Danielle Brimo-Picanes, professor of speech-language pathology and director of the Davies School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at TCU, has a particular interest in children with dyslexia who struggle with learning language.

Dyslexia is a developmental learning disorder that could impact as many as 1 in 5 Americans.

“When we think about health, we often don’t think about children with developmental language disorder or children with dyslexia as being associated with health disparities,” she said.

Brimo-Picanes works in person and via Zoom with caregivers eager to support children with dyslexia at home. Most of the children she sees are second- and third-graders.

With the help of graduate students, Brimo-Picanes developed training that coaches caregivers on strategies to provide feedback when a child reads aloud.

For example, if a child says a word incorrectly, caregivers might pull apart the word by breaking it into units: The word “opened” can be broken down into “open” and “ed.” They can actually put a finger over part of the word on the page to break it down.

“There is so much that caregivers can do to help their children read successfully and enjoy it,” she said. “A little coaching and support can go a long way to making the process better for both of them.”