As a parent of 2 dyslexic boys, I am always on the hunt for great assistive technology that they can use in the classroom. We know that the use of assistive technology can ignited a passion and transformed a life of students with learning disabilities. Parents and teachers need a understanding of what this assistive tech can do for their students.

 Assistive technology is extremely important for people with disabilities and today we showcase Microsoft’s AT and just how empowering it can be during a pandemic.  

Today’s we’ll be speaking with Mrs. Rachel Berger about Assistive technology and how to it can help students with learning disabilities. 
About Mrs. Rachel Berger: 
Assistive Tech Specialist / Dyslexia and LD Community Leader /  Rachel is the Executive Director of Decoding Dyslexia Minnesota, a nonprofit dedicated to educational advocacy and an advocate for students with learning disabilities.  In that role for the past 7n years, she has worked with legislators on improving policy to benefit students with dyslexia and their educator needs.  She serves on the Higher Education Literacy Partnership in MN. In addition, Rachel works with Microsoft Education as a dyslexia assistive tech specialist helping to train educators and students in using assistive technology to remove barriers and empower students to reach their full educational potential. 

Twitter: @rachelmberger  
Inclusive Reading: https://aka.ms/InclusiveReadingDemo 
Inclusive Writing: https://aka.ms/InclusiveWritingDemo  
Inclusive Math: https://aka.ms/InclusiveMathDemo 
Inclusive Communication: https://aka.ms/InclusiveCommunicationDemo https://aka.ms/AllAboutImmersiveReader

Dyslexia Awareness Curriculum 
http://aka.ms/MECMadebyDyslexia 
http://aka.ms/MECMadebyDyslexia2  
Register here: https://lnkd.in/gAEabEq

👉 Navigating Dyslexia: Collaboration, Support, and Community: Oct. 8, 6:30 PM EST
👉 Learning Differently with Dyslexia: Empowering Strengths by Providing Access: Oct 15, 6:30 PM EST
👉 Decoding the Future of Dyslexia: Oct 22, 6:30 PM EST

This show is sponsored in part by:
Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Impact Dyslexia: www.Impactdyslexia.org
3 Dudes Design: https://3dudesdesign.com/
Learning Ally Demo https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/Schedule-Demo
Texas Education Association Partnership https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/school-grants/Texas

   
Please join us as we speak to Angelita Hunter about Can the courts help stop the pipeline to prison?         
Angelita Hunter Lives in Van Alstyne, Texas. She currently works as a Court Supervisor. She is on the following commissions. TX   
Judicial Commission on Mental Health Collaborative Council
Member SPARK for Autism Research Community Advisory Council Member
North Chpt TX Court Clerk Association
TX Municipal Court Education Center Educational Speaker
Collin Co. Mental Health Symposium committee member
Disabilities Right’s Advocate
VA’s love for Autism founder &Texas Municipal Court Association
COPAA, NCLD 
Angelita has not only be a community disability rights advocate, she is also a mother of children with disabilities. She actively educates and networks for systematic process changes. She continues to be a community leader to promote mental health, educate for community inclusion, and network for systematic change.           

This show is sponsored in part by:
Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Impact Dyslexia: www.Impactdyslexia.org
3 Dudes Design: https://3dudesdesign.com/
Learning Ally Demo https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/Schedule-Demo
Texas Education Association Partnership https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/school-grants/Texas

Today’s we’ll be speaking with Lisa Flores about the unseen consequences with remote learning.   

Lisa Flores started her advocacy work, like so many parents, as an advocate for her own child. She is a graduate of Texas Partners in Policymaking class of 2018. She is currently serving on the HB3 Special Education Funding Allotment Committee.
She is a self- taught legislative advocate and was an avid volunteer with many disability organizations, before starting to work as an advocacy specialist for Easter Seals. As a Latina, her area of interest is helping Spanish speakers learn to advocate as well as special education.
Her dedication to advocacy is born from a simple commitment to advocate at any and every opportunity. In her free time, she sews for hairless cats and is an avid Star Wars fanatic.

