I absolutely loved the Sold a Story podcast and it has echoed my beliefs as a Special Educator of 26 years. I was taught direct instruction in graduate school and have practiced since then with excellent results. While I enjoyed Emily Hanford’s reporting in Sold a Story, I was disappointed in the reporting on Hard to Read. Specifically, I am disappointed in her understanding of special education law and practices. For a child to qualify for special education services they must have a disability AND that disability needs to impact their ability to access the general education curriculum AND need specially designed instruction in order to make progress. While the family that was reported on had a diagnosis of dyslexia, the school looked into that child’s current level of performance and determined that they were earning A’s and B’s. The fact that the child is able to access the curriculum without specially designed instruction indicates that it is not a Specific Learning Disability. Therefore, the child is not a student that requires an IEP.

Thank you so much Emily for creating this podcast. It has been eye opening and reassuring that as a parent I’m not alone. Thank you for bringing light to this subject. I hope district leaders will listen, reflect, and begin to shift curriculum to an approach based on scientific research so that all children can be successful in their literacy journey.

Thank you Lauren Brown for sharing your and other Black students’ experiences at Mizzou. May it inspire us all do (much) better.

I love history so I love this podcast

Always enjoy listening to this one. The series on Japanese internment was especially riveting.

I’ve been loving the excellent documentaries about education, especially Emily Hanford’s pieces on reading, “Hard to Read” and “Hard Words.” Highly recommended!

Hard to Read Podcast...A must read for all teachers! We have to do better, be better. All students deserve the chance to be fluent readers! 😊