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The Road to Decode Community

The Road to Decode is the first widespread initiative to partner with libraries to create awareness of how we learn to read, reading issues like dyslexia, and ways to help all kids become skilled readers.

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The Road to Decode launched in 2019 for Dyslexia Awareness Month. It has since grown into an initiative to help provide equitable access to resources through libraries.

Our strategy is to educate librarians and library staff about how we learn to read and where the different resources fit. We hope you will learn about and consider setting up a collection of decodable books and literacy resources, so more families have access to resources that help all children learn to read. 

There are a few ways to learn more. You can contact us at info@teachmykidtoread.com and schedule a Webinar for your library system to learn more about early literacy skills and ways that librarians can help more families of early/emergent and struggling readers. We welcome speaking at state library conferences, especially to the youth services groups. You can take our short mini-course offered within this community-base. You can also use the book list and our community hub to start exploring on your own. You can also share our information with trustees, legislators, and other funders so that we can provide you with coaching and support to create a literacy hub in your public or school library.

Librarians and library staff are our first responders. Libraries are about equity. You are our natural partners to help all children learn to read and we look forward to getting to know you!

About The Road to Decode

Librarians can recommend resources and programming to help early and struggling readers develop good reading skills.

Teach My Kid to Read launched The Road to Decode with the aim of enlisting librarians and library staff to learn about, stock, and provide parents and caregivers with information and resources that help all children, especially early and struggling readers, learn to read. Teach My Kid to Read is the first organization to promote sound-aloud or decodable books, the lesser-known resources that help all children become skilled readers. Decoding is, essentially, the ability to sound out, pronounce, and read words. As part of our mission to help all children learn to read, we recommend decodable books, along with more “typical” books that build language skills, and enable children to develop both language comprehension and word recognition so they can become proficient readers.

Here are the objectives of The Road to Decode

  • Understand that there is a literacy crisis.
  • Create awareness of reading issues like dyslexia.
  • Understand the process of learning to read, and where the different resources fit.
  • Learn about the differences between phonics books, leveled readers, and decodable books.
  • Enhance library activities with strategies that support language skills and decoding skills.
  • Learn about how to create a collection of decodable books.
  • Initiate programming and outreach to help more families of early and striving readers.

Watch literacy expert, Faith Borkowsky explain decodable books: