2016 Symposium Series Dyslexia January 29, 2016 This workshop will review the history Main Street Landing | Burlington, VT of the term, its status in the law, early signs of risk, and what educators can do April 15, 2016 to ensure that all children learn to read. Greenwood School | Putney, VT February 12, 2016 Dyscalculia Main Street Landing | Burlington, VT What is it? What are some indicators from student March 18, 2016 work? How can we provide support for students Greenwood School | Putney, VT with dyscalculia and other math difficulties? Dysgrap hia March 18, 2016 At what point does illegible handwriting rise to the level of a specific learning disability? Are Main Street Landing | Burlington, VT spelling and mechanics important? Should students be identified when their poor spelling May 13, 2016 makes their writing unintelligible? Get the Greenwood School | Putney, VT answers and more at this workshop. Register for all three and save $75 (or pay $125 each) Visit www.sterncenter.org or call 802-878-2332 Great for School Psychologists, Special Educators and Other Professionals Presented by the Cynthia K. Hoehl Institute for Excellence Friday, April 15, 2016 Dyslexia Greenwood School | Putney, Vermont The field of reading is rife with About the Presenter controversy. We not only disagree over Melissa Farrall, Ph.D. what constitutes a reading disorder, we is the author of Reading often bristle over the language that others Assessment: Linking Language, Literacy, and Cognition, use to describe one. The term, dyslexia, and the co-author of All elicits a wide range of reactions. About Tests & Assessments published by Wrightslaw. There are disbelievers. There are the annoyed. There Melissa Farrall previously are many who find the term to be mystifying. No worked an educational wonder. The term, although widely used by many consultant for St. Joseph well-informed authorities, has been virtually ignored Hospital in Nashua, NH, before becoming Program in most teacher training programs and textbooks. Manager for Evaluations at the Stern Center for Language and Learning. Dr. Farrall received her The fact is that those of us who care the most about doctorate from Brown University in 1981 in the children’s literacy are speaking different languages. area of Slavic Linguistics. She received her Master’s You say, “learning disability,” I say, “dyslexia.” Degree from Rivier College in Learning Disabilities Someone else says, “strephosymbolia.” in 1994, and her certification as a Specialist in the Assessment of Intellectual Functioning in 1999. This language difference, and the controversies Dr. Farrall worked as a learning disability specialist that have ensued, have prompted the Department in the public schools for several years. She has of Education to issue a clarification of the IDEA. worked with the International Dyslexia Association This clarification, in a letter dated October 2015, at both the national and branch levels. Dr. Farrall encourages SEAs and LEAs to review their policies lives in Milford, New Hampshire with her husband, and consider when it would be appropriate to use the her dog, and her cat. terms dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia to describe and address a child’s unique needs. This workshop will focus on dyslexia, which is the most 2016 Symposium Series common cause of difficulty with reading, spelling, and written expression. We will review the history of the term, its status in the law, early signs of risk, Coming Up and what educators can do to ensure that all children Dysgraphia | May 13, 2016 learn to read. Participants will learn how to monitor and evaluate progress, interpret data, and make research-based recommendations. We will examine case studies and discuss the types of instruction and Register Today! the strategies that support all children to become www.sterncenter.org readers. Participants will leave this workshop with an understanding of how reading develops, the root 802-878-2332 cause of most reading problems, and how to increase student literacy in the classroom and society at large. Series for $300 or $125 each This series is great for School Psychologists, Special Educators and Other Professionals. Friday, March 18, 2016 Dyscalculia Greenwood School | Putney, Vermont What is it? What are some indicators About the Presenter from student work? How can we provide Anita Long, Ed.D., support for students with dyscalculia and Stern Center for Language and other math difficulties? Learning Instructor, received her Doctor of Education degree in Educational In an interview with KQED/MindShift1, Jo Boaler talks Leadership and Policy about a recent study of brain scans of children with Studies from the University and without math learning disabilities. “What they saw of Vermont in 2011 and her was the brain lighting up in lots of different areas while Master of Science degree in working on math,” Boaler said. mathematics from University of New Hampshire in 1993. She began her collegiate career at Douglass A recent statement by Michael Yudin, Assistant College where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Secretary of Education, reinforces the importance of Mathematics in 1980. recognizing and addressing the impact of dyscalculia on students in our classrooms. Student achievement For more than 25 years, Anita has worked as a professor, instructor, and coordinator in schools outcomes in mathematics have been lagging behind throughout the State of Vermont. Her long our international peers at the same time that the standing position within the Vermont education demand for more STEM-competent graduates is system has provided her with experience in one-on- growing. Math difficulties in the classroom have one peer coaching and alternative techniques to historically been addressed with increased individual teaching math curriculum. Anita’s research interest attention for students who are not meeting grade- is in providing access to math instruction to all level achievement goals. This approach is costly in time students and to improve math confidence among and resources. There is increasing evidence that there teachers of math. are classroom strategies that can help all students be more successful in the understanding and learning of mathematics. Specifically, addressing early issues of numeracy and number concept is a crucial step for strong foundational learning. Later intervention 2016 Symposium Series with meaningful mathematical tasks can continue strengthening the link between math facts and Coming Up conceptual meaning. Dyslexia | April 15, 2016 Our role as educators is to find and teach strategies Dysgraphia | May 13, 2016 to children to help them focus their brain strengths in content areas such as math that they perceive to be weaknesses. Dr. Long will lead us through an Register Today! exploration some of these strategies as well as looking for indicators in student work that might indicate www.sterncenter.org when to employ these strategies. 802-878-2332 This series is great for School Psychologists, Special Educators and Other Professionals. Series for $300 or $125 each Friday, May 13, 2016 Greenwood School | Putney, Vermont Dysgrap hia How we conceptualize writing has important consequences for how we address the needs of About the Presenter children in the classroom. Writing, like reading, Melissa Farrall, Ph.D. is a tool for learning. Children who have difficulty is the author of Reading with writing lose an all-too-important vehicle for Assessment: Linking Language, thinking deeply about the things they learn. Literacy, and Cognition, and the co-author of All Although we may speak of a learning disability in About Tests & Assessments written expression, no two educators understand the published by Wrightslaw. term in the same way. At what point does illegible Melissa Farrall previously handwriting rise to the level of a specific learning worked an educational consultant for St. Joseph disability? Are spelling and mechanics important? Hospital in Nashua, NH, before becoming Program Should students be identified when their poor spelling Manager for Evaluations at the Stern Center for makes their writing unintelligible? How do we Language and Learning. Dr. Farrall received her differentiate between students with organizational doctorate from Brown University in 1981 in the challenges in writing and those who cannot formulate area of Slavic Linguistics. She received her Master’s sentences? What does it mean to be dysgraphic? Are Degree from Rivier College in Learning Disabilities students with dysgraphia learning disabled? in 1994, and her certification as a Specialist in the Assessment of Intellectual Functioning in 1999. In order to address this confusion and lack of clarity, Dr. Farrall worked as a learning disability specialist the Department of Education has issued a clarification in the public schools for several years. She has of the IDEA. This clarification, in a letter dated October worked with the International Dyslexia Association at both the national and branch levels. Dr. Farrall 2015, encourages SEAs and LEAs to review their lives in Milford, New Hampshire with her husband, policies and consider when it would be appropriate to her dog, and her cat. use the terms dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia to describe and address a child’s unique needs. This workshop will focus on what we know about the writing process and the underlining skills that make 2016 Symposium Series communication in print possible. We will review the history of the terms, dysgraphia and learning disability This