Speaking With Confidence

Empowering Dyslexic Learners: Proven Methods for Rapid Reading and Writing Growth with Russel Van Brocklen

• Tim Newman • Season 1 • Episode 104

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What if there was a proven way to help kids with dyslexia leap multiple grade levels in reading and writing—using strategies most schools never teach? On this episode of Speaking with Confidence, I dig deep into this question and reveal practical answers with the help of a truly inspiring guest.

Today, we’re diving headfirst into the realities of dyslexia—a condition that affects as many as 15 to 20% of learners, yet is still too often met with “let’s wait and see” in schools and by professionals. I have a personal connection to this topic, both as an educator and as someone with ADHD who faced my own hurdles in the traditional education system.

Joining me for this conversation is Russel Van Brocklen, known as the “dyslexia professor.” Russel Van Brocklen didn’t just study dyslexia—he lived it, spending his early years reading and writing at a first-grade level, even into college, before finally learning to read fluently in law school. He’s devoted decades to translating structured literacy research into practical, bite-sized strategies families can use at home. His story, and the successes he’s helped engineer for countless kids, provide a roadmap out of what can feel like an endless educational maze.

We explored Russel’s personal journey—from academic struggle and institutional roadblocks to academic success and expert status. We talk about the specific-to-general approach that flips how most of us were taught, and why it’s the leverage point for learners with dyslexia, ADHD, and other neurodiverse backgrounds. Russel shares real-life case studies, like Casey, a highly motivated fifth-grader who jumped eight grade levels in reading in just six months by leveraging her passion for Theodore Roosevelt.

Here’s what you’ll take away from this conversation:

  • The unique brain-based challenges and strengths of learners with dyslexia and ADHD
  • Why most accommodations don’t go far enough—and what actually works
  • How to use a student’s “speciality” or passion as the engine for dramatic growth in reading and writing
  • The “specific to general” teaching method and why it works where traditional methods fail
  • Simple, research-backed home strategies that parents can use tonight
  • The critical role of writing in organizing thoughts and boosting reading levels
  • Why early intervention is key—and how to advocate for your child in a system that may be resistant to change
  • How the right support can transform not just academic skills, but confidence and mental health
  • Free and affordable resources for families (like dyslexiaclasses.com) and how to access expert help

You’ll also hear about Russel Van Brocklen’s experience working within state governments, pushing for policy change, and training both teachers and parents to make a measurable impact—sometimes in as little as just three hours of training!

By the end of this episode, you’ll have concrete steps for helping the neurodiverse students in your life succeed, and a new understanding of just how much potential every struggling reader really has. If you’ve ever felt like the system is stacked against kids who learn differently, this conversation will give you hope, strategies, and a path forward.

To dig deeper, get your free guide, or connect directly with Russel Van Brocklen,

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Tim Newman:

Welcome back to Speaking with Conference. Podcast that helps you build the top skills that lead to real results. Communication, storytelling, public speaking, and showing up with confidence in every conversation that counts. I'm Tim Newman, a recovering college professor turn communication coach, and I'm thrilled to guide you on your journey to becoming a powerful communicator. Today's guest is Russell Van Brocklin. Dyslexia touches as many as 15 to 20 percent of all learners, yet most families still here. Let's wait and see. Russell flips that script. As the dyslexia professor, he translates structured literacy literacy methods proven most effective for struggling readers into bite-sized actions parents can use tonight. Russell, welcome to the show. I think this is going to be one of the one of the most informative conversations I've had in a long, long time.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Thanks for having me.

Tim Newman:

You know, you deal with dys dyslexia, and it's a it's a and as the stat says, it's a it's a common um issue, but we always just kind of brush it under the under the table, push it off to the side, don't worry about it. They'll figure it out. You know, I and I've got some family members who are dyslexic, and we're getting better at it, but if you look back to where we started um you know when we were younger, I mean, heck, you you said you went through college reading and writing at a first grade level before learning to even read fluently when you went to law school.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Right. So so everybody knows my background. Um, I was never I was supposed to be a bureaucrat in the state government, New York State. I was not supposed to be doing this. This is the last thing I was supposed to do. So what happened to me is I just went to college when I wasn't supposed to. Um, I was in AP English, I'm sorry, sorry, AP American history, AP European history in high school. I really, I really did well in history. I I just remembered everything the teacher said. I couldn't take notes. So I get near the end of college and I want to know how laws are made, not some idea I wanted to know. So I signed up for the New York State Assembly Internship Committee. Internship got accepted. I show up and I said, I have a first grade reading and writing level. Now, as an actual college professor, what are the chances of somebody do passing your class with a first grade reading and writing level?

Tim Newman:

Zero.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Zero, yeah, zero. So they said, This this is not going to work. Right. So then they went, they they went up to the speaker's place and they said, We we have to make this work. They got a committee together. Remember, this is the New York State legislature, okay? Not some private company. This is the heart of the state government. And they put me in, they said, okay, we're going to pull you out of the legislative office building. We're going to send you to the program and council's office in the Capitol. I'm the I'm completely segregated. They're concerned, and I said, Thank you, because they didn't know what to do with an undergrad intern. They've been dealing with grad students for 30 years, which was a real internship. They had three administrative assistants who could take my slop and turn it into things I could turn in. Okay, fine. For the academic portion, I had to do a major research paper. All right. As a professor, what do you think of this accommodation for somebody who can't write? A multi-hour long grilling session with hours-long Q ⁇ A, the whole thing took like over three hours instead of a big research paper.

