Expert Dyslexia & Reading Support for Struggling Learners in Cheyenne, Wyoming
Here at Wyoming Speech and Literacy, we are here to offer reading support in Cheyenne, Wyoming for struggling readers and children and adults with dyslexia. If your child is struggling, don’t hesitate to call and we’ll get your child the help they need. Home-based, community-based and teletherapy options available.
Concerned about your child’s reading development?
We provide the best reading support Cheyenne, Wyoming has to offer. Get in touch and we’ll get your child the help they need.
Understanding Dyslexia: Beyond the Myths
Dyslexia is often misunderstood as a visual issue, but it is actually a language-based processing disorder.
The Core Issue: Most individuals with dyslexia have a “phonological deficit.” This means their brains have trouble perceiving, holding onto, and manipulating the individual sounds in words.
The “Mapping” Struggle: We learn to read through a process called orthographic mapping, where we glue the sounds of a word to the letters we see. While a strong reader “maps” a word after 2–3 exposures, a struggling reader may need 20–30 exposures to store that same word for instant retrieval.
Intelligence vs. Effort: Dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence—most individuals have average to above-average IQs. However, because the “filing system” for words is inefficient, reading remains slow and laborious.
The DLD Overlap: Many children diagnosed with dyslexia also have Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). While dyslexia is primarily a phonological-based disorder, DLD can affect vocabulary (semantics) and grammar (syntax). Since reading is built upon the brain’s existing language foundation, these combined challenges require specialized, targeted support that are best supported by speech language pathologists.
Help For Struggling Readers
If your child is struggling to read, the most important thing you can do is act quickly. While we want to believe schools will catch every child, the reality of large class sizes and limited resources means many students—especially those who are “too bright” to qualify for help—simply slip through the cracks.
The “Intelligence Trap” Ironically, a high IQ can actually be a barrier to getting help. Many bright children with dyslexia don’t meet the “cutoff” scores for special education services because they are smart enough to compensate, even while they are silently drowning.
The Truth About Interventions Not all reading programs are created equal. While programs based on the Orton-Gillingham approach (like Wilson, Barton, or FUNdations) are popular and often mandated by law, recent research suggests they are only minimally effective for many students.
To protect their future, you need the best “armor” available: accurate information. While we are here to support your child’s reading journey, your voice is the one that matters most in the halls of their school.
Don’t wait to act. You are your child’s best advocate, and information is your best weapon. Check out these resources to get informed and take control of your child’s literacy journey:
Why an SLP is the Architect of Reading Success
To understand why a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) is the most qualified professional to support reading, we have to reframe how we view literacy. Our brains are biologically wired for oral language, but we must “hijack” that same neural system to read and write. Reading is a different way of inputting language—through the eyes instead of the ears—and writing is expressing thoughts through a pen instead of the voice.
The Hidden Connection: Oral vs. Written Language
Oral language is the bedrock, but it is often deceptive. Most children, even those with underlying language disorders, can navigate basic conversations using simple vocabulary and sentence structures. Because of this, mild deficits often go unnoticed by parents and teachers.
However, written language is far more demanding. It requires sophisticated grammar, precise vocabulary, and a mastery of the “code” (phonology). If a child’s oral language foundation has even the smallest cracks, those cracks become gaping holes when they transition to the complex world of reading and writing. You cannot build a skyscraper on a foundation of sand; if the underlying language system isn’t robust, literacy skills will eventually crumble.
Why the SLP is the Ultimate Literacy Expert
While many see reading as a “school subject,” SLPs see it for what it truly is: the highest level of language processing. Here is why an SLP is uniquely equipped to support your reader:
Mastery of Phonology: SLPs are experts in the sound system of our language. Since reading is the process of mapping sounds to symbols, an SLP’s deep training in phonological and phonemic awareness is exactly what a struggling reader needs to “crack the code.”
The Language-Literacy Link: Research confirms that most children with reading difficulties displayed speech or language deficits earlier in life (Adlof & Hogan, 2018). SLPs are trained to identify these subtle “shadow” deficits in syntax, semantics, and morphology that tutors might miss.
Support for Complex Profiles: For children with executive functioning challenges, ADHD, Autism, or other learning disabilities, reading isn’t an isolated struggle—it’s part of a complex communication profile. An SLP is the only professional trained to treat the whole language system, integrating oral language, social communication, and literacy.
