What interventions actually work?
One family of instruction has the evidence behind it. It goes by the name structured literacy, and everything that works is a version of it.
Structured literacy teaches the structure of written English directly rather than expecting a student to infer it from exposure. That means sounds, letter to sound correspondences, syllable patterns, meaningful word parts, sentence structure and spelling rules, taught in a deliberate order where each step builds on the one before it.
Three properties do most of the work, and they are the three to hold a provider to.
- Explicit. Every concept is taught directly. Nothing important is left for the student to work out from context.
- Systematic and cumulative. Content follows a planned sequence, and earlier material keeps being practiced rather than being assumed.
- Multisensory. Seeing, hearing, saying and writing are combined so the sound to symbol link is built through more than one channel.
Add two more that are easy to overlook: instruction is diagnostic, meaning the therapist adjusts based on what the student did in the last session, and it includes enough practice that skills become automatic rather than merely understood.
How can I tell if my child’s program is evidence based?
This is the question that separates families who get results from families who spend two years being reassured. It is answerable in about four questions.
- What is the program called? A specific name is checkable. Dyslexia support, reading intervention and small group help are categories, not programs, and none of them tell you what happens in the room.
- Is it explicit, systematic, cumulative and multisensory? Ask for an example of the scope and sequence. A structured program has one written down.
- What research supports it? Ask what evidence exists for the program itself, not for structured literacy in general.
- How is fidelity maintained? A good program is delivered as designed. Ask who observes the sessions and how often.
Not every service labeled dyslexia support is the same thing. General reading help, homework support and specialized dyslexia intervention are three different products at three different prices, and the labels do not reliably distinguish them. The questions above do.
What qualifications should I look for?
Training in the specific approach matters more than a general teaching certificate. A classroom teacher can be excellent and still have had only a few hours of coursework on dyslexia in their entire preparation.
The most heavily trained providers in this field are Certified Academic Language Therapists. The CALT credential requires a sequence of graduate level coursework in multisensory structured language education combined with hundreds of hours of supervised clinical teaching, followed by a national certification exam. That level of preparation is why a CALT is uniquely equipped to deliver intensive, individualized dyslexia intervention.
Texas also licenses dyslexia providers through the state. A Licensed Dyslexia Practitioner and a Licensed Dyslexia Therapist are state credentials with defined training requirements, and a Licensed Dyslexia Therapist works with the more significant cases.
None of this means only a CALT can help your child. It means that when you are choosing between providers, asking what training they completed and how many supervised hours it involved will tell you more than any brochure.
Academic Language Therapy explains each credential in detail, including what CALT, CALT-QI, LDP and LDT actually stand for.
How do I know if my child is making meaningful progress?
Meaningful progress is measured, not felt. A provider who is doing this properly will give you numbers, on a schedule, in areas that matter.
| What to track | What good looks like |
|---|---|
| Nonsense word reading | Rising, because it shows decoding itself is improving rather than sight vocabulary growing |
| Oral reading fluency | Words correct per minute climbing steadily on grade appropriate text |
| Spelling accuracy | Improving on the specific patterns that have been taught |
| Error type | Errors becoming more logical, which shows rules are being applied |
| Willingness | Less resistance to reading. This one is subjective and it is not unimportant |
Ask for progress data every four to six weeks. If three months pass with no measurable change in decoding, something needs to change: the program, the frequency, the group size, or the provider. Waiting longer than a semester for a plan that is not moving is the most common way families lose a year.
How often should intervention occur, and what signs indicate it is working?
Frequency is one of the strongest predictors of progress, and it is the variable most often quietly reduced when a school is short staffed.
- Intervention delivered most days of the week, rather than once or twice.
- Sessions of meaningful length, typically forty five to sixty minutes.
- Small groups or one to one. A group of eight is a reading class, not intervention.
- Continuity across the year, and across summer where possible.
- Measured in months and years, not in a six week block.
The signs it is working show up in a predictable order, and the order is worth knowing so you do not panic in month two. Decoding accuracy improves first. Fluency follows, more slowly. Spelling is usually last and is the most stubborn. Confidence often moves before the test scores do, and a child who stops fighting about reading is giving you real information.
Families need more than awareness that dyslexia exists. They need guidance on what quality support looks like and how to advocate for it.
Key School and Training Center, Fort WorthFind help covers how to locate a qualified provider near you, and what to ask before you commit.
Where this information comes from
This page draws on the organizations below alongside the clinical experience of the therapists who teach at Key School. Where the sources disagree, or where a policy is still changing, we say so in the text instead of picking an answer for you.
- Structured Literacy: An Introductory Guide International Dyslexia Association
- Reading research and intervention effectiveness Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
- Joint Statement: Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Vision, on treatments without evidence American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Ophthalmology and American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus
- Evidence standards for reading programs National Center on Improving Literacy