Tim Newman:

Well, it it's it's workable, but if you can't read, I mean, how are you still how are you gonna still do the research, right? How are you gonna be able to take that information and condense it and understand it and put it back at a high level that they're looking for?

Russel Van Brocklen:

That that's because I've been doing it for years in college. Uh there are ways that I found to spike my reading level temporarily and painfully. But if I but but as accommodation for somebody who can't write, you are sitting down and listening to an hour-long presentation, and then you're grilling the student for a couple of hours. Complete hard question. Does does that sound like a fair trade-off? Because none of the other students wanted to deal with it.

Tim Newman:

Yeah, I could yeah, I I could I could do with that. I mean, I it it would require heck, it would require me who's got ADHD to actually pay attention.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Right. But right. So that's yeah, so so the professor said, yeah, I can we can do that. At the end, they recommended 15 credits of A- Okay.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

So now this goes back to the political science department at the State University of New York at Buffalo. These were accommodations created by at the heart of the state government. This is our flagship state university. They've looked at the accommodations and says we don't like these accommodations. So here's your 15 credits of F.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

No, think about that.

Tim Newman:

Yeah. And I I I can already see the my my my wheels working. Of course, that's what they did because they're the State University of Buffalo. Nobody's gonna tell me what to do.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Right. You know, that's what the speaker of the assembly and the whole group can't come up. Yeah, so I at that point I said, I'm tired of the discrimination. So I went to uh I went to my uh other professors. I said, Where do I force myself to learn to read and write in grad school so I can teach other dysleptics? And they jokingly said, law school. All right, so I went and they were joking. I actually went to law school to audit. I walk in. And it's the and I literally now I just had to teach myself to read like now. And I did. So then I walk into my second day of contracts. Professor Warner, who's a dyslexic professor, called on. And what they do with the Socratic method is that they will ask kids, like, you know, when you start a semester, nobody knows anything. Right. They would ask questions like it's the end of the end of the year, and they couldn't answer, they keep asking questions to embarrass the kid to get them to adapt as quickly as possible.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Well, that didn't happen to me. What I found out later is when you're a dyslectic and you go into grad school, you own the place from day one. Day one or soon thereafter. So he called on me, I answered. Everything slowed down and organized. He keeps calling on me and answering. Well, finally, he starts really pushing. I push back, I'm yelling at him. He's yelling at me. I'm leaning forward, shouting as loud as I can. He's leaning forward, shouting at me. Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes. He finally had to say, raise his hands. Russell, in the interest of time, I have to stop. I gotta move on to the next case. You couldn't be any more correct. All right. My classmates who graduated, they've been lawyers for decades. They still can't do that. So I learned to read within a month, I learned to write within a couple of years. Then I approached the New York State Senate and I said, I want you to fund my research. And they gave me an impossible thing to go through. I did it. And then what they did is we went to, I want to be very clear on this because we're talking about high school kids here for who are dyslexic. We only took the very smartest and the most motivated with excellent family support going on to college, college bound, and we had their best teacher, Susan Ford. Why? Because I wanted to see what we could do with the ideal. Right. We took them from middle school writing in 180 sessions, middle school writing to average of entering graduate students in that time period. They all went on to college, they all graduated, GPAs of 2.5 to 3.6, no accommodations, cost to New York State taxpayers of under $900.

Tim Newman:

Wow.

Russel Van Brocklen:

People asked me how was that possible? I said, because I have eyes and I used the obvious. This is the top book on dyslexia. Overcoming dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz, second edition. Turning it to page 78, figure 23. That's dyslexia. So do you see how the back part of the dyslexic brain has almost no neuroactivity?

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Now, in yours brain, I'm sorry, in the brains of a typical student is going massive.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Now the front part of my brain is two and a half times more active.

Tim Newman:

Yes. Okay. See that? Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

That deals with articulation followed by word analysis. I use the graduate records exam. Analytical writing. Analytical. Articulation, analytical, to me, same thing. All right. Now that is what made it work there. But then we had to do things with normal kids. And it that wouldn't work. Okay. I presented those results in New York City in 2006. What do we do to get normal kids ready for college? I'm going to give you an example of a kid, my most successful case for this age group. I want everybody to know I never saw this before. I will never see this again. This is a one-off, super motivated kid. Okay? Her name is Casey. I met Casey when she was in fifth grade at the end of the end of fifth grade. She was she turned 11 over the summertime. She was really interested in Theater Roosevelt. So I so remember I said about the speciality. Until the kid is at grade level, you have to use their specialty, the area of extreme interest and ability.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Casey was interested in this guy, Theater Roosevelt. So I assigned her the rise of Theater Roosevelt. This is the book.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Wow. That's right. What grade level would you call something like this?

Tim Newman:

I'd say 12th grade or above. Honestly.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. College professors say first year college. Okay.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

High school teachers will say 10th to 12th grade. All right. I'm going to call it 10th grade to be conservative. All right. Casey said she wanted to read, to learn reading. I said, I do writing first, reading second, because if you can write it, you can read it. She says, No, I want to do reading. I said, okay, I modified the approach. I said, there's no way you're doing this. Well, you haven't met Casey. So I started with Casey during that time. I said, yeah, do this 20 minutes, 30 minutes a night, you know, not all the time. She is in her room two to three hours a night doing this.

Tim Newman:

Wow.

