"We weren't just a group of angry Moms; we were a group of Moms who were educated and knew what the school was supposed to be doing, and they weren't doing it."

SUMMARY:

We are so excited to introduce you to Julie Kowalczyk. She is President of Decoding Dyslexia - Ottawa Hills, Ohio, and a member of OH-KID (Ohio Kids Identified with Dyslexia).  Julie is a former 7th grade literature teacher, and a 4th generation teacher in her family! Both of Julie's children have dyslexia. The first signs of difficulty at school were apparent when her son was in Kindergarten. The teacher reassured Julie and her husband saying words familiar to many of us- "he's a boy, he's very bright, has good vocabulary; don't worry - he'll catch up". But his difficulties continued, and when he started 2nd grade, coincidentally with the same teacher he had in Kindergarten, both Mom and teacher felt it was time to look into a dyslexia diagnosis. Fast forward a couple of years and Julie formed a group with other parents to advocate for evidence-based reading instruction for all students. Listen in and learn about how this parent group worked for change in their district, including using social media, letter writing campaigns, parent education and even community outreach.  This is an inspiring story you won't want to miss!

RESOURCES:

Ohio Department of Education Dyslexia Guidebook, July 2022

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Parents For Reading Justice is a nonprofit grassroots movement dedicated to ensuring every child learns to read by engaging parents and educators in adopting the science of teaching reading. Our mission is to activate, train, and guide parent groups to flip their school districts to evidence-based reading instruction. Our vision is to speed the nationwide shift to evidence-based literacy instruction so that 95% of students read proficiently.

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Host Brett Tingley is the President of OH-KID, a grassroots parent group dedicated to ensuring all children in Ohio learn to read. She is also an advisory board member of the International Dyslexia Association Central Ohio. She is the founder and President of Parents for Reading Justice.

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Please join us on our socials, watch our documentary, take our Masterclass, register your parent group, pay it forward and DONATE on our website!

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