Free Peer Mentoring for Kids with Dyslexia & ADHD | Eye to Eye
Eye to Eye is a national nonprofit running peer mentoring programs for students with learning differences — dyslexia, ADHD, autism, processing disorders, and other ways of learning that aren’t always supported in standard school environments. Founded in 1998 by David Flink and fellow Brown University students, Eye to Eye pairs middle and high school students who learn differently with college and high school mentors who share the same kind of learning difference. The mentoring relationship is built on the simple but transformative premise that no kid should feel alone or broken because of how their brain works.
What to Expect
Eye to Eye runs weekly, school-based after-school mentoring programs. Trained college and high school mentors — themselves students with learning differences — meet with 5th through 8th graders one-on-one or in small groups for about an hour each week. Activities are arts-based: collage, drawing, building, sculpting, writing — used as a non-academic medium for talking honestly about how it feels to learn differently. Through these projects, mentees build self-advocacy skills, learn about their own brains, and meet someone like them who is succeeding. Eye to Eye has run programs at more than 1,000 public, private, and charter schools across 25+ states and now also offers virtual mentoring options.
Who This Group Is For
Eye to Eye’s mentees are middle school students (grades 5-8) with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, or other learning differences. Mentors are high school and college students who also learn differently and have been trained by Eye to Eye to support their younger mentees. The program operates through school-based chapters and virtual mentoring, so the path in depends on whether a school hosts a chapter or whether the family connects through the virtual program. Eye to Eye also supports a broader Neurodiversity Alliance for students who want to continue advocacy work into high school and beyond.
Why Peer Support Works
Students with learning differences often grow up believing something is wrong with them — a belief reinforced by school systems that don’t always understand their brains. Being mentored by an older student who learns the same way they do is one of the most efficient ways to interrupt that belief. Mentees see what’s possible, learn to talk about their own learning style with confidence, and build the social-emotional skills they’ll need to advocate for themselves through school and into adulthood. For mentors, leading the program reinforces and develops their own identity as someone with a learning difference who is thriving.
How to Join
Eye to Eye programs are free for participating students. Visit eyetoeyenational.org to see if there’s an Eye to Eye chapter at a school in your area, request information about starting a chapter, or learn about the virtual mentoring program. Families, educators, and prospective mentors can all reach out through the site for the right entry point.