Russel Van Brocklen:

I literally had to go to her principal to say, teachers can't give her homework. Because he said, I he knew he instantaneously got what we were doing. He said, Okay, you're solving this. We want her fine for middle school. He made the order. All right. Six months later, she's in a silent reading class. Kids come over, get her book. They can't get past the first paragraph. She's finishing up that book. She can read the entire thing. She knows every definition of every word there. She jumped eight grade levels in six months. Her parents could afford to hire me for fifty for an hour a month. So I was working with her 15 minutes a week. Wow. This is not typical. But when I say a 10-year slash 11-year-old girl jumped eight grade levels in six months, some people say it's not possible they can. Now, here's what you need to understand. I had to focus on her specialty. But just for the heck of it, I talked to her mom and I said, She's the most motivated kid I ever met. What happens if I give her something she hates? Here's the most popular book that I use Walt Disney, The Triumph of the American Imagination. But a thousand pages because people want to know what the Disney magic is. It's two universal themes. Casey said, I hate this book. And after we worked on it for a while, because her mom was kind of laughing because she's like, Yeah, she really doesn't like that book. I said, Okay, Casey, how much did your motivation drop here? She said, Half. I hate it. I said, Okay, you're done. She took him, threw it in the garbage, and she ripped it up. Key point for parents. When you're you know how I like when you're teaching college, especially with the first two years, they're going over all these subjects, the same thing in high school. Dyslectics and EDD and ADHD kids just want to specialize.

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Doctoral stuff.

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

But we have to do this general. So the most motivated kid in the world, we're down 50%. Typical kids are down 75-80%. Next thing that that I found, I this is for me talking to your peers who are severely dyslectic. What I found is we have to focus, we can't ask them this question, a general to the specific. Because that's how you generally teach big picture, then details. Yes. Well, if you ask them this question, what effect did Martin Luther King's famous I Have a Dream Speech have on the American Civil Rights Movements in the 1960s? Your kids would just take that and run with it. They don't need to ask you a question, they just go and write the paper. Right. Dyslectics, it's like grabbing fog. There's nothing to grab onto. We need to learn from the specific to the general. So I want you to imagine we ask this question what personally compelled Martin Luther Kate to want to give his famous speech? We look up in his biography, we find the answer. That answer gives us a question, which we answer, which gives us a question, which we answer. That forces us to that that forces us to organize our thoughts by using writing as a measurable output. Okay. So again, that forces us to organize our thoughts by using writing as a measurable output. Now, if you ask a dyslectic or an ADD or ADHD, you said you're ADD or ADHD?

Tim Newman:

ADHD.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, so am I. I'm gonna ask you a question. First of all, what's your speciality? What's your area of extreme interest and ability? It could be anything. Oh wow.

Tim Newman:

Um this is the first thing that comes to your mind. Um creativity. Creativity, yeah.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, so when you're thinking about creativity, do you have ideas or now or in the past where you have ideas flying around your head at light speed? Yes, key question, but with little to no organization.

Tim Newman:

Yes. Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

So what the solution is, is we have to force your brain to organize itself by using writing as a measurable output. Okay? Does that make sense? So now I'm gonna ask you a question to see if you're if you're really dyslectic. So you're thinking about writing about creativity. Okay, fingers, keyboard. Fingers, keyboard. The ideas in your head that you want to write about, you take your fingers, you put them on the keyboard. Does the idea fly out of your head, leaving you with an empty brain? Sound familiar?

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, yeah, you're probably dyslectic. Okay.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Don't you do do you find that it's kind of weird that I knew that about you?

Tim Newman:

I I it's creepy.

Russel Van Brocklen:

I I the kids are like, How did you know? And one of the parents, I just went over the questions ahead of time because their son was really serious. I'm just gonna call him John. Not his name, just protect his identity. They said, Well, John, we have hidden cameras in the ceiling. He's like, Where? Where? And the parents almost fall out of their scenes laughing. And I said, Uh, John, I know this because I went through this when I was your age. Really? Yes. Okay. Let me ask you this question. Were you ever in elementary school threatened to be held back because you couldn't pass some test? Yes. Okay. So when that happened, let me guess, it was probably around third grade, fourth grade.

Tim Newman:

It was second grade, actually.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, so second grade. So what they told you was if you can't do this academic task, we're gonna hold you back, you're gonna miss your friends. Yeah, well, this is well, this is what's gonna happen. You're gonna miss the your friends, they're gonna move on, you're gonna be put with strangers, and this gave you a huge amount of mental distress. Yeah. And then it got so bad, it you know, you're like, I you were literally like somebody almost put a proverbial gun to your head. You were going crazy trying to figure out a solution. You put so much pressure on yourself that it was actually probably clinically dangerous. And then the idea came to you and you passed you passed.

Tim Newman:

Yeah.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Sound familiar?

Tim Newman:

Yep, absolutely.

Russel Van Brocklen:

And that happened so many times that by the time you reached high school, this was just like second nature.

Tim Newman:

Yeah, and and you know, I don't really talk about this really at all. I I'm not even gonna say talk about it look, I don't talk about it at all. You know, when I barely great barely graduated high school, okay. And understand I was a college professor and all these other things. Barely graduated high school. Um when I started my doctoral program, is when I was the first time that I ever truly reached out for help because there was so much reading that I had to do, I couldn't do it. Because I I was never taught how to read. Let's just put it that way. And I was married at the time and and my wife is a is a high school teacher. I said, Look, I'm I need help. I can't do this. And she taught me, she taught me how to quickly read for comprehension, um, to which got me through. And it was after I graduated and got my doctorate that I went and got tested for ADHD. So I didn't start taking any type of medication or get any type of therapy, airfringer's quote therapy, until I was mid-30s.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. Okay, but this is what I this is really important. So we're talking about about uh high school college kids.

Tim Newman:

Right. Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Remember when I asked you about ideas flying around your head at light speed, but with little to no organization? Yep. Do you found it kind of weird that I knew exactly that about you?

