Three out of four fourth-graders with disabilities scored below basic reading proficiency in 2024. If your child has dyslexia and is struggling to read, they are not the exception. They are the center of a national crisis.

In 1988, researchers gave 7th and 8th graders a passage about baseball. The result stunned them: weak readers who knew the sport outperformed strong readers who didn't. Background knowledge mattered more than reading ability. Here's what that finding means for your ADHD or dyslexia family — and three things you can build at home starting tonight, with no curriculum and no tutoring.