Supporting Your Neurodivergent Athlete at Home: Building Confidence and Success

My son never enjoyed school. After the Davis® program, academics became easier and his self-confidence improved—but he couldn’t help comparing himself to his older brother, who naturally loved books, reading, and learning.

Then he found sports.

Everything changed. He loved it. I truly believe his confidence and resilience today stem directly from this athletic foundation, though being a dyslexic athlete came with bumps. He was physically gifted—he dominated on a pure athletic level—but the vocabulary, the plays, the coaching language? Sometimes that confused him. And when he hit middle school and experienced coaching transitions, new coaches brought different teaching methods and terminology he had to decode all over again.

That’s when I realized: what happens at home matters just as much as what happens on the field.

The hours between practices and games—how you prepare your child, how you respond to setbacks, how you reinforce learning, and how you interact with your child during and after the game—can be the difference between a child who thrives in sports and one who gives up.

This isn’t about becoming an assistant coach or turning your backyard into a training facility. It’s about creating a home environment that builds on what’s happening at practice, can rebuild confidence when it wavers, and helps your child develop the resilience that will serve them far beyond sports.

Let’s talk about how to do that and where to start.

Self-Regulation Tools

Before your child walks into practice or steps onto the field, they need to be ready—mentally and physically, that’s where self-regulation tools come in. These are simple techniques you can teach your athlete to get their brain and nervous system into the optimal space for learning and performing.

If you’ve already completed a Davis® Program, you have an excellent focusing tool for academics and learning—keep using that as is. For sports, however, you might want to introduce a sports-specific focus point that works better for athletic performance. For many field sports athletes find a focus point located directly above the forehead works great, as it gives them a wider view of the playing area and helps with quicker reaction times.

If you haven’t completed a Davis® program and don’t have the Davis self-regulation tools, don’t worry. Here are three essential self-regulation tools every neurodivergent athlete needs:

A Focusing Tool: The String Method

A sports focus can often be located directly above the head—about six-inches to a foot above, between the crown and their forehead. Here’s a technique you can teach your child to find and maintain that focus point:

Step One: Find Your Balance

Have your child stand up straight and shift their weight onto one foot. They’re going to balance on one leg—it doesn’t matter which one. The act of balancing requires their brain to orient itself. You literally cannot balance while disoriented. This simple physical act is the foundation.

Step Two: Imagine the Strings

While balancing, have them visualize that there is a string holding them up. Picture a string attached to the crown of their head, gently pulling them upward. This invisible string is holding them in perfect alignment. This visualization gives their brain a clear, physical reference point—something concrete to focus on rather than an abstract idea.

Step Three: Place Your Focus Point

Now have them imagine a dot floating about six-inches to a foot above their head, and just forward of the string maybe in inch to two forward. This dot is their focus point. It’s not moving. It’s not complicated. It’s just there, steady and clear.

Step Four: Return to Your Dot

Whenever they need to refocus in practice or a game have them think of that dot. Imagine the feeling of the string holding them upright and aligned as they see the dot in their mind. If they have a moment, actually balance on one foot. If they don’t have time for that, just mentally picture the dot and feel the strings holding them upright.

Your child will need to experiment with this focus point as they play their sport. If it doesn’t feel quite right or they can’t get into the zone, they may need to shift it slightly.

For example, a baseball player might try it while catching and again while stepping up to bat. The softball and baseball athletes I’ve worked with all really liked this focus point. One soccer player told me he felt much quicker reacting with it, and a hockey player said he could see the court better. If your child swims or does martial arts, this particular focus point might not be the best fit—but the principle still holds: finding a focus where their body feels grounded and in alignment will serve them well.

Once they find the right spot, it becomes a quick mental reset they can use anytime—before stepping up to bat, before a free throw, before taking the field. It is important to practice using this new focal point. After using it intentionally overtime it will become second nature.

A Calming Tool: Nervous System Reset

When your child is feeling anxious or overwhelmed—waiting to bat with everyone watching, or after a frustrating play, they need a way to calm their nerves. Teach them a simple breathing technique: slow, deep breaths in through the nose, and longer exhales out through the mouth. This signals to their body and mind that they are safe and helps release the anxiety that builds in high-pressure moments.

An Energy Tool: The Dial or Lever

In Davis® work, we call the energy tool “your dial.” If your child hasn’t learned this yet, think of it as an energy lever they can actively control and adjust based on the activity. The energy needed to listen to instructions is very different from the energy needed to sprint down a football field or explode off the line. Teach your child to consciously adjust their internal lever before each activity—turning it lower for focus and listening, higher for explosive movement and intensity. They’re in control of dialing in exactly what they need.

These three tools—focus, calm, and energy—work together to prepare your athlete’s brain and body for success.

Pre-Teaching Vocabulary and Concepts

When starting a new sport or going back to a sport for a new season, vocabulary can change, when this happens, it can be very helpful to pre-teach vocabulary and concepts at home to help reduce the cognitive load your child faces at practice.

When your child walks into practice and hears unfamiliar terminology or new concepts for the first time, they’re trying to do three things simultaneously:

1. Decode and understand the words
2. Grasp the concept being explained
3. Figure out how to execute it physically

That’s a lot. For a dyslexic that often processes language more slowly, it’s can be too much and they have disoriented or fall behind and miss information. For a kid with ADHD, following the sequencing and timing of a new play can cause some disorientation, resulting in missing understanding.

