Katie Megrian hosts Michelle Henderson, a literacy and dyslexia specialist and creator of the Parent Blueprint, to discuss how reading develops and how parents can advocate for struggling readers. Michelle shares that her son’s reading struggles led her to study the science of reading and focus on equipping parents, noting many children fall through cracks due to gaps in training, not lack of care. They explain why “just read more at home” is insufficient, contrasting structured literacy (explicit, systematic, evidence-based) with balanced literacy, and connect NAEP results to the need for better instruction. Michelle outlines early dyslexia signs, stresses early action, and describes her $47 Parent Blueprint course and free parent-teacher conference guide at michellehendersonliteracy.com. They address older students whose grades mask deficits, the value of OG-style individualized intervention, graphic novels and movies for access and motivation, continuing read-alouds, and supporting children’s self-esteem and self-advocacy.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:30 Meet Michelle Henderson

01:15 Why Advocacy Matters

03:13 Reading Symphony Analogy

04:43 Read Aloud Is Not Enough

07:46 Basics of Reading Skills

08:52 Structured Literacy Training

10:09 Balanced Literacy Debate

14:08 Why Dyslexia Name Matters

19:19 Kindergarten Wake Up Call

24:34 Early Signs of Dyslexia

27:17 Parent Blueprint Course

29:20 Tools Modules And PDFs

32:16 Pricing Giveaway And Free Guide

33:40 Teen Dyslexia Hidden Struggles

37:43 Orton Gillingham For Older Readers

43:20 Movies Graphic Novels And Joy

46:51 Read Alouds And Audio Access

49:55 Handling Discouragement And Hope

51:29 Final Thanks And Podcast Outro

Michelle's Website

Michelle's course

Linda Farrell and Michael Hunter are founding partners at Readsters in Alexandria, VA. They work in schools all over the country to help educators provide assessment and instruction that ensures all students learn to read.

Teachers tell Linda and Michael that they appreciate the practicality of their consulting and their presentations. The reason they can provide practical solutions for helping struggling readers is that they have taught struggling readers from ages 4½ to 81 to read. They also learn from the hundreds of teachers they have worked with in the classroom who work their magic every day with students.

Linda and Michael have presented workshops about effective instruction for beginning and struggling readers for more than 20 years. They participated in reviewing required early reading courses in all colleges and universities in two states. They have coauthored curricula for struggling readers and diagnostic assessments to pinpoint decoding difficulties. Linda is the instructor in Looking at Reading Interventions on the Reading Rockets website. Michael is featured in videos used to demonstrate effective teaching techniques in LETRS modules.

Episode Summary

Katie sits down with two titans of literacy intervention — Michael Hunter and Linda Farrell — whose unconventional paths from investment banking and concrete construction led them to become nationally recognized reading specialists. Together, they unpack the most common reasons children struggle to read, how to identify exactly where a student is stuck, and the powerful (and often overlooked) practice strategies that make the difference between a child who can read and a child who reads fluently and automatically.

https://www.readsters.com/

https://www.decodingdyslexia.net/

🎧 Episode Summary

In this episode of the Reading Symphony Podcast, I sit down with early childhood educator Salley King Edwards, whose 25+ year career spans classrooms, coaching, and national literacy work through Cox Campus.

We explore how language, knowledge, and everyday interactions lay the foundation for reading long before formal instruction begins.

Salley shares her personal journey as both an educator and a parent navigating reading challenges, including the early signs she noticed, what she missed, and what she wishes more families understood.

This conversation is both deeply practical and incredibly reassuring: reading development doesn’t start in kindergarten—it starts from birth. And there is so much families can do, in simple and meaningful ways, to support it.

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Cox Campus (free courses for families and educators)
• Brilliance of Babies (Salley’s book series and resources)
• "How Knowledge Helps" (Willingham)

In this special live episode of The Reading Symphony Podcast, Katie sits down with colleague and friend Kindred Obas for a conversation about joyful reading culture, complex texts, identity, and the kinds of classroom experiences that help children see themselves as readers.

