
How to Screen for Dyslexia, with Gavin Newsom
This installment of Yale's Overcoming Dyslexia course looks at practical screening for dyslexia, using California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has spoken publicly about his own dyslexia, as a reference point for how the condition shows up and gets identified. The lesson walks through what a screening actually checks for: phonological processing, letter-sound mapping, and reading fluency gaps that distinguish dyslexia from general reading difficulty. It covers the tools and observations educators and clinicians use to flag a child or adult for further evaluation, and why early screening changes outcomes. As a short segment within a longer Yale course, it assumes some grounding in the neuroscience and history covered in earlier lessons, but stands on its own as a concrete guide to spotting dyslexia's warning signs in real people rather than textbook cases.