When you pre-teach vocabulary and concepts at home, your child arrives at practice already familiar with the language and basic ideas. Now they can focus their cognitive energy on execution and refinement rather than basic comprehension.

Ways to Pre-Teach Effectively

Get the practice schedule or curriculum in advance

Ask the coach: “What will you be working on this week?” or “What plays or skills are coming up?” Most coaches are happy to share this information, especially when you explain it helps your child prepare.

Introduce terminology in a low-pressure setting

A few days before practice, casually introduce the terms:

“Hey, I heard Coach is going to work on ‘pick and roll’ this week. Want to see what that looks like?”

Then show them a short video clip (YouTube is full of examples) or demonstrate with household objects.

Use visual aids and or physical demonstration

Don’t just define the term verbally. Show it:

• Watch professional athletes execute the skill
• Watch a YouTube lesson on it.
• Walk through the movements
• Have fun:
  • model it in clay
  • Draw a simple diagram or
  • Use action figures or toys to demonstrate a play

Make it interactive and playful

“Okay, you be the defender, I’ll be the offensive player. I’m going to show you what a ‘give and go’ looks like.”

Learning through play removes pressure and makes the concept stick.

Keep it brief

Five to ten minutes is plenty. You’re not teaching them to master the skill—just familiarizing them with the concept and language so it’s not brand new when the coach introduces it.

Real-World Example

Your child’s soccer coach is introducing “overlapping runs” next practice.

A few days before practice:

• You watch a 2-minute YouTube video together showing overlapping runs in professional soccer
• You walk through it in the backyard: “You dribble here, I run past you here, you pass to me here”
• Have them teach it back to you.

At practice:
When the coach says “We’re working on overlapping runs today,” your child thinks, “Oh yeah, I know what that is!” Instead of disorienting, they experience recognition and confidence.

The Confidence Multiplier

Pre-teaching doesn’t just reduce confusion—it creates a powerful psychological advantage.

Your child walks into practice feeling prepared and competent. When the coach introduces the concept, they might be one of the first to understand it. They might even demonstrate it successfully on the first try.

Suddenly, they’re not the kid who’s a step behind. They’re the kid who is a step ahead.

That feeling is transformative.

Ongoing Support

Learning-Focused Conversations After Practice

Instead of “How was practice?”—which usually gets a one-word answer—try asking questions that help your child process what they actually learned:

• “What did Coach teach you today?”
• “Did you learn anything new?”
• “What was the most interesting part of practice?”

These questions shift the focus from performance to learning. They give you real insight into what stuck, what confused them, and what might need reinforcement at home. Plus, they help your child recognize their own growth instead of just worrying about whether they did it “right.”

Build a Highlight Reel

Keep a running collection of your child’s best moments—video clips, photos, or even just a written list of wins big and small. You’ll miss recording plenty of moments (especially during practices) and that’s okay. What matters is having something to pull out when you need it.

Use this highlight reel strategically:

• Before big games to remind them of what they’re capable of
• When confidence dips after a tough practice or loss
• Just to celebrate progress and growth

Here’s what surprised me: my son and I would work on his highlight reel at different times during the season, but when his brother made one set to his favorite music and showed it to him, my son noticed something we’d both missed. His brother (who understands sports more then I do) had picked out different moments than we had. His video showed the screens, the pick-and-rolls, and the passes that led to assists. Not just the flashy moments or the baskets. My son felt a surge of pride realizing his brother could see how hard he was working, not just the highlight-reel plays. That’s the power of this tool: it shows your child what others see in them.

Difficult Experiences

Even with the best coach and excellent preparation, your child will have hard days. They’ll make mistakes. They’ll feel frustrated. They might have a game where nothing goes right or a practice where they feel like they can’t do anything correctly.

How you respond in these moments can really help your athlete build resilience.

What Not to Do

In these moments, avoid minimizing their feelings, jumping straight to solutions, or comparing them to others. All of these responses—whether it’s “It wasn’t that bad,” “Here’s what you should do differently,” “But you did better than your teammate,” or “I’m so proud of you!”—dismiss their experience and create distance.

What to Do Instead

Validate their feelings first:

“That was a really frustrating practice, wasn’t it?” or “I can see you’re disappointed with how that game went.”

Let them know their feelings make sense. Sit with the disappointment for a moment before trying to move past it.

Ask what they’re thinking:

“What was the hardest part for you?” or “What are you feeling most frustrated about?”

Sometimes they just need to be heard. Other times, this helps you understand what specifically went wrong so they can address it. This can help move from frustration to empowerment.

Help them identify one thing that went well:

After they have shared their experience, you can help them identity something that went well such as “I noticed you made a great pass in the second half” or “Your footwork on that one play was really solid.”

This isn’t sugar coating—it’s helping them see that a bad game doesn’t mean everything was bad. It builds the habit of balanced self-assessment.

Reframe mistakes as information:

“So you’re saying the timing was off on that play. That’s really good to notice. Now you know what to focus on in practice.”