Tim Newman:

Absolutely. It's creepy.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Did you find it was even more creepy when I said fingers keyboard, the idea flies out of your head?

Tim Newman:

Yeah, yeah, and truth be told, okay, my keyboard is sitting on my desk. What I did when you started fingers keyboard, I put my hands under under the desk. I didn't even want to come close to the keyboard.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Because the idea that I knew that the idea flew out of your head, let's admit, that's really creepy, right? It is now, and even more creepy, I told you third, fourth grade, it was actually second. I told you exactly what happened. Yep. That this was that when we're talking about this level of stress that you put under, when I mean this was clinically dangerous, looking back, can you see how if if this was today and people knew what you were putting yourself under to pass that test, they might have literally thrown you into the mental emergency room.

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. Do you find that it's really weird that I That I could tell you exactly that.

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. I I need parents to understand what's happening here. Okay. Because when I work with the kids that are, you know, these are very highly motivated, very highly intelligent kids. All right. When I say back the answer yes to the first two questions, then I'll ask that third one. It's what I call their secret. They don't want you to know.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

I have literally had pet kids tell their parents, get out, some using foul language. All right. And then I tell them that and I'd go into even more detail. And a lot of times they start to cry because they desperately don't want their parents to know what they put them through. They literally will say to themselves something to the effect of, if I don't pass this, my parents won't love me anymore. My friends will hate me. They'll leave me. And the that stress, that extraordinary amount of irreputable stress, then triggers an epiphany. And the solution presents itself. Basically, it happened in your case. No, I'm talking about back when you were in second grade.

Tim Newman:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember what I said? You had to pass the test.

Russel Van Brocklen:

I had to pass the test.

Tim Newman:

Right. Right, right, right, right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

And because of that extraordinary pressure, the epiphany came and you you passed. Yes. And that happened so many times it became normal.

Tim Newman:

Over and over again, right. And I I attribute it to just figuring it out.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Right. But that's not what happened.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

What was happening is, because I've studied this for 20 years. What has happened is when you were doing this, you were essentially doing doctoral level work when you were seven years old, eight years old.

Tim Newman:

I knew I was smart.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Here's what I mean by doctoral level. You had to pass that test. Right. Nobody could help you. The solution presented itself, you passed. You created knowledge that allowed you to make a significant gain, and it worked. To me, that's grad level work.

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Does that make sense?

Tim Newman:

Yeah, I'd agree with that. Absolutely.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. Yeah. When you were seven or eight. So then by the time you finished college and then you walked into your grad your PhD program, how long did it take you until you generally had the idea that was the crux of your dissertation? The thing that the just the idea that could that made it a real contribution. What how long did that take for you to develop?

Tim Newman:

Not long.

Russel Van Brocklen:

I mean it's like for professors generally tell me the first day or soon thereafter. Yeah. In your case?

Tim Newman:

Yeah, it's yeah. And you be and here's it was about how academic success. That's what it was about, too.

Russel Van Brocklen:

But once you had that idea, did you notice everybody treated you completely differently?

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Now you were the star of the show because your idea was really worth something. Now you just had to go through all the other PhD stuff to develop it, write it up.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Which is for the gen ed people, the easy spot part. They can't come up with the idea generally as well as we can coming up with that. So so for me, I didn't have all that time. I did mine in less than two weeks. I got the professor to write out excellent A within less than two. Why? I didn't have the time. I was involved in the university-wide business plan competition. I got 15,000, and then I used that to test a bunch of kids, and then I got funding from the state. Okay. So I I had less than 14 days to meet the professor to get his approval.

Tim Newman:

Wow.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So but but but here's what I want everybody to understand. So when you so in general, did you ever have a professor that taught from taught you from the specific to the general, ever in your education?

Tim Newman:

No, not no. Because that that would that would have stood out to me. But so no.

Russel Van Brocklen:

As generally, people like us, your peers who made it, you know, they said when they had the people that taught from the specific to general, they learned so much more. So that's what I'm doing during the intervention period. And the other thing is the front part of the brain, I flip that to most kids. I do word analysis followed by articulation. But how does this work? So for most kids, what I need you to understand is I use a book called The Craft of Research. And this is what everybody should understand. Um, the craft of research tells you how to find context, put everybody up, put get everybody on the same page, come up with a problem statement, then come up with a solution to that problem where you try to come up with something original. And when we talk pre-show, you said the kids should know how to do that in high school before they come to college.

Tim Newman:

Yes, they should.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Tell me, tell me why you strongly feel that way.

Tim Newman:

Because if to to be able to graduate high school and come into college and be successful, number one, you have to to know how to think, you need to know how to take information, process it, and then be able to communicate that. And if you can't, if you can't do that, because theoretically the the pace at the college level is is so much quicker, and we're depending on you to to do some work on your own to be able to understand those concepts and be able to apply them.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. So let me is as I was told in general the difference between high school and a real college, where you actually teach like a college, yes, is they will do twice the work, they will do in one semester of college what they do for a year in high school, and you're only meeting for 45 sessions. So you're meeting like half the time. Right. Okay. Correct. So what I do is for context, I show you how to write. Uh I show you how to write, I find a quote, and we answer who, what, when, we're how why. This is what I do with the elementary school kids. Okay. So can you see how I get me a quote and I discuss who, what, when, we're how why, and kind of giving you a version of context. Okay. What's the effect on that? Taught Reed, taught Reed's mother how to do this over a little under six months. Okay. How um 15 minutes a night for uh seven nights out of the week or an hour and a half a week, roughly. He went, he jumped not two to two and a half points for the for half the school year, like he was supposed to, he jumped 20 points. He went from the 11th percentile to 65th percentile in reading, fourth percentile to the 64th in writing. In class, doing fine. Now, once he can do that, we need my next step is we do body paragraphs. I call it senior year of high school. We'll see what you call this. What I do for the body paragraphs is we want I want to give them enough to pass the state assessment. So in New York State, it's the state regents exam.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

