178. Supporting Students with Visual Dyslexia with Hillary Summerbell
From Educator Forever by Lily Jones, Teacher Advocate
March 25, 2026 · 36 min
About this episode
Hillary Summerbell discusses her journey in creating Summerbell, a literacy technology for visual dyslexics, and the challenges of developing EdTech.
Hillary Summerbell is the founder and CEO of Summerbell, a literacy technology company redefining how visual dyslexics engage with text. A fourth-generation Washingtonian and lifelong creative, Hillary brings a designer’s eye and an inventor’s persistence to the world of EdTech. After a career in interior design and entrepreneurship, Hillary built on the academic research of positional arc reading and elevated it through technology, creating Summerbell. Her work has delivered measurable gains in reading fluency and comprehension, transforming an academic idea into a tool used by students, parents, and educators nationwide. Hillary and I talk about her visual dyslexia and how it influenced the creation of Summerbell, which reformats text into an arc for easier comprehension. She gets into the challenges of developing Ed Tech and how teachers can best use Summerbell with AI. For all links and resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.educatorforever.com/episode178 .
People in this episode
Host: Lily Jones
Guest: Hillary Summerbell
Topics covered
- visual dyslexia
- literacy technology
- EdTech
- reading fluency
- comprehension
- AI in education
Keywords
- visual dyslexia
- literacy technology
- reading fluency
- comprehension
- EdTech
- AI
- Summerbell
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Summerbell
Places: Washington
More episodes of Educator Forever
- 188. Implementing Science Research in K-12 Classrooms with Matt Wilkins of Galactic Polymath · June 10, 2026 · 33 min
- 187. From Regulation to Liberation with Dr. Niki Elliott · June 3, 2026 · 34 min
- 186. Fostering Creativity with Josh Davidson of Night Zookeeper · May 27, 2026 · 28 min
- 185. The Three Things That Change How You Learn Anything · May 20, 2026 · 14 min
- 184. The 5 Stages of Starting an Education Business · May 6, 2026 · 14 min
- 183. Centering Educator Wellbeing with Monika Robinson of Reparations Ed · April 29, 2026 · 36 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Educator Forever podcast page.