Mistakes become data points for improvement rather than evidence of failure.

Remind them of past progress:

“Remember when you first started and [specific skill] felt impossible? Now you do it without even thinking. This new thing will get easier too.”

This builds confidence that struggle is temporary and improvement is possible.

Ask what they could do to make a change:

Here’s where you help them figure out what actually went wrong—and what they can control next time.

Start with: “What do you think you could do differently next time?”

Listen to their answer. They might say “I need to practice that move more” or “I didn’t understand what the coach was asking” or “I felt confused out there.” All of these are valuable.

If it’s a skill gap (they recognize they need more practice):
“That makes sense. That’s exactly what practice is for—building that skill. What part do you want to focus on first?”

This frames practice as the solution and puts them in control of what to work on. You can offer to practice together in the backyard, or ask if they want to watch a video of that play first.

If it’s a self-regulation gap (they felt confused, disoriented, or anxious):
Ask: “Did you feel clear about what you were supposed to be doing, or were there moments where things felt confusing?”

If they recognize the confusion or anxiety, you’ve found the real issue. Then: “Remember those focusing and energy tools we’ve been practicing? That’s exactly what would help you feel more grounded and clear next time. Want to practice that before your next game?”

If they didn’t notice the disorientation, you can gently point it out: “I noticed you seemed a little lost out there. Sometimes when we’re not feeling grounded, it’s hard to focus on what the coach is saying. That’s where your focus tool comes in.”

The key: help them recognize what went wrong so they’re motivated to use their tools next time. They’re not being told what to fix—they’re discovering it themselves.

Offer physical comfort and connection:

Sometimes a hug, sitting together quietly, or going for ice cream says more than words. Physical presence communicates “I’m here with you in this” without requiring them to talk about it.

The Long-Term Vision: Sports as a Resilience Builder

Here’s what you need to remember on the hard days, when you’re wondering if all this effort is worth it:

Sports aren’t just about athletics. They’re about building the whole person.

For your dyslexic child, sports can be the place where they discover something school might never show them: They are capable, competent, and strong.

Sports Build Identity Beyond Academics

In school, your child may be “the one who struggles with reading” or “the kid who needs extra help.”

In sports, they can be “the player with great field vision” or “the teammate who never gives up” or “the athlete with creative moves.”

This alternative identity reminds them—and everyone else—that they are more than their academic challenges.

Sports Teach Resilience Through Lived Experience

You can tell your child a thousand times that struggle leads to growth. But it’s different when they live it—when they practice a skill over and over until they finally nail it, when they lose a game and come back to play stronger, when they make a mistake and figure out how to recover.

That’s when it clicks. Not as an idea, but as something they’ve actually done. And that lived experience of pushing through and improving? It carries into everything else in their life.

Sports Provide Concrete Evidence of Progress

In school, your dyslexic child works hard—but progress often feels invisible. They study, they try, they put in effort, yet the results can feel abstract and slow to appear.

Athletic progress is different. It’s physical and visible. Your child can see and feel themselves getting better in real time:

• “I couldn’t dribble with my left hand at the start of the season, and now I can”
• “I used to be afraid of the ball, and now I’m not”
• “I didn’t understand that play, and now I can execute it”

This visible, concrete evidence of improvement—where effort directly translates to measurable progress they can witness themselves—builds self-efficacy: the belief that focused effort actually leads to improvement.

Sports Create Community and Belonging

Being part of a team gives your child a place where they belong, where they contribute, where they matter.

For children who may feel isolated or different in academic settings, this sense of belonging can be profound.

Sports Teach That Different Strengths Matter

Your child learns that there are many ways to be valuable:

• Speed matters, but so does strategy
• Scoring matters, but so does defense
• Individual skill matters, but so does teamwork

In the real world, people need all kinds of strengths. Speed and strategy. Scorers and defenders. Solo players and team players. School often only values one narrow set of skills. Sports shows your kid that the world is much bigger than that.

The Skills Transfer Beyond the Field

The skills your child develops in sports—resilience, teamwork, communication, handling pressure, recovering from mistakes, working toward long-term goals—are exactly the skills they’ll need in careers, relationships, and life.

You’re not just raising an athlete. You’re raising an adult who knows how to persist through difficulty, who can collaborate with others, who understands that failure is temporary and improvement is possible.

Your Role in the Long-Term Vision

Your job isn’t to make your child a star athlete or to ensure they never struggle.

Your job is to:

• Help them find environments where they can succeed
• Teach them to advocate for what they need
• Support them through setbacks
• Celebrate their growth
• Remind them of their strengths when they forget
• Keep the long-term vision in focus when the short-term is hard

You’re teaching them that they can navigate and thrive in a world that isn’t always built for how their brain works.

The Ripple Effect

When neurodivergent children find success in sports:

Their confidence grows and spills into other areas. They start advocating for themselves in school. They try new things. They take risks. They believe in their ability to figure things out.

The resilience they build on the field shows up in other places of life. The problem-solving skills they develop in games help them find creative solutions to academic challenges. The identity they build as a capable athlete balances the identity of “struggling student.”

Sports become the foundation that supports everything else.

Your neurodivergent child can find joy, confidence, and belonging in sports. They can build resilience that transforms their entire life.

