View Ridge parent Julie Gunter recently published a personal story in University of Washington’s Columns Magazine about helping her struggling daughter learn how to read through participation in a UW research study focused on better understanding how dyslexic brains learn. In addition to sharing her family’s own experience, the article describes the ongoing work of leading teachers and researchers in the field and raises awareness of some of the resources in our local community that can provide additional information and support to students with learning differences and their families.

“Remember, when you lie down, act like a statue,” I urged, yet again, as I helped my daughter wriggle into a set of child-sized scrubs. Hastily, I guided her head through the top’s V-neck opening and cinched the pants, aware that her session was just one of many brain scans scheduled for that day. “It’s not that different from your veterinarian’s outfit at home,” I added, “except for the dog-bone buttons.”

A few minutes later—guided by a member of the UW Brain Development and Research team—she was heading across the hall for her brain scan.

Over the next almost-hour, I flipped through magazines in the waiting room and let the magnitude of our daughter’s willingness to be here sink in. My daughter’s participation as a research subject in this study at the UW Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) could transform her life as a student impacted by dyslexia.

Read more at: https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/dyslexia/