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Dyslexia is a neurological language‐based learning disability. Several legislative bills related to dyslexia have recently been introduced in the United States so dyslexia can be understood and interventions in reading instruction can be provided. Studies have shown measurable improvements in the language areas of the brain's left hemisphere after reading interventions with students with dyslexia, and multisensory teaching strategies can be the difference between academic success and academic failure and frustration. Effective methods for working with students with dyslexia support an explicit, systematic, cumulative, and multisensory approach that integrates listening, speaking, reading, and writing and emphasizes phonology, orthography, syntax, morphology, semantics, and the organization of spoken and written discourse. The author shares what dyslexia is not, what it is, and how literacy teachers can support their students with dyslexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A university's literacy festival can promote reading and foster the idea that books make a difference, especially to undersupported students from Title I schools. A literacy festival featuring a variety of diverse authors presenting hands‐on workshops showcasing their literary craft can enable students from Title I schools to engage with the authors and can motivate students from diverse backgrounds to develop an excitement for reading. It can also motivate teachers and librarians to use literature that reflects their population to engage students in reading and can transform teacher candidates' understanding of students from diverse backgrounds. The authors describe how a university College of Education's literacy festival was implemented and explore how it provided an opportunity for children in low‐socioeconomic‐status communities to be exposed to books and authors of quality children's literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]