We use two quotes per paragraph. For each quote, I try to tell them look at for that piece something from the beginning of the story, one for the end, get a lot of quotes for that universe. We give them a universal theme. They find the two quotes. What's the best one? And then what I do is I add a warrant, which is a which is from the craft of research from the University of Chicago, what it basically means is it takes the facts and it connects the facts to the topic sentence in an analytical conversational way. Yep. And I use two of those plus a few other steps. Would that be enough, in your opinion, to get the kids to pass their high school final English test for for, I mean, just passing it?

Tim Newman:

It should be.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. Now, once we do that, now we have to come to a solution.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

So when I'm doing the solution, uh, you may, may or not like this. And if we discussed this before at any time, or am I giving this to you brand new?

Tim Newman:

You're you're giving it to me brand new.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, so here we go. So when I'm doing that, there has been a big change in the hiring market now. The companies want you to be able to go in and play with the $200 version of the artificial intelligence when you start now, when you're out of college. That's their demand. So I'm using that here. And what we do is when we're using the PhD version, we're coming up with a solution. But I'm going to use I typically do this for English class because that's the biggest weakness of a dyslectic.

Tim Newman:

Okay, yeah, I that's makes sense.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, so I want you to think back to high school. What's a book that everybody reads that you still kind of remember?

Tim Newman:

Oh, yeah. Oh boy. The uh the the Iliad? Um the Iliad?

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay.

Tim Newman:

Yeah, that's one of the Iliad. Yeah, that's when we were supposed to read. We were supposed to read that.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Yeah. Yeah, homework, right? Yeah. So so what do you think the chances of a student writing something completely original on the Iliad?

Tim Newman:

Almost none.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. I show people how to do that every time.

Tim Newman:

Wow.

Russel Van Brocklen:

And I'm not talking about high school, I'm talking about grad school. Wow. Now, this is why. How is that possible?

Tim Newman:

How is it possible? Yeah.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Just be I want you to imagine, imagine you're taking you're a science kid. And do you know how freshman uh uh calculus-based physics, you're using those graphical calculators? Yes. You're not doing the math anymore on your own, but you know how to do it or you can't do it.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

So would it would it surprise you that when I took calculus-based physics, people asked, well, the rich kids can use the graphical calculators. Can we bring in our notes? And the professor said, You know what? Bring in your notebook. I'll give you eight hours instead of three. All right, it's not gonna make one iota of a difference because in engineering, in science, if you can't apply what you've learned, it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.

Tim Newman:

Doesn't matter, right?

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, so what I do is I'm now using the craft of research and the artificial intelligence, the pro version. And yes, it's $200 a month because it takes five to 30 minutes to do anything. Okay, and I and we do we go through at least five or six drafts. Okay, and you're now guiding this thing, and it's doing the grunt work because you already know how to do the grunt work, and at the end, you're left with an essay that is truly original. That's what I show people. Okay, and you can go and remember what we mentioned you should know have these skills before you go to college?

Tim Newman:

Yes, absolutely.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Would it surprise you that no private school in New York City does this?

Tim Newman:

Um no, it would it it it would not surprise me based on one students have had.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Right, but I want but when you think these are the most competitive private schools on the planet, and they're not doing this craft of research thing. And you expect the kids to come in from high school doing this, how do you explain this big disconnect?

Tim Newman:

Well, I d what there there's there's two two ways. I I number number one, I I don't think that I I think we've gotten away from from truly uh teaching because of all the automation that we have, right? And it's there there's no push to uh to actually um make it happen because like you said, whether it's AI or w whether it's Google, I mean you could Google anything, you you and just we'll just do that so we don't necessarily have to push them to do it, and it's not it's the there's so much pushback from pushing them to do it, it's not worth the the time and the effort. We'll just accept it and let them move on.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, so just from a practical standpoint, I want you to imagine you're back work. Uh you said you worked at Georgia Tech.

Tim Newman:

George Georgia State University.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Georgia State, okay. So you're you're Georgia State. Let's say you're going back there. A kid comes in, freshman, your fur, you know, your freshman class, and they write a paper, and you're like, I actually learned a little something, nothing groundbreaking, but you actually learned something that was reasonably substantive on some little small area, and you started, and the papers kept going like that. Does that kid now have your attention?

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. Now, as we all know, going into high school, going into college, the admissions office rules, but going into graduate school, would you agree with me that for most kids, a college four-year degree is not the optimum anymore? A PhD is a bit too specific. It's usually the master's degree, master's degree, right?

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

How important is uh very having a professor picking up that phone, calling the department chair of where the kid wants to go and saying, I I really recommend this kit. I'm not writing a recommendation letter. I'm telling you you ought to take this kit.

Tim Newman:

It's it's it's that's gold. That's that's gold.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. Does that override pretty much everything else?

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. So a kid to get that level of commitment from you as the professor is to come in and to learn something almost every paper to go through that actual process.

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. How often in your career as a professor teaching undergraduates, how many undergrads could do that?

Tim Newman:

Oh, wow, over 25 years, less less than less than 100.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Less than 100. Now, the ones that could do it, did they ever come and ask you for a recommendation?

