Narratives from Mothers of Children with Dyslexia

In today’s educational space, no student who struggles with reading should be denied a fair and equal education just because teachers are not trained to understand the implications of dyslexia. Failing to learn to read is not failing to learn. It merely means that the orthodox methods of whole-language reading instruction have not favored those students who need specific multisensory instruction.

In Narratives from Mothers of Children with Dyslexia: Our Stories for Educators, mothers share personal stories of pain in navigating educational spaces for the success of their sons and daughters who are dyslexic. Despite resistance from within the PreK–12 academy, these mothers have become warriors for education.

The narratives in this text are global ones, from Singapore, India, Kenya, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States, and are in local "dialect." The mothers use a variety of terms to describe their experiences, but the differences in language only prove that the language of experience is universal; we can understand everyone, even if they use different terms or names. We understand what they have learned through the challenges and struggles of serving as the backbone of their child’s education. We can easily translate that experience into the global, universal expression of a parent’s love for their child.

Shawn Anthony Robinson is a Senior Research Associate at Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a board member of the International Dyslexia Association. Robinson graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO) with a Bachelor’s of Science, a Master’s in Education from DePaul University, and a PhD in Language and Literacy from Cardinal Stritch University. He is a recipient of the 2017 Alumni Achievement Award/New Trier High School Alumni Hall of Honor.