Together, Katie and Kindred discuss:

• how to build a classroom culture where reading feels joyful, social, and meaningful
• why classroom libraries should include both mirrors and windows
• what Kindred learned from watching students move from books like Dog Man to much more complex texts over time
• how her sixth grade Jane Austen book club is helping students grow as readers, thinkers, and community members
• why exposure to complex text, paired with support and belonging, can strengthen comprehension and confidence
• how families can talk with children about harder histories with honesty, empathy, and care
• why it matters to offer books about children of color that are not only rooted in struggle, but also in joy, curiosity, and possibility
• Kindred’s next chapter at Stanford, where she will study curriculum, teaching, race, language, and healing-centered approaches to teaching hard history

This episode is a beautiful reminder that reading growth is not just about skill. It is also about identity, access, belonging, and the communities we build around books.

Katie Megrian | 10:15 AM (0 minutes ago) | | to me

Fundraiser by Kindred Obas : Fund Our Journey to Jane Austen's England https://www.gofundme.com/f/fund-our-journey-to-jane-austens-england https://www.gofundme.com/f/fund-our-journey-to-jane-austens-england?attribution_id=sl:e9fcfcf6-52f6-4666-8406-5c5cc968e35a&lang=en_US&ts=1773612248&utm_campaign=man_sharesheet_dash&utm_content=amp17_tb-amp20_t2&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

Books and Texts Kindred Discusses

• Kindred by Octavia Butler
• Emma by Jane Austen
• A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
• One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
• Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty
• The Youngest Marcher by Cynthia Levinson and Vanessa Brantley-Newton
• Love Is by Diane Adams
• The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Breakfast Club Adventures series by Marcus Rashford
• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
• Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee
• Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time by Lisa Yee

In this episode of The Reading Symphony Podcast, Katie sits down with national literacy consultant John Bennetts to discuss what reading development actually looks like in real classrooms and real families.

John shares how an unexpected start in education led him to work alongside renowned literacy expert Linda Farrell early in his career, shaping his approach to evidence-based reading instruction.

Together, Katie and John explore a question many parents quietly carry:
How do we know if a child is progressing normally in reading?

Their conversation unpacks the difference between healthy developmental variation and signs that a child may need additional support. They also discuss how screening data should be used by schools, how parents can ask better follow-up questions, and why strong literacy systems depend on coherence across instruction and intervention.

The episode also highlights the powerful early literacy work of Reach Out and Read, a national program that partners with pediatricians to help families build read-aloud routines from birth.

Whether you're a parent trying to understand reading benchmarks or an educator working to build stronger systems, this conversation offers clarity, compassion, and practical guidance.

• Reach Out and Read
• Research on phases of reading development (Linnea Ehri)
• Stephanie Stollar’s work on MTSS

Episode Summary

In this episode, Katie sits down with literacy advocate and author Elise Lovejoy, creator of Express Readers and founder of The Teacher’s Table. Elise shares her journey into the science of reading, explains the critical difference between leveled readers and decodable books, and offers practical guidance for parents supporting early readers at home. She also discusses the importance of research-aligned instruction in schools and how The Teacher’s Table is helping teachers access credible, evidence-based resources.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• How Elise began writing decodable books to make early reading both effective and joyful
• The difference between leveled readers and decodable texts — and why it matters
• Why guessing words from pictures can undermine long-term reading development
• What makes a strong decodable book
• A simple, low-stress routine parents can use when decodables come home
• The importance of repeated practice and building automaticity
• How parents can advocate for science-aligned reading instruction
• Signs that a school is moving toward (or away from) evidence-based literacy practices
• Why ongoing teacher professional learning is essential
• The mission behind The Teacher’s Table and how it supports teachers with research-backed resources

Key Takeaways for Parents

• Decodable books align directly with the phonics skills children have been taught.
• It’s okay to help with tricky words — reading practice should feel supportive, not stressful.
• Re-reading builds fluency and confidence.
• Asking thoughtful questions is one of the most powerful advocacy tools parents have.
• Supporting teachers ultimately supports all children.

Resources Mentioned

• Express Readers – Decodable book series
  👉 expressreaders.org
• The Teacher’s Table – Research-aligned literacy membership for educators
  👉 theteacherstable.org
• To set up a gift subscription to The Teacher’s Table, email contact@theteacherstable.org!
  
  
  

Katie Megrian speaks with education policy expert Chad Aldeman, founder of Aldeman Education LLC and creator of ReadNotGuess.com, about early reading development, intervention, and broader K–12 trends.

