.
Well, they would like better,but really they just want them
to pass.
SPEAKER_01 (23:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:16):
Okay.
And that's the key thing.
The intensity and the impacthave to be real.
And that's what's going tocapture you most of the time.
That's what happens to most ofthe federal cases that I keep
track of.
SPEAKER_01 (23:29):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Because it has legislatorsquestioning the whole thing.
That's the whole goal, right?
To really bridge the gap and getthese kids up to par and then
able to be successful in thefuture.
So can definitely see thatthat's probably the biggest one
for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (23:45):
Right.
And what this does is this willkeep you out of federal court.
SPEAKER_01 (23:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:50):
Okay.
And what and when I mean that,let me give you an example.
There was one case in theNorthern District of New York
State.
There was a very wealthy publicschool called the East Greenbush
Public School District.
They had 400 applicants perspot.
Okay.
And the teachers are in the top1%.
They were brilliant.
And a kid graduated with areading and writing skill of
(24:12):
early elementary school.
So they sued him in federalcourt.
They were asking the sun, themoon, and the stars, because
remember, he's now out of highschool.
Okay.
Very different when thathappens.
The head federal judge of thisdistrict voted him down twice.
And the Court of Appeals of theSecond Circuit overrode him
(24:34):
twice.
Okay.
This doesn't happen that often.
This judge was verycompassionate towards people
with disabilities, but the kidwanted way too much for being
out of high school.
He was overridden in part twice.
And the law firm didn't collecta dime for like, I don't know,
(24:55):
eight years or something.
That legal bill was about a halfa million.
Sure.
And the school had to pay it.
So the key thing here is andthey tried everything that they
could realistically afford.
These Orton Gillinghammulti-sensory approach that
(25:17):
you're going to hear aboutconstantly.
I'm going to give you a schoolto check out.
It's called the Windward Schoolin the Upper East Side.
Why am I pointing it out?
Because on their website theysay they have a 98% success rate
of taking kids in and thensending them back.
They're there for four to fiveyears at$75,000 a year, and the
(25:37):
teachers get paid crap.
SPEAKER_01 (25:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (25:40):
Because there's four to one to five to one.
Compared to public educationteachers, they're getting paid
minimum wage.
Because the student-to-teacherratio is so low.
Okay.
So even if the parents win, thatmeans they might be sending kids
to a private school that's outof state.
SPEAKER_01 (26:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (26:01):
All right.
So the one that people most useis the Gowel School, G O W dot
O-R-G.
It's 86K a year.
Why am I mentioning them?
Because they celebrate their100th anniversary next year.
All right.
But even if the parents can dothat, they don't like sending
their kids away to boardingschool.
So this is how you can keep themin the public school here.
(26:25):
I just gave you the basicprocess.
SPEAKER_01 (26:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
All right.
And it's not, and as I said, inthe training time for teachers,
Evelyn and I can come in andtrain your clients in about
three hours online.
And it's because the way thatwe've designed it, they already
know what to do.
We're just showing them in adifferent order.
Why should you listen to Evelyn?
She was three to four times moreeffective than the typical
special ed teacher, and she wasone of the three or four
(26:49):
teachers for the New York StateTask Force.
Specifically, the StateEducation Department chased her
down and did everything theycould to pressure her to get on.
SPEAKER_01 (26:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:00):
Any other questions I can answer for you?
SPEAKER_01 (27:02):
Where can we get in contact with you?
I think you mentioned it alittle bit earlier in the
episode, but I want to recapwhere could teachers go to learn
more about your research?
SPEAKER_00 (27:12):
Best thing to do is just go to dyslexiaclasses.com.
That's withinaskdyslexiaclasses.com.
There's a contact me form andjust fill that out and we'll get
right back to you.
We don't charge for the initialconsultation.
We're just there to answer yourquestions.
I've been really doing a lot ofpodcasting for the past several
months.
There's 40, we met on PodMatch.
(27:33):
There's about 4,800 podcastersas for guests.
I've been the number one inSeptember.
I've been the number one inOctober.
I advise from anything fromthings like this to wine tasting
to medical instructions forpatient sleeping.
It's a process I developed usingthe craft of research, context,
problem solution that applies tojust about everything.
(27:56):
So there's nothing really you'regoing to ask me that I'm not
going to be able to tell you.
SPEAKER_01 (28:00):
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
And I'll have that linked in ourepisode description below, too.
Thank you so much, Russell, forjoining me.
I think we've given Texasdistricts, teachers, educators a
really good comprehensive lookat how they can make sure that
they're staying in compliance.
And like you said, stay out offederal court because that's not
(28:20):
a place that anyone wants tofind themselves in.
SPEAKER_00 (28:23):
And especially if you have to pay the other side's
legal bills.
SPEAKER_01 (28:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:27):
And I'm saying I've seen those go from a couple
hundred grand to sometimes overa million.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
All right.
Well, thank you again.
SPEAKER_00 (28:35):
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (28:36):
And to our viewers, thank you so much for joining us
on this special episode of KnowYour Regulator.
Texas teachers, your work makesa difference, and understanding
laws like HB 3928 help ensurethat every student with dyslexia
gets the support that theydeserve.
For more conversations thatbridge policy and practice,
subscribe to Know Your Regulatorwherever you see us.
And until next time, stayinspired and continue engaging
(28:59):
with your regulatory agency.
Know Your Regulator, the podcastthat inspires you to engage.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.