And you—through your advocacy, your support, and your unwavering belief in their potential—are making that possible.

You’ve got this. Your child has got this. And together, you’re building something that will last far beyond any season.

The post Supporting Your Dyslexic Athlete at Home appeared first on Learning Tools.

Several years ago, I published a comprehensive blog post addressing coaching strategies for dyslexic athletes. This work attracted the attention of Darius Namdaran, founder of Bullet Proof Academy and host of the Dyslexia Explored podcast. Darius subsequently invited me to serve as a guest speaker on his landmark 100th episode. The resulting conversation provided valuable insights that I am pleased to share with you here: Dyslexia Explored #100 with Sophia Gomma

The following summary outlines key recommendations discussed during that episode, organized by audience: coaching professionals, parents, and student-athletes.

Tips

Coaches:

• Dyslexic athletes are non-verbal conceptualization thinkers who process information through visual and emotional frameworks rather than sequential verbal instructions.
• Verify that athletes understand the meaning of sport-specific terminology rather than assuming comprehension of standard coaching vocabulary.
• Carefully consider directional communication, recognizing that spatial orientation challenges may arise when coaches communicate from the sidelines to athletes on the field.
• Recognize that athletes who do not maintain eye contact while listening are actively engaged in visualization and mental processing, not disengaged or disrespectful.
• Allow additional processing time for athletes new to the sport or unfamiliar with your coaching approach before providing verbal corrections or redirects. This processing delay typically diminishes with familiarity and experience.
• Provide meaningful context and explanation of the reasoning (“why”) behind new information to facilitate integration into long-term memory, as abstract instruction without context is ineffective.
• Familiarize athletes with clipboard diagrams and visual play representations before high-pressure competitions, as flat visual representations can be disorienting without prior exposure.
• Utilize field-based visual markers and demonstrations when providing directional guidance. Abstract directional language such as “left,” “right,” “east,” or “up court” can create significant confusion for visual-spatial thinkers.
• Recognize that dyslexic athletes typically demonstrate strong intrinsic motivation and desire to learn, though they may experience diminished self-esteem due to academic challenges. Motivate through effort-based feedback rather than generic praise or criticism. For example, “I observed you really tried hard at that—your effort was evident” proves more effective than statements such as “you are already good at that” or “you are not skilled at this.”

Parents:

• Secure your child’s agreement and buy-in before initiating conversations with coaches regarding accommodations or interventions.
• Recognize that most coaches lack formal educational training in dyslexia and may not understand dyslexic cognition and learning needs.
• Communicate to coaches that your child thinks in pictures and learns most effectively when provided with the “why” and big-picture context before exploring specific details.

Student-Athletes:

• Advocate for yourself:
  • If you experience difficulty maintaining eye contact during explanations, communicate to your coach that looking away enables you to visualize and mentally construct the concepts being presented.
  • If you require additional processing time, inform your coach of this need.
  • If you are uncertain about assigned plays, request clarification or verbally describe your understanding to your coach—articulate the mental images you have formed to verify comprehension.
• Conduct independent research: Develop familiarity with your sport through video resources, study relevant terminology, and build foundational knowledge to reinforce understanding and build confidence.
• Engage in mental training:
  • Identify your focused or grounded mental state and develop strategies to access this zone consistently.
  • Engage in self-reflection regarding your responses to challenging emotions: How do you respond when angry, confused, or nervous? What strategies can you employ to support yourself during these situations?

The post Coaching Dyslexic Athletes, Dyslexia Explored Podcast appeared first on Learning Tools.

Teaching Multiplication Tables to Dyslexics

Rote memorization can be quite difficult for many dyslexics. Some schools use manipulatives when teaching multiplication, but require kids to move quickly to rote memorization for the times tables. Others use rhyming and clapping: a method, which asks a picture thinker to think with the sound of words, something that does not come naturally to them.

What picture thinkers (dyslexics) need is the ability to see the groups of numbers that they are quickly adding together (aka multiplying). Slow the process way down for them; it will take more time at first, but soon they will be able to see the patterns and understand multiplication, empowering them with math through the grades.

Here is an example: 4 X 6

A students ‘picture’ of 6 x 4! Learning his 6 math facts in the way that works for him!

Making groups out of manipulatives (I use colored rocks or “jewels” as I call them) provides the student a picture they created and can work with; also reinforcing the answer to the multiplication fact/groups which come before 4×6, i.e. 4×5, 4×4, 4×3, 4×2, 4×1.

The exercise should be done by the student when they are focused and can spend time playing with the manipulatives; arranging the items in a grouping that works for them and allowing them to visualize the multiplication process (adding of equal groups).  When they get the grouping the like (one that makes the most sense to them and they can quickly see)  then they need to take a mental picture of the group and label that as 4 x 6.   They can even say aloud to the group, you are 4 x 6 and when I see you I will know you equal 24.

I like to have my students show me how they visually see amounts (see photo below), then I tell them to keep that view of the number and use those visuals and grouping when they do are learning their times’ tables.  This way they can recreate the visual in their minds and actually count to get the correct answer if they can’t remember it.

A students visual of amounts.

A visual picture of numbers 5, 4, 3, and 2.