Chad shares that his son’s kindergarten experience during COVID revealed that his son had not been taught to decode and was guessing words. That realization led him to create Read Not Guess, a free, sequential, parent-facing resource with Levels 1–3, a “daily-ish decodable” program, and an optional app to support sound practice at home.

They discuss declines in national achievement that began around 2013–2015, with the largest drops among lower-performing students. Chad explores possible contributors, including shifts in accountability policy, increased screen time, declining independent reading, and reduced emphasis on foundational skills. The conversation also highlights systems such as Mississippi, Louisiana, DoDEA schools, and England that have emphasized phonics and knowledge-rich instruction.

Chad explains why rising per-pupil spending has not translated into comparable teacher salary growth, citing increased benefit costs and staffing shifts, and discusses alternative staffing and compensation models.

The episode closes with guidance for families: look for high standards paired with high support, seek objective indicators of progress, and do not wait to intervene when a child is struggling.

Resources:
ReadNotGuess.com
chadaldeman.com

https://www.chadaldeman.com/p/do-not-wait

https://www.the74million.org/article/these-schools-are-beating-the-odds-in-teaching-kids-to-read/

Episode Summary

In this episode, Katie talks with Dr. Marnie Ginsberg about what helps kids learn to read and why so many teachers were never given the tools to fix word-reading problems. Dr. Ginsberg shares the story that launched her career: sixth-grade students reading years below grade level and a breakthrough approach that helped them make dramatic gains in a single spring.

Together they unpack the research-to-practice gap (and why effective interventions still “sit on a shelf”), and then get very practical: Marnie explains how Reading Simplified teaches phonics without over-relying on rules, using the brain’s pattern detection (statistical learning) plus carefully designed contrast (sit/sat, mat/map/mop) to accelerate decoding.

You’ll also hear a clear explanation of phonemic awareness vs. phonics, why separating them often creates inefficiency, and how Marnie integrates them through simple routines like Build It and Switch It—activities that feel like games but powerfully build the alphabetic principle.

Finally, Marnie and Katie talk state curriculum lists, why implementation details matter, and what parents can advocate for during literacy reform—plus Marnie’s direct call to limit screens and protect attention.

Key Takeaways

• Many struggling readers don’t need “more exposure”—they need explicit instruction that helps them attend to the inside parts of words.
• The research-to-practice gap isn’t only about evidence. It’s also about incentives, funding streams, and the skillset of dissemination.
• “Good phonics” doesn’t have to mean a heavy diet of rules. Pattern-based learning can be explicit and still leverage kids’ natural ability to detect patterns.
• Keeping kids in “short-vowel land” too long can starve them of the data they need to reach reading “escape velocity.”
• Integrating phonemic awareness and phonics—rather than teaching them in separate lanes—can unlock the alphabetic principle faster.
• Parents should push for early identification and support (including dyslexia screening and services) and for true expertise in curriculum decision-making.
• Reading grows in a home environment that protects attention: limit screens, read aloud longer than you think, and listen to kids read longer than you think.

Topics We Cover

• Marnie’s path from sixth-grade teacher → tutor → researcher → founder of Reading Simplified
• Why whole language/balanced literacy didn’t solve decoding struggles
• What TRI is and how it connects to Reading Simplified
• The “17-year research-to-practice gap” and why it persists
• Linguistic phonics / speech-to-print and organizing the code by sound
• Statistical learning, contrast, and “set for variability” (without turning into guessing)
• Why context is part of reading—but print must be primary for beginners
• Phonemic awareness vs phonics: what they are, why both matter

Try This at Home / In the Classroom

Switch It (5 minutes, feels like a game):
Use letter tiles/cards to build a simple word (mop). Then “switch” one sound at a time to make a new word (mop → map → sap → sip). The magic is in the contrast and the attention to each sound position.

Free resources and demo videos: readingsimplified.com/switch-it

Connect with Dr. Marnie Ginsberg

Website: ReadingSimplified.com
Free Switch It resources: ReadingSimplified.com/switch-it
Instagram: @readingsimplified

Connect with Katie / The Reading Symphony

Substack: katiemegrian.substack.com
Instagram: @thereadingsymphony