You are not imagining it.

Dyslexia presents differently at different ages. These are common indicators, not a diagnosis. A child may show several and be developing typically; a child may show few and still need help.

Preschool and kindergarten. Difficulty recognising rhyme. Trouble learning letter names and sounds. Persistent difficulty retrieving familiar words.

Early elementary. Slow, effortful decoding. Guessing at words from the first letter or the picture. Spelling one word several ways in a single piece of writing. Reading noticeably below classmates despite obvious effort.

Later elementary and beyond. Avoiding reading aloud. Fatigue out of proportion to the amount read. Strong listening comprehension paired with weak reading comprehension.

That last pattern — a child who understands a great deal when read to but struggles alone on the page — is among the most telling and the most frequently missed.

Do we qualify?

Four criteria:

The child shows reading difficulties consistent with dyslexia or a related learning disability — documented through school records, an existing evaluation, or our own screening.

Household income falls within our guidelines for full or partial scholarship support.

The family lives in Kansas City, Blue Springs, Independence, or a surrounding community.

The child is not already receiving equivalent services through another scholarship or funding source.

[PLACEHOLDER] — published income guidelines and sliding-scale bands.

If you are unsure whether you qualify, apply anyway. Determining that is our job, not yours.

Common questions

Do we need a diagnosis first? No. If the barrier is that you cannot afford an evaluation, that is itself something we fund — see Evaluation Grants.

What will it cost us? Contributions are set on a sliding scale according to means, and full scholarships are available in cases of greatest hardship.

Will my child grow out of it? Dyslexia is a lifelong difference in how the brain processes written language; it does not resolve with maturity or extra practice alone. With the right instruction children learn to read capably, and the earlier it starts the less ground there is to recover.

Is this confidential? Yes. Applications are confidential, and information is shared with a provider only with your consent.