Ask A Speechy

In this epsiode, Steve Grace and Hugo Richard cover business, startup, entrepreneurship and how all of it work with dyslexia.

Steve Grace

Steve’s new venture, The Nudge Group, was born from a genuine desire to help businesses grow from start-ups to unicorns. After months of research and testing different methodologies, Steve has developed a new and original recruitment model that gives early stage and rapid growth businesses direct access to top-tier talent and specialist expertise without the traditional price tag.

Steve is also the founder and host of the Give It A Nudge podcast. Talking to founders, CEOs and investors on the show, Steve enables them to tell their unique stories. The Nudge Group’s mission is centred around your story: understanding it, showcasing it, and finding talent aligned to it, to achieve long-term goals for everyone.

In this epsiode, Mark Francis Long and Hugo Richard cover living with dyslexia, and how to work efficiently as a dyslexic in the workplace.

Mark Francis Long

Then last year, amid the first coronavirus lockdown 2020, my wife Tereza and I embarked on a venture we have been contemplating for many years — a modern dyslexia awareness campaign to empower the global community, especially the young working professionals (Millennials and GenZ). And therefore, I AM LEX was born.

As a LEX millennial myself, hiding throughout my career, I wanted to come out of my shell with something creative, something all LEX like myself would proud to identify with. I felt so uninspired by the lack of innovation around dyslexia awareness and the many misconceptions the topic has been ridden with, so I decided to change it.

The LEX movement aims to educate the general public, break stereotypes, and shift paradigms with a clean slate. A cutting-edge new identity that focuses on genius over inability and adapts to the trends of the 21st century. It’s time to make us visible and heard, it’s time to entice and empower the future working force and the world!

No more hiding!

In this epsiode, Lydia Allen and Hugo Richard cover dyslexia in the US, and how school can better support struggling students.

Lydia Allen

Distinctions include being appointed to the State Campaign for Grade-Level Reading in 2019, joining the committee’s Conceptual Framework subcommittee in 2020, and co-authoring the Conceptual Framework – Science of Reading statewide resource for parents and educators. In 2020, Lydia launched JUMP Reading, an online reading clinic that serves struggling and dyslexic readers.

JUMP Reading is dedicated to helping children become independent readers and learners by bringing the parents, teachers, principals to the table to create team. By creating a support system while providing reading intervention, we create a supportive environment for our children!

Lydia is passionate about improving literacy and establishing accessible dyslexia therapy.

In this epsiode, Michal Ricca and Hugo Richard cover dyslexia, literacy and how student with dyslexia should be empowered.

Michal Ricca

Michal pulls from many sources to individualize instruction, but her foundation is the Orton-Gillingham technique. Orton-Gillingham has been utilized for over 50 years and is multi-sensory, systematic, structured, sequential, cumulative, and success-oriented.

Michal believes that every child has the fundamental right to read and write well. Quite simply put, she loves what she does. Being a parent of a child with dyslexia and being engulfed in the world for the last 20 years has led her to her next great venture!

In this epsiode, Dr Lutza Ireland and Hugo Richard cover Psychology and learning disorders.

Dr Lutza Ireland

She uses design thinking and co-design methods to develop innovative resources, services and systems for mental health and neurodiversity.

You can explore Dr Lutza research on Research Gate.

In this epsiode, Carol Blumenstein and Hugo Richard cover how Carol and her children started her organisation.

Carol Blumenstein

Carol has five children with learning challenges including Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, ADHD, Severe Anxiety and Selective Mutism. Under her guidance, her children founded KidsRead2Kids, a Parents’ Choice and Creative Child Magazine award-winning nonprofit that brings the joy back to the struggling reader. KidsRead2Kids is in over 60 countries worldwide and provides teachers, librarians, parents and kids free video/audiobooks of abridged classic novels, interactive early childhood read-aloud, lesson plans and creative activities – all designed to make reading fun!

In addition, KidsRead2Kids runs a Book Club on Facebook with almost 2,000 members – including New York Times best-selling authors, librarians, teachers, parents and kids. There, members can upload videos reading their favourite books to help inspire others.

KidsRead2Kids also runs local KidsRead2Kids Book Clubs where high school students are paired with K-2 students to mentor and inspire a love of reading.

In this epsiode, Lauren Crystal and Hugo Richard cover the experience of Lauren running successfull startups while being dyslexia.

Lauren Crystal

She leads digital strategy projects for a broad range of clients including The Australian Red Cross, Australian Aid and Afterpay. She is an ongoing contributor for the Entrepreneur Magazine, Hackernoon and Smart Company, with a combined readership of over 500,000.

In this epsiode, Dean Bragonier and Hugo Richard cover dyslexic lifestyle and personal story about lived experience of being dyslexic. They also offer lots of inspirations.

Dean Bragonier

Shaped by the challenges associated with his dyslexia and after struggling through the traditional secondary education system, Dean became a diligent and successful college student who developed a true love of learning at Bates College. Upon graduation, Dean embraced his entrepreneurial instincts and acquired a small seasonal restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard Island that he transformed into a successful full-scale enterprise. It was through this endeavour that he was able to contextualize his years of laborious academic learning and discover the true gifts of his dyslexic mind.

As a social entrepreneur, Dean has founded his own nonprofit organizations and served as a board member and advisor to a number of others. NoticeAbility is the culmination of Dean’s passion for education and his conviction that the advantages of dyslexia far outweigh its associated challenges.

In this epsiode, Cigdem Knebel and Hugo Richard cover phonic books and how they help struggling reader.

Cigdem Knebel

Cigdem is the founder of Simple Words Books, which are high-interest /low-level decodable children’s chapter books. Her mission is to improve fluency, comprehension, and most importantly, reading-confidence of struggling readers. She accomplishes this by using many carefully chosen decodable and frequently used words in her books with the skills of young dyslexics in mind.

Cigdem believes that all children love to read. This is no different for children who struggle to read; they just need to find that right book for them. And Simple Words Books aspire to be those books.

Check out Simple Words Books for the word list for each book and many free resources.

In this epsiode, Ashraf Samsudin and Hugo Richard cover dyslexia in general and how to teach children how to read.

Ashraf Samsudin

Based in Melbourne, Ashraf presents a wide variety of workshops where his presentation style has been described as clear, engaging and fun. He enjoys facilitating sessions where knowledge, experiences and good practice can be shared amongst those that he trains.

Previously, Ashraf spent the last 14 years teaching and coaching students with learning difficulties in Singapore at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore. His last role as the Director of Specialised Education Services has seen him taking the lead in various curriculum development projects; teacher training initiatives; presenting in numerous local and international workshops; and collaborating with educators to implement initiatives in schools to promote inclusivity for students with learning difficulties.

He is a strong advocate for the disadvantaged and has been very active in spreading the awareness of learning difficulties around the world.

Ashraf holds a Master’s Degree in Education and Educational Leadership from Monash University; and a Double Diploma Dyslexia and Teaching & Training from the University of Cambridge, UK.

When Ashraf isn’t presenting, he is listening to classical music, enjoying chocolate and chai lattes, and exploring his new home in Melbourne with his family.