Decoding the Code

The International Dyslexia Association estimates that 15 to 20 percent of people show some symptoms of dyslexia, and by middle school those students spend most of the day in content classes. Their science, math, and social studies teachers are the ones who hear them stall on photosynthesis, constitutional, or diameter. Most of those teachers were never trained in how reading works.

Typical PD explains dyslexia and stops there. Teachers leave knowing more and doing the same thing on Monday: saying the word for the student and moving on.

1. Action map and personas. Mapped the goal to the classroom moves that reach it, then wrote three teacher personas (8th grade science, 10th grade social studies, 7th grade math) so every scenario happens in a real class.
2. Storyboards before code. Each module was storyboarded and approved screen by screen before any build, one idea per screen with no scrolling.
3. Practice, not slides. Flip cards with audio, drag-or-tap matching, syllable tile ordering, a listen-first tap pad, and a branching scenario that returns to the teacher's opening answer.
4. Voice and media. Wrote and timed every narration script and recorded it with an ElevenLabs clone of my own voice, with a transcript under every clip and captions on every video.
5. LMS and evaluation. Packaged each module as SCORM 1.2, set up the course in TalentLMS, and built a Level 1 reaction survey and Level 2 pre- and post-checks.

A reviewer who designs learning professionally asked a sharp question: if a teacher scores 16 of 20 but misses both the scenario and the sound-analysis items, are they ready? They weren't, and the check said they were. I rewrote the mastery rule, made answer options equal in length so the right one doesn't stand out, added an unscored practice word before the tap pad, and moved points from a matching item to a two-step classroom scenario.

The live pilot has five seats, so I report gains as direction, not proof, and use the first attempt of the post-check so retakes don't inflate them.

Module 3 moves from reading words to teaching them: each teacher plans one routine for a word from their next unit. Module 4 covers accommodations and assistive technology. Both will use the same player, so the four modules feel like one course.