Feb. 22, 2026

Paragraphs, Not Panic: Dyslexia-Smart Strategies with Russell Van Brocklen

Paragraphs, Not Panic: Dyslexia-Smart Strategies with Russell Van Brocklen

Building a body paragraph sounds simple until you’re the one guiding a room full of ten-year-olds—some dyslexic, some distracted, many anxious—through the fog of ideas into a clear, grounded argument. The heart of our approach is straightforward and humane: teach the brain it has. We stop pretending a fifth grader’s mind organizes language the way grammar textbooks do. Instead, we start with what sticks—action words, important words, and clear connections to meaning—and use those pieces to build a paragraph anchored by a real quote. The result is a repeatable, honest method that students can show, step by step, without leaning on AI. If they can’t explain how they made it, they didn’t learn it. That’s our north star, and it keeps the work authentic while building skills that last into high school and beyond.

We begin with a structure that reduces cognitive load. Students pick a hero, a universal theme, and a villain from a book they’re actively reading. That trio gives them a narrative frame. Next, they add because and generate three good reasons. “Good” matters. Weak reasons produce weak paragraphs. To help young writers transition from surface claims to solid evidence, teachers supply one or two age-appropriate sources or excerpts tied to the topic or era. This scaffolding teaches that reasons must be grounded in something beyond a hunch—research, a text, a detail—without turning a paragraph into a full research paper. For dyslexic learners, this pairing of specific prompts and anchored sources narrows the noise and strengthens focus, making the next steps doable.

Then we compress. Each reason is reduced to a single, one-word universal theme. We do this by stripping away connecting words, isolating action words and key nouns, and asking: which word best represents the reason? That chosen word points back to a broader theme—loyalty, courage, injustice, perseverance—that ties the paragraph to a meaning the student can feel and the text can support. This act of reduction is more than a trick; it’s a way to force organization in a brain that may brim with ideas but struggle to sort them. Moving from reason to essence builds a habit of synthesis, an essential literacy skill that translates into better reading comprehension and more coherent writing.

With the universal theme in hand, the student hunts for a quote. “No quote, no paragraph” is the guardrail. A paragraph without a quote is untethered; a paragraph with a quote becomes accountable to the text. We coach students to find one sentence that reflects their chosen theme, or—if they’re up for it—collect several quotes and compare them two at a time, choosing the best fit. This is an authentic close reading framed in a way fifth graders can manage. To support access, we pair an audiobook with a physical copy. Tools like Speechify let students pick a narrator they like, which dramatically increases persistence. The audiobook-while-following method keeps them engaged with the print, strengthens decoding by association, and makes finding text evidence more efficient for diverse learners.

Now comes the “mess,” a lovable step that disarms perfectionism. Students list the pieces in order with plus signs: quote + who + what + when + where + how + why. Then they read it aloud without the plus signs and laugh, because it sounds wrong. Good—that means we can fix it. We tell them the plus sign means add, subtract, or move words. They rearrange the pieces into a sensible order, then read the first two sentences aloud. Does it sound generally correct? If not, tweak and try again. Add the next piece, reread from the start, and keep nudging until the paragraph sounds whole. This loop—speak, hear, adjust—acts like verbal unit testing for writing. It builds metacognition, encourages patience, and turns revision into a clear sequence instead of a vague demand to “make it better.”

Spelling and grammar come next, but we handle them pragmatically. Once the flow is right, students spell-check and, when necessary, retype to correct patterns of errors. For recurring issues, we isolate one grammar mistake at a time—like comma splices or subject-verb agreement—and practice until it sticks. This targeted approach is more efficient than drowning in rules all at once. Over time, we see students internalize the shape of a paragraph and then refine mechanics without losing momentum. For teachers and instructional designers, the key is routine: apply the same steps across three body paragraphs, then tack on a thesis and conclusion that the class can co-construct. Consistency reduces anxiety and frees attention for content.

Alongside craft, we address integrity. If a student cannot show how they chose their theme, found their quote, and built their paragraph, they redo it. Not as punishment, but as protection of learning. This stance also resolves a modern dilemma: sending writing home in an AI era. 

🔗 Website and Social Links:

Please visit Russell’s website and social media links below.

Russell Van Brocklen’s Website

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Russell’s YouTube Channel

🆓Free Resource: The 3 Reasons Your Child’s Dyslexia Education Isn’t Working – And How to Fix It

Photo by RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-girl-writing-on-a-notebook-8500358/