Dyslexia Expert Coming to California

Learn how one dyslexia expert is paying it forward! Decoding Dyslexia CA interviews Dr. Margie Gillis, President and Founder of Literacy How to learn more about the innovative way she is reinvesting her company’s profits into training teachers in Structured Literacy. Structured Literacy is a research-based approach to providing instruction that benefits not only students with dyslexia, but all students.

Dr. Gillis holds an Ed.D. in Special Education and is a Certified Academic Language Therapist. She is also a research affiliate with Haskins Laboratories.  Haskins Laboratories has long-standing, formal affiliations with the University of Connecticut and Yale University and it produces groundbreaking research that enhances our understanding of—and reveals ways to improve or remediate—speech perception and production, reading and reading disabilities, and human communication.

 

Decoding Dyslexia CA is pleased to announce that Dr. Gillis of Literacy How will be coming to the San Francisco Bay Area this summer to provide a weeklong (30-hour) Structured Literacy training for sixty teachers.  DDCA is co-sponsoring this training with San Ramon Valley USD.  More information on how teachers can register for this training can be found here. This training will sell out so register early.

You Asked! Question 16

Download a PDF version of this You Asked question and answer here.

Q:  Does my school district need to wait for the statewide dyslexia guidelines to be issued before they implement dyslexia specific trainings and appropriate Structured Literacy interventions?

A:  No, in fact, the California Department of Education (CDE) has been presenting across the state and their presentation slides specifically state that districts should NOT wait for the dyslexia guidelines before acting.  The CDE also states it is okay for school districts to use the term “dyslexia”.

It may be helpful to share a copy of CDE’s presentation with your school district (especially page 10).  You can also access a complete copy of the CA Dyslexia Guidelines Dyslexia here. Dyslexia has appeared in the federal education code for decades and is specifically mentioned several times in the California Education Code.  For further resources, please read You Asked Q8.

For more YOU ASKED questions and answers click HERE