Are you looking for examples of how to intensify early reading instruction to meet the needs of some of your students? The National Center on Improving LIteracy offers Intensification Lessons that can be used to support intervention. This no-cost set of lesson and teaching materials are based on principles of intensification, and target phonics and early blending skills. The Intensification Lessons include a Teacher Guide, Teacher Flip Charts, and Student Workbook.

Want to learn more about what you can do to meet the needs of students at risk for and with dyslexia? This International Dyslexia Association (IDA) handbook Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Needs to Know handbook is intended to support all teachers in their passion to help every child reach his or her fullest potential.

Inside this handbook educators will learn more about topics such as:

• Signs and symptoms of dyslexia
• Classroom strategies, tips, and tools
• Components of effective reading instruction
• Screening, evaluation, and diagnosis

The more educators are informed about best practices, the better educators are at meeting the needs of all students, in particular students at risk for and with dyslexia. 

Did you know that the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) coined the term Structured Literacy in 2014? Structured Literacy embodies the key elements vetted by the science as essential to reading instruction for ALL students including struggling readers and students at risk for or with dyslexia. IDA’s periodical, “Perspectives on Language and Literacy 75th Anniversary Issue: Structure Literacy Grounded in the Science of Reading”, contains articles that explore each of these science-based, key elements of Structured Literacy authored by well respected experts in language and literacy.  

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Maryanne Wolf, Ed.D, Director at the UCLA Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice will present her keynote titled: Lessons for all Children from Research on Dyslexia and the Reading Brain.

In this presentation, she will synthesize the implications of research on the reading brain and dyslexia for the teaching of reading, for screening and assessment, and for understanding the impact of digital culture on the deep reading/comprehension processes.

Dr. Elsa Cardenas Hagan, Ed.D., Director at the Valley Speech and Language and Learning Center, and Dr. Ioulia Kovelman, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan will be presenting a joint keynote titled: The Bilingual Brain: Strengths in Reading Development and Dyslexia.

Bilingualism changes mind, brain, and literacy development. Parents and educators often worry that these bilingual influences may interfere with children's literacy development- especially in struggling learners and those with dyslexia. In this session, we discuss research on the influences of childhood bilingualism on neural organization for learning to read. In particular, we will discuss how bilinguals' two languages interact within the developing mind and brain, and how these interactions influence children's emerging literacy skills. We will discuss bilingual brain data in the context of theoretical perspectives on literacy development and the necessary educational practices for learning to read.