Don’t Just Address the Symptoms—Treat the Underlying Cause
If your child is struggling to read, an evaluation by a Speech-Language Pathologist isn’t just helpful—it is imperative. We don’t just look at whether a child can read a word; we look at the neurological and linguistic “why” behind the struggle. We get to the root cause to ensure your child’s success is built on solid rock.
Get in touch with Wyoming Speech and Literacy. We offer unparalleled reading and dyslexia support in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with teletherapy options available for those across the state. Let’s build a foundation that lasts.
Science of Reading Interventions
Popularity does NOT equal Effectiveness
Just because an intervention is famous doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for your child. Orton-Gillingham-based programs (like Wilson or Barton) are popular but the latest research suggests they are unnecessarily complex and often yield disappointing results. Leading researchers like David Kilpatrick and Tim Shanahan have openly challenged the “gold standard” status of these programs, noting that their complexity often gets in the way of actual progress. We must align our choices with science, not trends.
Here are some low cost or web-based interventions that consistently show real results for struggling readers:
Talking Fingers is a research-based computer program that has been shown in independent research to be highly effective to help young children read. It works on encoding (spelling) and decoding (reading). Kids also develop typing skills, but that is more of a side effect. It requires a keyboard and is not app-based, but I would still recommend over most educational apps. Dr. Jeanine Herron and her colleagues created this program to help kids read. There are programs for PreK, K-2, and grade 2-4. If your kid is struggling to read, you should purchase this program. It’s not a shiny curriculum created to make money more than anything else, and that’s a good thing.
Another effective, researcher created intervention is called Word Connections. This program is offered for free by its creator, Dr. Jessica Toste. It’s designed for older elementary students to help them develop automaticity with reading multisyllable words in context. I would recommend this intervention over any Orton-Gillingham based intervention for older elementary students. It’s easy to implement and effective.
The University of Florida created a program called UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute). This program has some pieces that I think could be better, but it does have a ton of free resources online that a parent could use to help their struggling reader, including free powerpoint lessons. I wish they used embedded mnemonic alphabet letters to teach letter names and sounds, and that the program did a better job of systematically teaching kids how to blend sounds. It also includes decodable books, and recent research on the use of these hasn’t been all that complimentary. I would say, use the program, read the decodable materials that come with it, but then practice reading real books too, where the patterns aren’t always predictable, because this teaches kids how to flexibly apply their phonics knowledge. But, the emerging research appears to be sound and it will likely benefit kids who fit the more classic dyslexia profile.
Sound Partners is another program that a parent could use to help their struggling reader that has some decent evidence associated with it. It’s a bit dry, but for kids who need more practice to map words into their brain for instant retrieval, it can be effective. I like that it doesn’t require the practitioner to be trained and can be implemented by anyone, including a parent or paraprofessional. We don’t have enough speech-language pathologists and reading interventionists to work with every child, so it’s important that quality interventions can be utilized by anyone.
Best Apps For Helping Young Children To Read
I’ve listed apps that I have personally found helpful for teaching young children to read. These apps can help young children get a jump start on reading, and if our kids are on technology, we may leverage it to our advantage. The following apps are either free, not cost prohibitive or have free computer versions and are legitimately helpful to teach reading skills. If you’re utilizing an app for learning, I highly recommend the guided access that comes on iPads to limit kids to the apps you’ve chosen.
Teach Your Monster To Read is a wonderful app that’s available for a modest fee (the computer version is free) that teaches phonics and phonemic awareness with lots of opportunities to practice connected text. I love this app!
Teach Your Monster Reading Is Fun extends upon the skills taught in Teach Your Monster To Read and gives lots of opportunities to practice reading connected text. This app is also available for a minimal fee but the computer version is also free.
Khan Academy Kids is a great free app for reading and language development in young children. They seem to have really put a lot of time and effort into this app. It’s engaging for young kids. I know we spent a lot of hours on this program in my home during Covid.
Duck Duck Moose Reading is an app from the Duck Duck Moose suite of apps that provides phonics and phonemic awareness practice. Khan Academy purchased Duck Duck Moose, and provides these apps for free.
Additional Reading: