Reading is a skill that many of us take for granted, but for millions of children and adults, it can be a daily struggle.

Dyslexia is one of the most common learning differences, potentially affecting up to one in five people, yet it's still widely misunderstood and misdiagnosed.

Today we're going to talk to a psychologist who studies dyslexia and reading

difficulties about the state of dyslexia science. What causes dyslexia? How is it diagnosed? And how

early can we identify it? What interventions work best to help people with dyslexia learn how to read?

How to reading difficulties affect

mental health, and what does the research say about how families, educators, and schools

can best support struggling readers?

Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that

examines the links between psychological science and everyday life.

I'm Kim Mills.

My guest today is Dr. Tim O'Dagard, a professor of psychology and the Catherine Davis-Murphy

Chair of Excellence in Dyslexic Studies

at Middle Tennessee State University. As a developmental cognitive psychologist, Dr. Odegaard

studies how to identify struggling readers, what are the most effective intervention methods,

and how can teachers help dyslexic students. He has written dozens of peer-reviewed

articles and serves as editor-in-chief of the journal Analysts of Dyslexia. Dr. Odegaard also brings

personal experience to this topic, having been diagnosed with dyslexia himself. Dr. Odegaard, thank you

for joining me today. Thanks, Kim. I'm really glad to be here today with you.

You've written and spoken about your own experience with dyslexia, and I'd like to start there.

Tell us what it was like learning to read for you and how do those early experiences influence the work you're doing today?

Well, learning to read for me was extremely difficult. And it's also

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