Welcome to the Champion Mindset Collective

Russell Van Brocklen

dyslexia professor - guiding parents from guesswork to game plan

Dyslexia touches as many as 15–20 % of all learners, yet most families still hear “wait and see.” I flip that script. As the Dyslexia Professor, I translate structured-literacy methods proven most effective for struggling readers into bite-size actions parents can use tonight. Your audience leaves knowing exactly why multi-sensory routines beat generic worksheets and how to start seeing progress before the next report card.

Russell has over 10 years of experience in teaching students with Dyslexia techniques to overcome their current struggles and recognize the superpower they’ve been given.

His programs were developed when he combined the brain research in Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz with the three default writing strategies in Strategies for Struggling Writers by James Collins while in graduate school. As a result, his initial research program was funded by the New York State Senate and is owned by the SUNY Research Foundation.

He found that motivated high school students with dyslexia increased their writing skills by 7 to 8-grade levels in one academic year. His approach is called The Writing Method.

Russell presented at The Everyone Reading Conference in Manhattan in 2006 and from 2014 to 2019. He also presented in November of 2018 at a conference run by The Learning Disability Association of NJ.

S2-E150 - The Champion’s Literacy Loop: Identity → Micro-Wins → Mastery with Russell Van Brocklen

In this episode of the Champion Mindset Collective Podcast, Anthony Dahya interviews Russell Van Brocklen, a dyslexia researcher and professor who’s helped students transform their reading and writing by flipping the traditional script. Russell’s word analysis–first approach, interest-led engagement, and practical writing frameworks are delivering rapid gains for dyslexic and neurotypical students alike. He also shares how AI can supercharge research and writing while keeping human creativity at the center.

💡 You’ll discover:

👉🏽 Why starting with word analysis before articulation unlocks faster progress in reading and writing
👉🏽 How the Literacy Loop of identity, micro-wins, and mastery builds lasting confidence
👉🏽 Ways to use a learner’s passions (comics, sport, AI) to drive motivation and outcomes
👉🏽 A simple writing workflow using one clean sentence, copying, visualization, and repetition
👉🏽 How to teach advanced research and synthesis with the Craft of Research model
👉🏽 Practical AI tools for students and parents, including ChatGPT and Perplexity
👉🏽 What AI means for future jobs and why prompt engineering is a must-have skill
👉🏽 Real case studies: students like Reed, Zach, and Sarah who jumped levels in months

Russell also shares his personal journey with dyslexia and the research behind his program funded by the New York State Senate. His methods are helping students write at high school and even college level, while parents gain a clear, measurable path forward.

👉 Don’t miss this episode if you want evidence-based strategies to help dyslexic learners read, write, and thrive in an AI-powered world.

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations on resilience, mindset, and education that works.