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

What happened when you recommended them that you get in?

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. What everybody needs to understand. I remember I had a professor. His name was uh Professor Barnett, he was the chair of the communications department, SUNY Center of Buffalo. He called up at a top university, said, This is my my student. I'm recommending them, you know, fund them. Get I'm telling you, this is, and they said, Okay, okay, we I'll take care of it. Because the admissions committee didn't like it for some reason. He and he got upset and got on the phone. He said, This is what my recommendation is worth. They they knew him very well. That's how important this is. So everybody out there, this is what you need to do in high school so you can do this in college. Right now, even if the kid went through the process, but you didn't really learn uh something new every time, but you could see they went through that process. Does that still kind of count?

Tim Newman:

Uh it that that counts almost as much because you know, because you you can see that they're working, you see that they're applying things, and you and you see them improving. Because even if they don't learn something every paper, every assignment, you still see that improvement and that desire to uh to to get better.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. So what I'm just trying to tell people is they're not going to teach this to you in high school. They're not going to teach you this at an elite private school. I know because I've done my homework. What I'm telling you is I show parents that it's not like you need some expensive tutor. Parents can teach this to their kids, even if you haven't gone through this. I've taught parents with high school diplomas to teach their kids this. It just takes a bit longer, and that's fine. All right. So, what I'm just trying to say is this is something that I've been doing for the past 20 years. It's not that hard to do once you sit down and work on it.

Tim Newman:

So, so how how how does it work? Because uh again, I I'm number one, I'm I'm blown away having this conversation. I'm uh to to begin with, how does it work? Because to me, and maybe this is the first time I'm here, and because it makes so much sense to me, it to start with the specific. That's to me, that's just what is just what makes sense when you're dealing with a little kid, right? Start with something specific that they like. Why why would you start with something that they they don't like? And you you see where I'm going with that, right?

Russel Van Brocklen:

Yeah, I I I see exactly where you're going. And why is it I've been trying, just so everybody knows, we met on podmatch.com, which is the biggest matching service. There's 4,800 guests approximately. I was number one last month, I'm the number one this month doing this very niche area. Uh- all right. I'm trying like this month, I'm doing like literally 50 podcasts. I'm trying to get the word out because it's just so impossible to get get into the public school. So for so, for parents, if you want to know how to do this, simplest thing, just go to dyslexiaclasses.com. That's dyslexiaclasses with an Splural.com, dyslexiaclasses.com. There's a little button there that says download free guide. Click on it, you get a report that says three reasons your child's having trouble at school due to dyslexia. Just fill that out. Most important thing, just click on the the calendar, set up a time for me to speak with your child for about 30 minutes, no cost, and I show you what their speciality is. You get their book and their audio book. I can't teach this. That's the one thing I have to do myself.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

All right, but make sure you do that, and you know, it's no charge. We show you how to do this. But the main thing I just wanted to go back to on, remember those three questions that I asked you and you answered yes to them again?

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

That level of understanding, there is no other researcher out there that can ask you those questions and really understand why. Because they haven't been through this. Right. I can tell you when I was that age, I picked up a box of crayons and I learned to read by going through the colors. The system was completely unstable.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. But I I had a concussion, and I'm trying to explain to a medical doctor who's on, who's a faculty member, teaches residents. And in four years, she still can't even figure out how I how I read the letter A. All right. So yeah, so the fact that I could answer those questions, you know, ask you those, and nobody I'm sure has ever asked you anything like that before, and just know what it means. That's my level of understanding of what your kid's going through because I've been through this myself. And just so everybody knows what my really my base reading and writing level is, this New York State government paid their top psychologist, Dr. Holichka. She was a 20 hours with her, the smartest woman I ever met, and 20 hours with her. And she wrote up a report. She's and this has come from data that she happened to have a few years beforehand because I need a neuropsych to take my grad entrance exams. First grade reading and writing level that jumps up to grad level and back down again because I'm going from a dysfunctional area to a functional area. Right. Here's the five pages explaining it.

Tim Newman:

So let me let me ask you another question.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Have you ever worked with somebody and this hasn't worked because it oh yeah, uh yeah, I I I'll I'll tell you exactly where I was an unqualified failure.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

It was a very wealthy family in New York City where their parents were in the service business, okay, working at the absolute highest level of service with the most complicated things on the world.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

And the kid only cared about Rocky. He's in seventh grade, and he would only write about Rocky. I couldn't get him to do anything. Parents had no control over him, and I don't work with that.

Tim Newman:

Okay, but that that to me, that's that's not the system not working. To me, that that that's other out outside things.

Russel Van Brocklen:

But I mean, if you're if if they file the system, if if the kid yeah, if I have to have a kid who halfway wants to care about doing this, and the parents have to give a reasonable try of doing it.

Tim Newman:

That that to me I think is is is the real real key in this. You've got to want it, right?

Russel Van Brocklen:

I mean Yeah, if you don't want it to be a good one. Yeah, for people now, what what I recommended that they do with their son, and they could afford this, is they have these places like Winward in New York City. I would just go and hire them, and they will do an amazing job with your child. Absolutely amazing. Or if you're not near New York City, you could send them to the Gowell School, G-O W.org. They celebrate their 100th anniversary next year. They will do a brilliant job with your child. Okay. It's $86,000 a year retail. If you get the $26,000, no years college, it's $60,000. Okay. And you're gonna want to do four or five years. Oh my goodness. Okay, but they will do a brilliant job.

