Working with the Building Blocks of Resilience
Dr. Michael Hart's 2020 principles for building resilience in children with dyslexia, updated with recent studies on reading self-concept, anxiety and wellbeing.
Dyslexia resilience depends on the setting around the child. See what two recent studies show and how adults can act on Dr. Hart's questions.
In this 2020 video column, Dr. Michael Hart asks parents and educators to look at the environments they create for children with dyslexia and at how they care for themselves, offering two guiding principles and reflection questions. The section after the column adds two recent studies on dyslexia and emotional wellbeing and turns Hart’s principles into steps for school and home.
In this installment of the True Literacy video column, Dr. Michael Hart establishes the basics for building resilience in children with dyslexia. Along with improved self-care principles for professionals, Dr. Hart asks adults to examine the environments they’re creating and whether the settings support or hinder students’ progress in developing resilience.
Here are two essential guiding principles to consider when establishing support:
1.) Children don’t live in a vacuum. They live with a family that’s part of a neighborhood and school community. Far too often, research focuses on the student without considering the context in which they live. There is too much what and not enough how.
Reflection questions:
How are we, as parents and educators, organizing the environment in a way that either supports or impedes a child’s resilience?
How are we supporting and caring for ourselves so that we have the emotional wherewithal to take proper care of our dyslexic kids?
2.) Understanding resilience from the dyslexic perspective. The noun resilience stems from the Latin resiliens: “to rebound, recoil.” As a character trait, resilience is a person’s ability to recover quickly from unfortunate circumstances. It usually refers to a single event or a couple of events and the person’s ability to rebound from that tragic circumstance.
With dyslexic children, it’s a much more complex situation. 6-7 hours a day, 5 days a week, 9 months out of the year, dyslexic children are in an environment that is pummeling them with messages that something is wrong with them.
Combining an already mismatched learning style and academic environment with a lack of social-emotional coping mechanisms exacerbates dyslexia resilience issues. A setting of chronic risk is often formed, leaving the dyslexic student feeling ashamed, inadequate, confused, and helpless. Adults must remain focused on organizing environments around the resilience of kids.
Reflection Questions:
As adults, how are we injecting our own humanity, compassion, and professionalism into our efforts to help our dyslexic children become resilient?
Looking at self-care as part of professionalism, how are we taking care of ourselves in a way that allows us to take care of others?
Overall, it’s important to look at the philosophical foundation at play. There’s a need, as adults, to pay better attention to the context in which the dyslexic child is operating. In a follow-up video, Dr. Hart will offer 8 specific tips and strategies to help dyslexic children build resilience in the classroom and at home.
Final Reflection:
Dr. Hart provides “food for thought” by asking the reader to examine their application of the following:
“From humanity, compassion, self-care, and professionalism comes the answer to nurturing resilience and unique strength in our dyslexic children and students.”
Head on over to trueliteracy.in for more in-depth analysis and information.
Dyslexia resilience in children: what recent research adds to Hart’s principles
Dyslexia resilience, as Hart frames it above, depends less on the child alone than on the home and school around the child. Two recent studies give that idea some empirical footing, and they also show how much remains unsettled. This section summarizes them, states their limits, and suggests how adults can act on Hart’s reflection questions.
What a 2024 study found about reading self-concept and anxiety
A 2024 study in Frontiers in Education by Fotini Polychroni and colleagues surveyed 794 Greek children aged 10 to 12, of whom 50 had a statement of dyslexia. The children with dyslexia scored lower, on average, on reading self-concept (how capable a child feels as a reader) and on trait emotional intelligence than their peers. Children with higher scores on both measures reported lower anxiety. The authors discuss a possible protective role for reading self-concept and emotional intelligence, and they call for more research.
The study used questionnaires at one point in time, so it shows an association and does not show that improving reading self-concept lowers anxiety. It also covers a small group of children with dyslexia in one country. Even so, it fits Hart’s first principle, that a child lives within a family, a school and a community, and that the setting is something adults can change.
What a 2025 study found about strengths
A 2025 study in the journal Dyslexia by Belinda Zhang and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, looked at parents’ written answers about the emotional and behavioral strengths of 97 children aged 7 to 17 who had been evaluated at a dyslexia center. Positivity was a theme for 55 percent of the children, and optimism and resilience in particular were noted for 29 percent. The authors suggest that naming strengths could reduce stigma and support self-esteem, and they note that dyslexia is associated with anxiety, low self-esteem and depression.
The authors list important limits. The families were mostly high-income and of European descent, only parents were asked, there was no comparison group without dyslexia, and the study measured one point in time. Mental health itself was not measured. The study offers a way to describe what children with dyslexia do well, and it does not measure how well any approach builds resilience.
Turning Hart’s principles into steps
Hart asks how adults organize the environment so that it supports a child’s resilience. The studies suggest several practical answers.
- Teach reading with evidence-based instruction and appropriate accommodations, so that the child’s daily experience of reading includes success.
- Describe the child’s strengths in conversations with the child and with other adults, in specific terms.
- Ask the child how school feels, and listen for signs of worry, shame or avoidance of reading tasks.
- Give the child tasks that build skills outside reading, so that the child’s sense of ability does not rest on one subject.
- Involve the school counselor or psychologist if worry, low mood or avoidance persists.
Hart also asks adults to look after themselves so that they can care for children. That advice is not tested in the studies above, and it is reasonable on its face: a parent or teacher who is exhausted has less to give. School leaders can act on it by giving teachers time and support to work with students who need extra help.
School leaders can also look at the overall message a child receives across a day. Hart describes long hours in an environment that sends the message that something is wrong, and a leader can review how reading aloud, timed tasks and public reading are handled, and whether accommodations are used without drawing attention. These are the points where a child with dyslexia is most exposed.
When to seek professional help
Resilience work in the classroom and at home does not replace professional care. A child who seems persistently anxious, sad or withdrawn should be seen by a doctor, psychologist or other qualified professional, and the school can help by sharing what it has observed with the family.
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