The post How to Teach Multiplication Tables to Dyslexic Kids appeared first on Learning Tools.

Coaching Dyslexic Athletes

When Sports Become a Lifeline: Understanding the Stakes

As a parent of a dyslexic child, I’ve watched my son navigate the challenges of traditional education—the struggles with reading, the frustration with written assignments, the quiet erosion of confidence that happens when a bright, capable child is repeatedly told, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, that they’re not keeping up. So when he discovered basketball, when his eyes lit up talking about plays and strategies, when he spent hours in the driveway perfecting his shot, I felt something I hadn’t felt in years: hope.

But that hope came with a familiar anxiety. Would sports be another arena where his learning differences would hold him back? Would coaches understand how to reach him, or would we face the same communication barriers that plagued the classroom?

Over the years, my son has played nearly every sport imaginable, but basketball captured his heart. He loves the game deeply and understands it at an intuitive level that surprises even experienced coaches. Yet with each team change, each new coaching style, we’ve faced a learning curve—not because he lacks ability or dedication, but because of the way coaches explain plays and deliver feedback. Some transitions have been seamless; others have been devastating.

I’ve learned a painful truth: the wrong coach can destroy a child’s confidence and stifle a talented player remarkably quickly. But I’ve also discovered something more hopeful: when coaches understand how dyslexic athletes process information, these same children don’t just survive—they thrive. Their unique way of thinking becomes an asset, not an obstacle.

Why Some Coaching Often Fails Dyslexic Athletes

Picture this common scenario: A coach stands at the sideline during practice, rapidly explaining a new offensive play. “Okay, listen up! Point guard brings it up, passes to the wing, cuts through to the weak side, sets a screen for the four who pops out to the elbow while the five rolls to the basket. Got it? Let’s run it!”

Most players nod. They run the play. Some execute it correctly; others need a few repetitions to get it right. But one player—talented, athletic, clearly engaged during the explanation—is completely out of position. The coach repeats the instructions, perhaps more slowly, with more emphasis. The player nods again, appears to understand, but when the whistle blows, they’re still in the wrong place.

The coach grows frustrated. Is this player not paying attention? Not trying hard enough? Not smart enough to understand the game?

None of these assumptions are correct. What’s actually happening is a fundamental mismatch between how the coach is communicating and how this athlete’s brain processes information.

Traditional coaching relies heavily on rapid-fire verbal instructions, abstract terminology, and multi-step directions delivered in sequence. For neurotypical learners, this works reasonably well. Their brains can hold the verbal information in working memory long enough to translate it into action. But for dyslexic athletes—who represent approximately 10-20% of the population—this approach creates a cognitive bottleneck.

The problem isn’t attention, motivation, or intelligence. The problem is that dyslexic brains process information fundamentally differently, and most coaching methods aren’t designed to accommodate this difference. When we fail to recognize this, we don’t just miss out on developing talented athletes—we actively damage their confidence and rob teams of valuable contributors.

The good news? Once coaches understand how dyslexic athletes learn, simple adaptations can transform both individual performance and team dynamics. These aren’t accommodations that lower standards; they’re teaching methods that unlock potential.

Understanding How Dyslexic Athletes Think and Learn

The Foundation: Picture Thinking

The single most important thing to understand about dyslexic athletes is this: they are picture thinkers. While neurotypical individuals often process information through an internal verbal narrative, dyslexic individuals think primarily in images, spatial relationships, and mental models.

When you tell a dyslexic athlete to “run a pick and roll,” they don’t process those words sequentially and then translate them into action. Instead, their brain immediately begins constructing a mental movie of the play—the positions of players, the movement patterns, the spatial relationships, the timing. The clearer and more complete this mental picture, the better they’ll execute the play.

This isn’t a limitation—it’s a different cognitive architecture. In fact, this visual-spatial thinking style is precisely why many dyslexic individuals excel in fields requiring three-dimensional reasoning: architecture, engineering, surgery, and yes, athletics.

The implication for coaching is profound: every verbal instruction you give must be translated by the athlete’s brain into a visual representation. If your words don’t create a clear picture, or if they create an ambiguous or incomplete picture, the athlete won’t be able to execute what you’re asking—no matter how many times you repeat the same words.

The Orientation Challenge: Why “Left” Isn’t Always Left

Orientation refers to physical position or direction in space. For most people, orientation is relatively straightforward: left is left, right is right, forward means toward the goal. But for dyslexic athletes, orientation is more complex—and this complexity is directly related to one of their greatest strengths.

Dyslexic individuals have exceptional perceptive abilities. They can mentally rotate objects, view situations from multiple angles simultaneously, and shift perspective fluidly. This is an enormous advantage during gameplay—it’s why dyslexic athletes often have exceptional court vision, can anticipate plays before they develop, and excel at reading defensive formations.

But this same ability creates challenges with directional language. When you shout “move left!” from the sideline, a dyslexic athlete might be mentally viewing the court from a different orientation than you are. Are you saying left from your perspective as coach? Left from the player’s current position? Left relative to the basket? Left as shown on the diagram you drew earlier?