This show is sponsored in part by:
Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Impact Dyslexia: www.Impactdyslexia.org
3 Dudes Design: https://3dudesdesign.com/
Learning Ally Demo https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/Schedule-Demo
Texas Education Association Partnership https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/school-grants/Texas

Today’s we’ll be speaking with Terrie Noland:         
Please join us as we speak to Terrie Noland about audiobooks and how to use them in today’s learning environment.         
Terrie’s greatest strengths lie in the ability to motivate, inspire, and create enthusiasm in others to be passionate educators that support the diverse needs of students.  Terrie serves as the Vice-President of Educator Initiatives for Learning Ally where she works to develop engagement programs, professional learning services and communities for educators.  Her passion is working with educators to create dynamic classrooms and recognizing educators in their tremendous efforts. She has more than 25 years of experience as both a motivational leader and developer of content for educators and administrators. Terrie’s focus for the past six years has been on the pedagogical practices needed to create effective environments for struggling readers and students with dyslexia. She has the opportunity to lead and facilitate groups numbering in the thousands helping to build better understanding of working with struggling readers and students with dyslexia. 
Terrie is certified as an Academic Language Practitioner and is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Literacy, with an emphasis in Educational Leadership from St. John’s University.

This show is sponsored in part by:
Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Impact Dyslexia: www.Impactdyslexia.org
3 Dudes Design: https://3dudesdesign.com/
Learning Ally Demo https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/Schedule-Demo
Texas Education Association Partnership https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/school-grants/Texas

Today’s we’ll be speaking with Christy Elms:
Mrs. Elms has been an educator for 30 years. She began her career as a special education teacher working with students having learning and behavioral difficulties. After spending the majority of her career as a gen ED teacher, she has been teaching dyslexia therapy for 2 yrs.
Self-advocacy:  speaking-up for yourself is so important for our children. Teaching them how to ask for what they need to be successful and knowing their rights which is afforded by the protection under IDEA and ADA 

This show is sponsored in part by:
Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Impact Dyslexia: www.Impactdyslexia.org
3 Dudes Design: https://3dudesdesign.com/
Learning Ally Demo https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/Schedule-Demo
Texas Education Association Partnership https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/school-grants/Te

Today’s we’ll be speaking with Lois Letchford
About  Lois Letchford Lois Letchford’s dyslexia came to light at the age of 39, when she faced teaching her seven-year-old non-reading son, Nicholas. Examining her reading failure caused her to adapt and change lessons for her son. The results were dramatic. Lois qualified as a reading specialist to use her non-traditional background, multi-continental experience and passion to assist other failing students. Her teaching and learning have equipped her with a unique skill set and perspective. As a teacher, she considers herself a “literacy problem-solver.” Reversed: A Memoir is her first book. In this story, she details her dyslexia and the journey of her son’s dramatic failure in first grade. She tells of the twist and turns that promoted her passion and her son’s dramatic academic turn-a-round.

This show is sponsored in part by:
Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Impact Dyslexia: www.Impactdyslexia.org
3 Dudes Design: https://3dudesdesign.com/
Learning Ally Demo https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/Schedule-Demo
Texas Education Association Partnership https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/school-grants/Texas

Today’s we’ll be speaking with Lisa Flores

About Lisa Flores

Lisa Flores started her advocacy work, like so many parents, as an advocate for her own
child. She is a graduate of Texas Partners in Policymaking class of 2018. She is currently
serving on the HB3 Special Education Funding Allotment Committee. 

She is a self- taught legislative advocate and was an avid volunteer with many disability organizations, before starting to work as an advocacy specialist for Easter Seals. As a Latina, her area of interest is helping Spanish speakers learn to advocate as well as special education. 

Her dedication to advocacy is born from a simple commitment to advocate at any and every opportunity. In her free time, she sews for hairless cats and is an avid Star Wars fanatic. 

