Don McCabe, founder of the AVKO Educational Research Foundation, has dyslexia and ADHD, so he knows first-hand what a struggle it can be to learn when your brain is not processing information in the same way as other people's brains. Since he founded AVKO in 1974, the organization's mission has been to find out why reading is so easy for some children and so difficult for others and then to apply what they have learned to help children, parents, and teachers. The focus is on resources and information that help teach reading, spelling, handwriting, and keyboarding. The multisensory approach can be seen in the name of the foundation: A stands for audio, V stands for visual, K stands for kinesthetic, and O stands for oral.

Parents can choose the resources that are best for the needs of their child and family. Many resources are available on the website for free without a membership (http://www.avko.org/freebies.htm), including a wide variety of articles, information, links and e-books to help parents understand dyslexia and learn effective teaching methods. Membership ($25/year) provides access to many more resources and a 25% discount on all purchased materials. There are also MP3 recordings of popular workshops, jokes, puzzles, and worksheets to get kids excited about reading and spelling.

So what did we think of the AVKO membership? While we found the website somewhat difficult to navigate and had trouble deciding where to start, the list of available resources was impressive. The articles were interesting and seem to have been gathered from a wide variety of sources. If you have a child who is dyslexic or is having some struggles with reading and spelling, you will find many resources on the AVKO website to help you understand dyslexia, as well as teaching materials to make your job easier. While AVKO was not started specifically for homeschoolers, there is certainly much on the website that would be beneficial for teaching your child to read and spell, especially if they have a reading disability!

Product review by Dr. Anne Margaret Wright, Senior Product Reviewer, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June 2009