Words like forward, back, right, left, up, and down are all orientation-dependent. They have no absolute meaning—they only make sense relative to a defined perspective. For neurotypical athletes, the intended orientation is usually obvious from context. For dyslexic athletes, who can simultaneously hold multiple spatial perspectives, the ambiguity can be paralyzing.

This isn’t a deficit in understanding. It’s actually a more sophisticated spatial awareness that requires more precise communication from coaches.

Game Play diagrams can be confusing for athletes with dyslexia.

The Hidden Athletic Strengths of Dyslexic Learners

Before diving into coaching strategies, it’s crucial to understand that dyslexic athletes bring genuine strengths to their teams—not consolation prizes or silver linings, but real competitive advantages:

Exceptional Spatial Reasoning: Dyslexic athletes often have superior ability to judge distances, angles, and trajectories. They can visualize how a play will unfold in three-dimensional space, anticipate where teammates and opponents will be, and find passing lanes that others miss.

Intuitive Pattern Recognition: While they may struggle with sequential, step-by-step processing, dyslexic athletes excel at recognizing patterns holistically. They can read a defense’s formation and instantly know what play will work. They can spot tendencies in opponents that others miss.

Creative Problem-Solving: Because dyslexic thinkers approach problems from multiple angles simultaneously, they often find unconventional solutions. They’re the players who make the unexpected pass, see the opportunity no one else saw, or adapt a play in real-time to exploit a defensive weakness.

Kinesthetic Mastery: Many dyslexic individuals have exceptional body awareness and motor control. Once they’ve physically practiced a movement, their muscle memory is often superior to their peers. They learn by doing, and what they learn through movement, they retain deeply.

Big-Picture Strategic Thinking: While details and sequences may be challenging, dyslexic athletes often have exceptional ability to understand game strategy at a macro level. They grasp how all the pieces fit together, how different plays complement each other, and how to adjust strategy based on game flow.

These aren’t theoretical advantages—they’re observable strengths that, when properly developed, make dyslexic athletes invaluable team members. The challenge is creating a coaching environment where these strengths can emerge.

Coaching Strategies for Dyslexic Athletes

The following strategies are designed to align coaching methods with how dyslexic brains process information. Importantly, these approaches don’t just help dyslexic athletes—they improve learning for all players. They represent best practices in motor learning and skill acquisition that benefit everyone.

Strategy 1: Establish Clear Orientation on Day One

On the first day of practice, before you teach a single play, invest 15-20 minutes establishing a shared orientation language with your team. This foundational step will prevent countless miscommunications throughout the season.

How to implement this:

• Define directional terms explicitly: “When I say ‘up the court,’ I always mean toward the basket we’re attacking. When I say ‘down the court,’ I mean toward the basket we’re defending. Let me show you.” Then physically demonstrate by walking the court.
• Establish left/right conventions: “When I say ‘pass left,’ I mean your left as you’re facing the basket we’re attacking. Let me see everyone point to their left. Good. Now turn around and point to your left again. See how it changed? That’s why I’ll always specify what we’re oriented toward.”
• Use landmark-based language: Instead of relying solely on relative directions, incorporate fixed reference points. “Move toward the three-point line,” “Cut to the free-throw line,” “Screen at the elbow,” “Roll to the basket.” These create clearer mental pictures because they reference concrete locations.
• Create a visual reference: Post a diagram in the locker room showing your directional terminology with arrows and labels. Players can reference this when studying plays.
• Practice with the whole team: Have players demonstrate their understanding by following directional commands. “Everyone move to what I call ‘weak side.’ Show me ‘top of the key.’ Point to ‘the wing.'” This confirms shared understanding and normalizes the process—it’s not singling out dyslexic athletes; it’s establishing team communication standards.

Why this works: By establishing explicit, shared orientation language, you eliminate ambiguity. Dyslexic athletes can build accurate mental pictures because they know exactly what spatial reference frame you’re using. This 20-minute investment prevents hundreds of miscommunications throughout the season.

Strategy 2: Physical Walk-Throughs Before Full-Speed Execution

When introducing any new play, formation, or defensive scheme, always begin with a physical walk-through at slow speed before running it at game pace.

How to implement this:

• Demonstrate first, explain second: Show the play before you describe it. Have your assistant coaches or veteran players walk through the play while the team watches. Let them see the complete picture before you break it down verbally.
• Walk before you run: After the demonstration, have the entire team walk through the play at half-speed or slower. Focus on positioning and movement patterns, not execution speed.
• Pause at key moments: Stop the walk-through at critical decision points. “See where everyone is right now? This is when the screen happens. Notice how the defender has to choose. This is where you read and react.”
• Use different starting positions: Walk through the play from multiple starting positions or against different defensive looks. This helps dyslexic athletes build a flexible mental model rather than a rigid sequence.
• Confirm understanding before adding speed: Before running the play at game speed, ask “Does everyone have a clear picture of where they need to be and when?” Look for genuine nods of understanding, not just compliance.

Why this works: Physical walk-throughs create the mental pictures that dyslexic athletes need. They can see the spatial relationships, feel the timing, and build a complete mental model. This isn’t just helpful for dyslexic players—research in motor learning shows that all athletes learn complex movements more effectively when they can first execute them slowly and deliberately.