Tim Newman:

They better.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. I'm kind of the person, if you want to solve the problem, you want to do it at home, and you don't want to use house money. Okay, because we've been able to really drive the price. People ask me, can you work with everybody? I I work with lower middle class families all the time. The biggest increase I get by far and away are upper, I'm sorry, are lower middle class families. Okay, then it's upper middle class. And then for the super rich, it's either they're they're extraordinarily successful or complete. I can't touch it because they know they got a $20 million trust fund and they're not going to do anything. Right. And the middle class kids, I'm I'm iffy. It's basically uh if the parents have to want it, the kids have to want it. The lower middle class kids, why I think it's so successful because they know if they don't put in the effort, they want to do better than where their parents are. Right. Right. And they're willing to put in the effort. And the upper middle class kids know, well, I don't have a trust fund, but I have the educational opportunity.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

All right. And then for the middle class kids, I typically a lot of them like to go on for a two-year community college head-and-hands job. So I I just show them how to do basic body paragraphs and it gets them through. Um, and then the wealthy kids, either they're brilliant or they're the just really tough because again, they don't have to do any uh they don't have to do any work.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

So because they have these huge trust funds that if you and I had that, we would be retired on the beach.

Tim Newman:

Right, right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

But then we would still do things. So yes. Exactly.

Tim Newman:

That's that's that that that's that's the other thing. And I and I think that ult ultimate ultimately it comes down to uh anybody that's gonna be successful, they've you've got to want it. It's it's this isn't something that's is just gonna happen. Things aren't just gonna be handed to you. And um what what so what do we need to do to move these to move this initiative forward so that it uh you know may maybe we we ch we ch we change the way that number one we we look look at and deal with people with dysl dyslexia um in in the public school system. Um that they're gonna be able to do that.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Oh no, oh no, it's it's so much easier than that because remember, this took me it takes me a while to train parents because this isn't their profession.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, but with teachers, I work with Evelyn White Bay, New York State had a dyslexia task force in 2024. She was one of the three or four teachers on it.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

The state education department literally chased her down and put pressure on her to come on because she was three to four X more successful than a typical teacher. So we present, we show teachers how to take this for first through fifth grade reading and writing. We can go in and show them how to give the teachers what they need to solve this in three hours. And we do that online. And here's the key thing: the teachers will look through this and they'll say, We don't like something with this. And we say, Great, change this to meet your teaching style and who you're working with. So, literally, in the past, I would have two teachers in the same di the same building teaching essentially very similar students, doing it in completely different ways, and they still got the results. Why? Because teachers already know what to do, right? I'm just putting it in a bit of a different order, so we're using the front part of the brain so it actually works.

Tim Newman:

Works.

Russel Van Brocklen:

And they've I taught the entire state of New Jersey, the New Jersey Association of Learning Consultants in October of 2022. They had all these people they could go to for writing assistance, they came to me, and this was too fast. I did the whole thing in two hours. Yeah, that was a bit insane. Wow. So we want three. Okay, okay. We can do this online.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. Now try getting this into public schools. It's uh it's proven to be a bit complicated.

Tim Newman:

Well, there's reasons for that. Um, and I don't know of any good reasons, but but you know, it's complicated. Right. Yes. Yeah.

Russel Van Brocklen:

So what I try to do when I'm dealing with school districts is what I do is I said, listen, I'm the researcher. You don't want to hear from me. You'll hear part of my story. You want to talk to Evelyn because she's your peer. And she did this, and she just told me it was something like five months, and she got a kid to go up by like sixth grade levels. Okay. That's Evelyn.

Tim Newman:

That's amazing.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Well, I mean, I want you to imagine she's like the Michael Jordan of special ed teachers.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

All right. That's why she was on the state task force. Right. So, and just you know what happened with New York State when they did this. We I I didn't get any real reason why it wasn't passed. The conjecture, and that's all the conjecture was, is there was never a budget bill. But this was going to be quite expensive. And the teachers' unions were kind of fighting back because they're saying, you already put a lot of stuff on this, and this is going to take a lot longer to learn. All right. So I don't know what's coming up about it, but it makes all the sense in the world to get this done by the end of fifth grade because then you may not get the kid out of special ed, but you're going to probably really, if you did this, what they recommended, really reduce this. So you might be saving 10, 5, 10, 15 grand a year per kid for the rest of the year time they're in school. You're spending a lot more for a special ed kid.

Tim Newman:

Right. Oh, absolutely. With with with everything that they've got to do and all the all the services, yeah. And and I think I get it it costs money and somebody's got to pay for it. But again, like you say.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Oh, we we could go and train the 600 school districts for that. No problem.

Tim Newman:

Easy. And and and and and again, my my my point being, you know, are aren't we supposed to be doing what's best in teaching the kids so so that they can be successful? And you know, and and if I know I know I shouldn't probably be thinking that way, but you know doing it, like you say, before fifth grade, so that they they have it and they can they can then use it, and it it's only gonna get better, they're only gonna get better at it the more that they do it.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Right, but but here's the problem. I'm going to go back to the you know, to the brains.

