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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Concord, CA, [July 14, 2016] – Cal State East Bay, Decoding Dyslexia CA (DDCA) and the Northern California Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (NCBIDA) sponsored 32 participants (comprised primarily of public school teachers representing 16 different school districts) at a 4-day Yoshimoto Orton-Gillingham workshop hosted at the Cal State East Bay’s Concord campus. The workshop focused on a data driven, clinical, multisensory, phonetic, teacher guided Orton-Gillingham approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling in whole classroom, small group and one-to-one settings.

Ron Yoshimoto, M.Ed, M.S.W., and a Fellow of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators led the workshop instruction. Ron has more than 30 years’ experience in the fields of social work, education and dyslexia. He has worked as a social worker, counselor, teacher, educational diagnostician, school principal, consultant and teacher trainer. Yoshimoto is the co- director of Orton Gillingham International, a training and consulting organization specializing in training classroom teachers in the Yoshimoto Orton Gillingham Approach. He serves as consultant for Hawaii’s Department of Education and trains teachers in this Orton Gillingham Approach in Hawaii, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Canada, and the continental U.S. He is a former president of the Hawaii Branch of International Dyslexia Association and vice-president of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners.

More information on the workshop can be found at: http://www.ortongillinghaminternational.org.

“The Departments of Teacher Education and Educational Psychology at Cal State East Bay are proud to be the first University in California to offer the Yoshimoto Orton-Gillingham training.  This training is accredited by the International Dyslexia Association and will begin to prepare teachers to become Certified Structured Literacy Teachers with the Center for Effective Reading Instruction,” stated Kathy Futterman, Adjunct Faculty at Cal State East Bay.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Cal State East Bay, NCBIDA and public school teachers in our community in raising awareness about evidence-based teaching practices for students with dyslexia. Ron Yoshimoto is a highly respected expert in this field and we were excited have him lead this training,” stated Tobie Meyer, Decoding Dyslexia CA State Director.

Dyslexia is the single largest learning disability. It is estimated that up to 20% of the overall population displays some signs or symptoms of dyslexia, a language-based learning disability. In California alone, this means over 1 million of our public school students are at risk of being dyslexic. Without proper identification and appropriate reading remediation, most dyslexic children will never read at grade level. According to the 2015 Nation’s Report Card, 72% of all 4th grade students in California read below grade level.

ABOUT DDCA: Decoding Dyslexia CA is a grassroots movement driven by California families, educators and dyslexia experts concerned with the limited access to educational interventions for dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities within our public schools.  We aim to raise dyslexia awareness, empower families to support their children, and inform policymakers on best practices to identify, remediate, and support students with dyslexia in CA public schools. For more information contact: Tobie Meyer, DDCA State Director at tobie_ddca@yahoo.com , visit our website at www.decodingdyslexiaca.org, or like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DecodingDyslexiaCA/

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