Strategy 3: The Repeat-Back Verification Technique

When you give instructions that can’t be physically demonstrated in the moment—during timeouts, halftime adjustments, or sideline coaching—use the repeat-back technique to verify understanding.

How to implement this:

• Ask for the mental picture: Instead of “Do you understand?” ask “Tell me what you’re seeing in your mind. Walk me through what you’re going to do.”
• Listen for spatial language: Effective repeat-backs from dyslexic athletes will include spatial and visual descriptions: “I’m going to cut behind the screen, then I’ll be at the elbow, and I’ll look for the pass coming from the wing.” If you hear only verbal repetition of your words without spatial detail, they may not have built a clear picture yet.
• Correct the picture, not the words: If their mental picture is incorrect, don’t just repeat your original instructions. Instead, help them adjust their visualization: “You’ve got the first part right. Now, where will the defender be when you make that cut? Right—so you’ll need to go wider to get open. Can you see that?”
• Make it routine, not remedial: Use repeat-backs with all players, not just those you know are dyslexic. This normalizes the technique and makes it a team communication standard rather than a special accommodation.

Why this works: This technique catches miscommunication before it becomes a performance problem. It also teaches athletes to build and articulate their mental models, strengthening their ability to process and retain complex information.

Strategy 4: Pre-Study Materials and Visual Aids

Provide visual representations of plays, formations, and concepts that athletes can study outside of practice.

How to implement this:

• Create a playbook with diagrams: Provide each player with printed diagrams of your offensive and defensive schemes. Use clear, consistent symbols and include multiple frames showing movement over time.
• Use video examples: Record your team running plays successfully in practice, or compile video clips from games showing the concepts you’re teaching. Many dyslexic athletes learn exceptionally well from video because it provides the complete visual picture with timing and spatial relationships intact.
• Provide materials in advance: When possible, give players new plays or concepts the night before practice. This allows dyslexic athletes to build their mental models in advance, making practice time more productive.
• Use consistent visual language: If you use X’s and O’s on the whiteboard, use the same symbols in your playbook. If you use different colors for different positions, be consistent. This consistency helps athletes connect different representations of the same concept.
• Leverage technology: Apps and software designed for coaches often include animation features that show plays in motion. These dynamic visualizations are particularly effective for dyslexic learners.

Why this works: Pre-study materials allow dyslexic athletes to process information at their own pace, building mental pictures without the pressure of real-time performance. This preparation makes practice time more effective and builds confidence.

Strategy 5: Understanding Non-Traditional Listening Patterns

There are some neurodivergent athletes that have difficulty maintaining direct eye contact while processing verbal information. This can be misinterpreted as disrespect, inattention, or lack of engagement—but it’s actually the opposite.

How to implement this:

• Recognize alternative attention signals: A player facing the court while you talk, looking down at the ground, or gazing into the middle distance may actually be listening more intently than one staring directly at you. They’re reducing visual input to focus on building the mental picture your words are creating.
• Don’t demand eye contact: Avoid phrases like “Look at me when I’m talking to you” or “Are you paying attention?” These demands can actually interfere with comprehension for dyslexic athletes.
• Verify understanding through action, not eye contact: Judge whether an athlete understood your instructions by whether they execute correctly, not by whether they maintained eye contact during the explanation.
• Educate your coaching staff: Make sure assistant coaches understand this pattern so they don’t inadvertently shame athletes for what is actually effective listening behavior.

Why this works: For many individuals, facial expressions and direct eye contact create additional sensory input that interferes with their ability to build mental pictures from verbal information. Looking away isn’t disengagement—it’s a focusing strategy. Recognizing this prevents unnecessary conflict and allows athletes to process information in the way that works best for them.

Strategy 6: Video Review and Kinesthetic Reinforcement

Combine visual review with physical practice to reinforce learning through multiple channels.

How to implement this:

• Film practice and games: Record your team regularly, focusing on both successful execution and learning opportunities.
• Review with individual athletes: Sit down with players and watch film together. For dyslexic athletes, seeing themselves execute (or fail to execute) a play creates a powerful mental picture that verbal feedback alone cannot provide.
• Use slow-motion and pause: Stop the video at key moments. “See where you are right here? This is the moment you need to make your cut. Watch what happens when you’re late versus when you’re on time.”
• Connect visual review to physical practice: After video review, immediately go to the court and physically practice the concept you just watched. This kinesthetic reinforcement—connecting the visual memory to the physical sensation—creates deep, lasting learning.
• Celebrate successful execution: When reviewing film, make sure to highlight moments when dyslexic athletes executed correctly. This builds their mental library of successful performance and reinforces confidence.

Why this works: Video provides the complete, accurate visual picture that dyslexic athletes need, while kinesthetic practice embeds the learning in muscle memory. This combination leverages their strengths in visual-spatial processing and physical learning.

The Long View: How Sports Transform Dyslexic Children

When we step back from the immediate challenges of coaching communication and skill development, we can see the profound long-term impact that positive athletic experiences have on dyslexic children.

Building Transferable Confidence

For many dyslexic children, school is a daily reminder of what they can’t do. Reading is harder. Writing is harder. Following multi-step directions is harder. They watch their peers succeed effortlessly in tasks that require enormous effort from them. Over time, this creates a narrative: “I’m not as smart. I’m not as capable. I’m not as good.”