Tim Newman:

Okay.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, okay. I'm gonna say 80 plus percent of the students are like the back part of the non-impaired brain, right? They have all this massive neuroactivity. Okay, it's not like the school system is trying to make things difficult for neurodiverse students, it's just the fact that they do things for a reason because if you're a gen ed kid and if you're smart and if you plan well and you work really hard, you're gonna do very well, generally. Not in every class, but overall, you're gonna do very well. Right. Okay. If you don't plan well, if you don't work hard, well, it's a different story. It's all within your control. But as you can see, when you're looking at the brains, we're completely different. Yes. We have the massive activity in the front part of the brain, which, as we discussed, articulation, word analysis. I'm really oversimplifying complex neuroscience to the point of breaking things, so you can draw this out.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Dyslectics do good in grad school because that's the part of the front part of our brain where we have two and a half times the neuroactivity, as we discussed with you. You can't you came up with your idea relatively quickly and you're treated like the rock star because you have the idea that's publishable, right? That allowed you to become an associate professor.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, that is these original ideas are the currency of the realm in academia. Okay, so we're just different. And that's the issue. What the other thing is Dr. Orton was the Einstein, he was the Disney, he was everything to my field. And they find it. I I know this because I'm a reviewer for the big international dyslexia association conference for several years. They are now refining his stuff so it is a small fraction of a vein on a leaf. I'm offering a completely original idea, right? But based on what came out, I hate to say this, this book came out 22 years ago. That's my field. Dr. Collins' book that I based this on came out 28 years ago in '97. Okay. That's my field. So what I'm trying to say is it's a new idea. And you know, of course, anytime you have a new idea, it's not the easiest thing to get in the school systems. That's what Evelyn's working so hard on. And that's why we're going directly to the parents now. So they can just take care of it, just solve it and move on. Because once your kid's in grade level, yeah, you can put them back in and they can take Reed is taking all of his classes and he's doing just fine.

Tim Newman:

That's awesome. I you you know, I I I I wish we had this when I was growing up. And it you know, for for me for me sitting here still thinking about how you knew all that stuff about me, it's still creepy. But if you've if you just do this for your students, do this for for your for your kids. It's good. Everything's gonna be better for them. Their school experience, their school experience is gonna be better, their mental health is gonna be better, they're gonna be they're they're gonna, you know be sm be smarter. I mean, they're they're going to be they're gonna be able to think better. You know what I'm saying?

Russel Van Brocklen:

I wasn't trying to creep you out. No, I know, I know. But uh, but but here's why I do that. Because I want you to imagine kids like you.

Tim Newman:

Yeah.

Russel Van Brocklen:

The ones who and let's be very honest. When you you made it to associate professor at good schools, good colleges, can you see how very few entering PhD students could ever reach that height?

Tim Newman:

Yes.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay. So what I'm trying to say is when we f when I have these kids in high school and I ask those questions, especially for the third one, your kids don't want you to know the hell they put themselves through. They desperately don't. It's as I said, I know it, I call it your secret. All right. And but once I go, and why do I discuss it with them? Because these kids are so skeptical. That's why I went through what I went through with you with you today. Because I want you to know in your bones, I know what I'm talking about.

Tim Newman:

Right.

Russel Van Brocklen:

So when I ask you about that, then I say, here's how, based on what you said, this is how we're going to overcome things. Your speciality, specific to the general word analysis, followed by articulation, which we really didn't have time to jump into today. Do you see how I got your attention that this does work because you now you know?

Tim Newman:

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Russel Van Brocklen:

That's why I do that, because these kids are so skeptical. They are the hardest audience out there, and they're like, How did you know me? I know it was kind of funny. Parents think it's kind of funny when I said, Yeah, we have these hidden cameras. Where? Uh-huh. You know. Um, but for me to really know you at such a deep level and what you went through and how to develop it from that. And then some of the kids would go out to these other, you know, let's just say people who know their names that are in this field and ask them, and they have no idea about anything like I just asked you. Not no idea. And it's not because I'm some genius, and it's not because I'm some world-renowned researcher on this, it's because I went through this.

Tim Newman:

Done it.

Russel Van Brocklen:

And after I presented this in New York City, I didn't go and spend the next 20 years trying to figure out how to explain things to PhDs. I spent the next 20 years figuring out how I can explain this to teachers and parents, and make this so simple that I could have literally eighth-grade AP English students teach it successfully. That's awesome. I had to make it that simple.

Tim Newman:

And and you and you had and you did, and it and it's working. And I knew when we started this conversation, it was going to be one of the best we've ever had, and and it lived up to that. Russell, I I can't tell you how much I I appreciate what you're doing, um, how much you've taught me on on this subject. Uh, and uh so where where can people connect with you to get more information and if if they if they need to pass these pass this information on to somebody that they know? Because I think my guess is we all know somebody who could use this resource.

Russel Van Brocklen:

The easiest thing to do is just go to dyslexiaclassesplural.com. It's with an S, DyslexiaClasses.com. It's the button there that's this download free guide. We ask you three questions. You get a free guide, the three reasons your trouble your child's having trouble at school due to dyslexia. Then the most important thing. Actually go ahead and fill out a time to speak with me and set that up so that I can speak to you and your child and I can find out your speciality. And I asked the questions that I went over with you today, and that's because your child is going to be the hardest person on the planet to convince. And once we go through those questions, they know on their bones I know what I'm talking about. I get them like nobody else does, and then I can show parents how to go through this at an affordable rate. We work with families on a yearly basis, and yes, we do give discounts when like colleges give discounts, scholarships. Uh it's based on financial need when they come in. Why? Because I don't want people to go through the hell that I went through. I want this solved.

Tim Newman:

Russell, again, thank you so much for spending some time with us. If there's anything I can do to help you, you know, pushing this initiative pushing this initiative forward, please don't hesitate to let me know. Anything I can do, I'll be happy to help.

Russel Van Brocklen:

Okay, thanks for having me.

Tim Newman:

All right, buddy. Take care and we'll talk to you soon. Be sure to visit speakingwithcome podcast.com to get your free ebook, top twenty-one challenges for public speakers, and we can also register for the forty public speaking. Always remember your voice is coming to the episode.

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Tim Newman

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