HALIFAX -- Angela Mackenzie, Guy Hartland and Peggy Alexiadis Brown all have shared experience as parents of children living with learning disabilities, including dyslexia. For years, they had nowhere to turn for support, but that all changed in March when Hartland and his wife created Everyone Reads Nova Scotia – a Facebook page that has grown into a network where hundreds of parents offer support to each other.

Six months ago the three parents were strangers, but their passion for literacy education brought them together.

"I have two boys; a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old, who started school strong,” says Mackenzie. “But as time went on, we started noticing that reading was a challenge; writing was a challenge; they were frustrated; withdrawn in school and didn't know where to go."

Hartland says the sense of community Everyone Reads Nova Scotia has created has helped parents significantly.

"I think it's strength in community. When you get a diagnosis, and your child is struggling, you feel alone –you wonder if you are the only one,” says Hartland. “You see the Facebook messages of children on the honour roll, or they’re doing so well they're reading chapter books every night – when your child's not doing that you feel like you've done something wrong."

However, Hartland says parents are not doing anything wrong, with many paying out of pocket for tutors and various resources to help their children. The group notes there is power in numbers and their group is already making small victories in the short time they've been together.

"We've now gone and had Province House make an announcement about dyslexia and awareness of dyslexia and the situation in Nova Scotia,” says Alexiadis Brown.

It’s a situation that education professor, Jamie Metsala says the government needs to take seriously, noting one in three children are not reading well by Grade 3 – a stat she says is alarming.

"I'd like to see us move to an evidence-based approach,” says Metsala. “This means teaching the components of language and reading, which are phonological awareness, a systematic phonics program which is structured and teaches the whole system from beginning to end for decoding words – that's something we don't do explicitly enough in schools."

The parents say they'll continue to push for better literacy education in the classroom, noting they’ll remain connected as a community until they see change.

"As they get older, they see the differences,” says Mackenzie. “They see how their friends are doing, and they see how easy it is for their friends to read and write – they start noticing the difference, and that's heartbreaking."

Meanwhile, Everyone Reads Nova Scotia invites anyone interested in learning more about the organization to join their Facebook group. They also note they will be holding an event at the Halifax Central Library on Saturday, October 26, from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. where professor Metsala will speak.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Suzette Belliveau