Sports can disrupt this narrative. When a dyslexic child discovers that their spatial reasoning makes them exceptional at reading defenses, that their ability to think in pictures helps them visualize plays, that their creative problem-solving leads to game-changing assists—they begin to construct a different story about themselves.

This confidence doesn’t stay on the court. Research shows that success in one domain—especially a domain that’s valued by peers and adults—creates a sense of self-efficacy that transfers to other areas. The child who learns they can master complex basketball plays begins to believe they can master complex math concepts. The athlete who discovers effective learning strategies in sports begins to apply those strategies in the classroom.

Developing Resilience and Growth Mindset

Sports inherently involve failure, adjustment, and persistence. You miss shots. You lose games. You struggle with new skills. For dyslexic athletes working with coaches who understand their learning style, these challenges become opportunities to develop resilience.

When a coach says, “That didn’t work—let’s try explaining it a different way,” the athlete learns that failure isn’t final and that there are multiple paths to success. When a coach helps an athlete find the learning strategy that works for them, the athlete develops agency—the understanding that they can actively shape their own learning rather than being passive recipients of instruction.

This growth mindset—the belief that abilities can be developed through effort and strategy—is one of the most powerful predictors of long-term success. Sports provide an ideal environment for developing this mindset, especially when coaches emphasize effort, strategy, and adaptation over innate talent.

Redefining Identity

Many dyslexic children internalize a negative identity: “I’m the one who struggles. I’m the one who needs extra help. I’m the one who’s different.” Sports can provide an alternative identity: “I’m an athlete. I’m a teammate. I’m someone who contributes. I’m someone with valuable strengths.”

This identity shift is profound. It doesn’t erase the challenges of dyslexia, but it provides a more complete and accurate picture of who the child is. They’re not defined solely by their learning difference—they’re a complex person with both challenges and exceptional strengths.

Creating Lasting Memories of Success

Ask successful adults with dyslexia about their childhood, and many will point to sports as a defining positive experience. It was the place where they felt competent, where they belonged, where their differences became advantages rather than obstacles.

These memories matter. They become part of the internal narrative that carries people through future challenges. When facing a difficult situation in college, career, or life, they can draw on the memory: “I figured out how to succeed in basketball even though I learned differently. I can figure this out too.”

Evidence and Inspiration: Famous Dyslexic Athletes

The connection between dyslexia and athletic excellence isn’t coincidental. The same cognitive differences that create challenges in traditional academic settings often provide advantages in sports. Consider these accomplished athletes who are dyslexic:

• Muhammad Ali: Widely regarded as the greatest boxer of all time, Ali’s ability to read opponents, anticipate movements, and think strategically in the ring exemplified the spatial reasoning and pattern recognition strengths common in dyslexic athletes.
• Magic Johnson: One of basketball’s all-time greats, Johnson’s exceptional court vision and ability to see plays develop before they happened demonstrates the big-picture thinking and spatial awareness that many dyslexic athletes possess.
• Greg Louganis: Considered the greatest diver in history, Louganis’s ability to visualize complex movements in three-dimensional space and execute them with precision showcases the visual-spatial strengths of dyslexic athletes.
• Tim Tebow: The Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback has spoken openly about his dyslexia and how he developed strategies to learn plays and succeed at the highest levels of football.
• Nolan Ryan: The Hall of Fame pitcher who holds the all-time record for strikeouts demonstrated that dyslexic athletes can excel in sports requiring split-second decision-making and spatial judgment.

These athletes didn’t succeed despite their dyslexia—in many cases, the cognitive strengths associated with dyslexia contributed to their exceptional performance. Their success demonstrates what’s possible when dyslexic individuals find environments that value their strengths and provide appropriate support for their challenges.

Moving Forward: A Call to Action

If you’re a coach reading this, I want to acknowledge that what I’m describing requires effort. Establishing clear orientation language, physically walking through plays, creating visual materials, checking understanding through repeat-backs—all of this takes time. In an already packed practice schedule, it might seem like an overwhelming addition.

But here’s what I’ve learned: these strategies don’t just help dyslexic athletes. They improve learning for everyone. The neurotypical athletes (you have more than one!) on your team will also benefit from clearer communication, physical demonstrations, and visual aids. What starts as an accommodation for some becomes a best practice that elevates your entire program.

Moreover, the dyslexic athletes you invest in will reward that investment many times over. Their exceptional spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, and creative problem-solving aren’t theoretical advantages—they’re real competitive assets that will make your team better. The player who seems to always be in the right place at the right time, who makes the unexpected pass that leads to an easy basket, who reads the defense before it develops—there’s a good chance that player is a dyslexic athlete whose strengths have been properly developed.

I hope this guide has given you tools, insights, and most importantly, hope. Dyslexic athletes have so much to offer. With the right support, they don’t just participate—they excel. They don’t just keep up—they lead. They don’t just survive—they thrive.

And in the process, they learn something that will serve them far beyond any playing field: that their differences aren’t deficits, that there are environments where their unique strengths are valued, and that they are capable of remarkable things.

That lesson, more than any trophy or championship, is what youth sports should be about.

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