Summary

In this episode of Literacy Now, we meet an amazing parent advocate, Jenine Hanson. Jenine is from Naperville, Illinois, a city which is consistently listed in the top 10 U.S. cities in which to raise a family, particularly because of its excellent schools. So when her oldest child was having difficulty with learning to read as early as 1st grade, Jenine started asking a lot of questions. She takes us through her family's long and arduous journey to identify the source of her child's challenges. Only after receiving a dyslexia diagnosis in 5th grade by a private neuropsychologist did the school district agree to do an educational evaluation. By then, Jenine was connecting with a lot of other parents with similar stories, all asking, how does a world class school district miss the most common learning disability? What started as a parent support group shifted to advocacy and the formation of the Dyslexia Action Group of Naperville. Jenine led the effort to engage with the District and the school board of education to change how reading was being taught. Listen and learn how these efforts ultimately led to the district adopting a reading program with a structured literacy approach (with parent input in the process), a dyslexia screener, and professional learning for teachers in evidence-based reading instruction. Prepare to be inspired!

Resources

Dyslexia Action Group of Naperville (DAGN)

Barton Reading & Spelling System

IEP/s504 Accommodations Matrix and related conversation about it on Twitter

Naperville professional learning day

DAGN dyslexia simulation day

Everyone Reading Illinois (ERI)

International Dyslexia Association

Illinois State Board of Education - The Dyslexia Guide

Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE)

Book- Shifting the Balance, by Jan Burkins and Kari Yates

Sold a Story podcast, by Emily Hanford

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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!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Dyslexic Children - Documentary⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Masterclass⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Parent Group Directory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ParentsForReadingJustice.org⁠

"You just gave me the code to the English language. I can read!"

We are thrilled to bring you this inspiring conversation with David Chalk. David is a Canadian technology entrepreneur, cybersecurity specialist, and a media personality. Until very recently, he couldn't read. David has learning disabilities including acute dyslexia. He shares the physical, mental and emotional toll it has taken on him throughout his life. He knew early on that working for someone else was not going to be a successful path, and as a result he was driven into starting his own businesses. He had many career successes, but when COVID hit, he lost his business at that time. By sheer chance, he was introduced to Nora Chahbazi, founder of EBLI - Evidence Based Literacy Instruction, and leaped at the chance to learn to read. After just six days of instruction, David went from an elementary level of reading comprehension to a post-university comprehension level because he was no longer struggling to read every word. He said to Nora, "This is like a secret code. I can do math, I understand physics... You just gave me the code to the English language. I can read!"

He goes on to explain this transformation with these words: "No one had ever told me. It wasn't about reading, it was about understanding that words are the positioning of language onto paper for extraction later. So if you know how to encode it onto paper, you can pull it off and read it. But when you are only taught that this is what's on the paper and try and understand it- no, I need to know how it got on the page, what was the coding that got it down there. Know that, you can read!

All Website Links:

EBLI - Evidence Based Literacy Instruction

Documentary: ⁠The Truth About Reading

Resources:

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Twitter Pages: @AskDavidChalk, @truthabout2023

Facebook Page: @DavidChalk

LinkedIn Page: @DrDavidChalk

Instagram Page: @thetruthaboutreading

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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!

⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Dyslexic Children - Documentary⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Masterclass⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Parent Group Directory⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠ParentsForReadingJustice.org⁠

We are so excited to welcome Donna Hejtmanek to our podcast! Donna is the founder of the Facebook page, Science of Reading- What I Should Have Learned in College.

She is also a retired special education teacher and reading specialist. In our conversation, Donna talks about what led her to form the Facebook group, how it supports teachers and parents, and how it developed into the incredible resource it is today with over 230,000 members! She also shares with us her efforts to disseminate what has been learned from scientific research on how children learn to read and write so that it is accessible to our childrens' teachers, her advocacy locally and at the state level for students with dyslexia, and her thoughts on shifting practices in colleges of education. Our conversation ends with Donna's advice to parents on being your child's advocate. Listen in now to this inspiring conversation!

Resources:
Facebook- Science of Reading What I Should Have Learned in College

SoR What I Should Have Learned In College New Member Welcome Letter and List of Resources

Socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/704498996666615/

______________________________

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

⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Our Dyslexic Children - Documentary⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Parent Group Directory⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Donate⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠ParentsForReadingJustice.org⁠

SUMMARY:

In this episode, we talk with Margie Gillis, founder of the nonprofit Literacy How. Margie is a nationally recognized literacy expert whose career has been steeped in the science of reading from the very beginning. Margie has been teaching children to read for over 40 years, and she founded Literacy How in 2009 to provide professional development and coaching to teachers and school districts so they learn how best to implement evidence-based literacy practices. Join us as we dive right into a discussion on reading science being more than just phonics instruction, the components of a strong reading program, supporting teachers and administrators in translating research to practice, and ideas for systemic change starting with the colleges of education who prepare our future teachers. Enjoy this informative episode!

Resources

National Reading Panel Report (full text, overview, findings)

Literacy How and the The Reading Wheel

Ed Reports

The Reading League Curriculum Evaluation Guidelines

Core Knowledge Language Arts

Hill For Literacy

Reading Rockets

Haskins Global Literacy Hub

Florida Center for Reading Research

National Center for Improving Literacy (NCIL)

International Dyslexia Association (IDA)

MTSU Center for Dyslexia

The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, Dr. Sharon Vaughn, Executive Director

Reading Courses / Professional Development:

Big Dippers Science of Reading Course

Tools 4 Reading / Top 10 Tools

AIM Institute for Learning & Research

Reading Rockets Reading 101 Course

______________________________

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

⁠Facebook⁠

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠Twitter⁠

⁠Our Dyslexic Children - Documentary⁠

⁠YouTube⁠

⁠Masterclass⁠

⁠Parent Group Directory⁠

⁠Donate⁠

⁠ParentsForReadingJustice.org⁠

"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.

______________________________

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

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Dyslexic Children - Documentary⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Masterclass⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Parent Group Directory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ParentsForReadingJustice.org⁠⁠

SUMMARY:

Today on Literacy Now is a special broadcast of a few extended conversations we had with our colleague and good friend Kareem Weaver. In Part 3, we dive more deeply into advocacy efforts- not just what advocates can and should do, but how to effectively partner with other stakeholders who are like-minded in this cause, but not necessarily like-minded in other areas. Kareem also tells us about school districts that are demonstrating what is possible to turn around literacy rates and close the achievement gap. He sends a message to communities about supporting their teachers while also holding district leadership accountable, and that the civil rights community also has a vital role to play in holding the teacher preparation programs accountable. Lastly, Kareem leaves us with the reminder that we have to come together to solve the problem of low literacy because there is a cost to be paid by all of us for ignoring the needs of our children.

Kareem Weaver is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of FULCRUM, which partners with stakeholders to improve reading results for students. He is the Oakland NAACP's 2nd Vice President and Chair of its Education Committee; his advocacy is featured in the just released film The Right to Read. Kareem also appears in our Masterclass which we encourage you to check out. 

For more information, please visit ⁠⁠Fulcrum-Oakland.org⁠⁠.

______________________________

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.

______________________________

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.

______________________________

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

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Dyslexic Children - Documentary⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Masterclass⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Parent Group Directory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ParentsForReadingJustice.org⁠⁠