This show is sponsored in part by:
Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Impact Dyslexia: www.Impactdyslexia.org
3 Dudes Design: https://3dudesdesign.com/
Learning Ally Demo
https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/Schedule-Demo
Texas Education Association Partnership
https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/school-grants/Texas

Today’s we’ll be speaking with Hilderbrand Pelzer III about Unlocking Potential (Cutting Off the Pipeline to Prison)
About Hilderbrand Pelzer III: Hilderbrand Pelzer III is an award-winning educator with three decades of wide-ranging experience in the urban educational field. Having served in wide-ranging capacity as an assistant regional superintendent, a high school principal, an elementary school principal, an assistant principal, and a teacher, Pelzer is highly familiar with the interconnected pathway of educational problems and solutions from the classroom to the district level.  As the author of Unlocking Potential: Organizing a School Inside a Prison, Pelzer has earned a national reputation for his achievements in expanding opportunities in highly challenging schools and educational environments. His enthusiasm for student achievement represents a career-long commitment that began as a first-year teacher at the Bensalem Youth Development Center, a state facility serving incarcerated male juveniles. Since then, his career has been distinguished by the intersection of education and incarceration. His passion for education and disadvantaged youth has equipped him to meet the needs of the most underserved students, demonstrated in his achievement of the Moral and Courageous Exemplar Urban Educational Leadership Award.  Pelzer is also a writer, contributor, and speaker. He highlights issues in urban education, ranging from the challenges faced by schools to their solutions. Among his many notable accomplishments is the creation of an evidence-based school model for serious and high-risk youth offenders in Philadelphia’s correctional facilities. He is a TEDx speaker, and his captivating TEDx talk “What Incarcerated Youth Can Teach Teachers” addressed students’ reading difficulties and what incarcerated youth can do to bring the severity of their inadequate reading instruction to the attention of aspiring teachers before their first lesson. Pelzer’s perspective on education is defined by incarcerated youths’ experience with school failure and the belief that their insights can strengthen educators understanding of where to raise the bar in teaching.
Twitter:  @HP3Potential
Instagram:  @hilderbrandpelzer3
YouTube channel: Hilderbrand Pelzer III
Website: HilderbrandPelzer3.com

This show is sponsored in part by:
Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Impact Dyslexia: www.Impactdyslexia.org
3 Dudes Design: https://3dudesdesign.com/
Learning Ally Demo https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/Schedule-Demo
Texas Education Association Partnership https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/school-grants/Texas

Quick Tips with Keya Saleh
 Thank you to our special guest Keya Saleh, LSSP, NCSP from Region 10.
 Keya is going to give us some tips on working with our ADHD kids when homeschooling.

This show is sponsored in part by:
 Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Impact Dyslexia: www.Impactdyslexia.org
3 Dudes Design: https://3dudesdesign.com/
Learning Ally Demo
https://learningally.org/…/Schedule-Demo
Texas Education Association Partnership
https://learningally.org/…/school…/Texas

Today’s we’ll be speaking to an amazing person about his advocacy and his personal journey with Dyslexia. Today’s very special guest is Jake Sussman “Every human-being has the power to be great regardless of the way they learn. Our job is to help them bring it out.” -Jake Sussman, Chief Empowerment Officer  Jake Sussman. the voice of viral video, ‘The Forgotten Child” is a mission driven advocate dedicated to ensuring the evolution of today’s modern-day educational system. Having overcome early childhood isolation and abandonment from the failed school system as a result of his learning differences, Jake now facilitates conversations across the US offering communication strategies to support the unique and powerful potential of the LD community. In addition to his work in the public eye, Jake has built a fully comprehensive mentorship program designed to help neurodiverse kids around the world lay the foundation to self-confidence to then form a generation of master self-advocates. A passionate young leader and entrepreneur, Jake Sussman tactfully builds bridges between parents, teachers, policymakers and students in an effort to empower the next generation of human kind. 

Facebook: @JakeSussman
Linkedin:   Jacob Sussman
Instagram: @JakeSussmanLive
YouTube:  @JakeSussmanLive
www.superpowerconsulting.com

This show is sponsored in part by:
Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Impact Dyslexia: www.Impactdyslexia.org
3 Dudes Design: https://3dudesdesign.com/   
Learning Ally Demo https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/Schedule-Demo
Texas Education Association Partnership https://learningally.org/Solutions-for-School/school-grants/Texas