In this episode, we’re sharing the first part of our interview with Missy Purcell. In this conversation, we look at what drives her dedication and discuss the impact of effective intervention and the power of community in shaping literacy success. Whether you're a teacher seeking better strategies, a parent looking for hope, or a student finding your way, this conversation will inspire and equip you with the tools to move forward. We’ll be back with the second half of the interview in two weeks!

Missy holds a degree in middle school education with 15 + years of experience in the classroom, specializing in inclusion. She is both a speaker and a passionate advocate for the science of reading. After successfully advocating for her dyslexic son’s right to read, Missy devoted the bulk of her time volunteering to support countless families of kids with learning differences. 

Missy is co-founder of Gwinnett Advocates for Dyslexia, a grassroots organization that advocates for evidence-based instruction in Gwinnett County. Additionally, she serves as the Education Chair with Decoding Dyslexia Georgia, DDGA, which advocates for change at the state level. Recently, she co-founded The Science of Reading for Advocates, which aims to resource and equip leaders committed to ensuring every child can read. 

Missy is married to Mark, the mother of three boys, Harrison, William, and Matthew, and two furbabies, Barkley and Bauer. When she’s not working or advocating, she can be found with coffee in hand at a band concert or at the baseball fields cheering on her boys!

Keep in touch with Missy! You can find her on Instagram and Facebook, or check out her website, misspurcell.com.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

We officially have merch! Show your love for the Together in Literacy podcast!

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

We're looking for topic and guest suggestions for season 4 of the Together in Literacy Podcast! Let us know what you want to hear this season!

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

To follow up on our interview with Tiffany Solomon in episode 10, we brought her back with another special guest, Helaine Schupack. Helaine has played an instrumental role in Tiffany’s life as she navigated her education with dyslexia.

Helaine Schupack is one of the founding Fellows of the Orton-Gillingham Academy (OGA), which was founded in 1995 and now has over 3,800 members. Her mission to help individuals with dyslexia receive the interventions they need to thrive eventually expanded to her joining forces with the Orton Society (now the International Dyslexia Association) when it formed its Teacher Training Initiative. She’s been the recipient of the Massachusetts Branch of the International Dyslexia Association’s Alice Garside award. 

Helaine is one of Rhode Island’s abiding champions in the field of dyslexia and was awarded the first Decoding Dyslexia Legacy Award.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

We officially have merch! Show your love for the Together in Literacy podcast!

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

We're looking for topic and guest suggestions for season 4 of the Together in Literacy Podcast! Let us know what you want to hear this season!

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

In this episode, we’re joined by Tiffany Solomon to discuss the ripple effects of dyslexia, and how it impacts not just the classroom but also shapes lives, families, and the workplace.

Tiffany Solomon is the Family and Student Engagement Coordinator for Decoding Dyslexia Rhode Island, an Associate member of the Orton-Gillingham Academy (OGA), and was honored to serve as a Literacy Ambassador through the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) in 2019-2020.  She spent over a decade as a 2nd grade and kindergarten teacher at Highlander Charter School in Providence, Rhode Island. During this time, she was also a primary teaching member of Highlander’s weekly itinerant collaborative meetings, where she worked with the special education support team to implement specialized, evidenced-based strategies within her classroom to ensure success for students who learn differently. 

Tiffany holds a Master’s degree in Education, Teaching, and Learning from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

We officially have merch! Show your love for the Together in Literacy podcast!

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

We're looking for topic and guest suggestions for season 4 of the Together in Literacy Podcast! Let us know what you want to hear this season!

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

Working with older students with dyslexia presents unique challenges due to their complex needs and gaps in foundational literacy skills. These students are often overlooked in broader conversations about the Science of Reading (SOR) and Social-emotional Learning (SEL), with most resources tailored to younger learners.

In this episode, we’re providing diagnostic and prescriptive advice for supporting older dyslexic students in educational and personal growth contexts.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

We officially have merch! Show your love for the Together in Literacy podcast!

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

We're looking for topic and guest suggestions for season 4 of the Together in Literacy Podcast! Let us know what you want to hear this season!

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

The diagnostic-prescriptive approach to teaching clinically focuses directly on the student. This includes knowledge about the strengths and needs of a student, and this information is gathered through assessments or diagnostic measures that let a teacher diagnose their student’s academic abilities. In turn, the teacher uses this information to prescribe an appropriate course of action, which includes prescribing or ordering sequential learning tasks that enable a student to reach a given goal. From their observations, teachers then implement prescriptions that remediate difficulties. 

In this episode, we discuss a powerful approach to teaching that is driven by the knowledge of the students and anchored in the Ortonian and Structured Literacy principles. We are talking about The Art and Science of Prescriptive and Diagnostic Teaching.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

We officially have merch! Show your love for the Together in Literacy podcast!

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

We're looking for topic and guest suggestions for season 4 of the Together in Literacy Podcast! Let us know what you want to hear this season!

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

Observation is a powerful move in our roles as educators. It can help us make decisions in the moment and the future. In a time when assessments seem to take up much of our time, we must remember the power and impact student observation has on our teaching. It is truly an art and a science. But knowing what to observe and when can sometimes feel tricky.

In this episode, we discuss student observation and how it can be efficiently used to improve teaching practices in the present and future.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

We officially have merch! Show your love for the Together in Literacy podcast!

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

We're looking for topic and guest suggestions for season 4 of the Together in Literacy Podcast! Let us know what you want to hear this season!

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

Many social media posts and articles highlight well-known myths about dyslexia, and that information has been disseminated well. However, there are additional myths, when it comes to dyslexia, that deserve a more robust discussion. 

In this episode, we’re exploring seven lesser-known myths about dyslexia. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

We officially have merch! Show your love for the Together in Literacy podcast!

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

We're looking for topic and guest suggestions for season 4 of the Together in Literacy Podcast! Let us know what you want to hear this season!

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

This is part 2 of our series about the foundational principles of Orton-Gillingham. You can listen to part 1, here! In that episode, we discussed that Orton-Gillingham is Direct and Explicit, Individualized, Structured, Sequential, Cumulative and Flexible, and Emotionally Sound.

In this episode, we will look at the remaining Orton-Gillingham principles and the structured literacy elements and guidelines. And, at the beginning of the episode, Casey will share her experience at the recent IDA conference!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

We officially have merch! Show your love for the Together in Literacy podcast!

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

We're looking for topic and guest suggestions for season 4 of the Together in Literacy Podcast! Let us know what you want to hear this season!

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

In today’s landscape of literacy instruction, we continue to hear about the importance of bridging the science of reading to practice. The Orton-Gillingham approach is grounded in research and what brings learning to life. 

So what are those foundational pieces that we all hold dear - that we know are critical to have within our work with dyslexic students? 

In this episode, we will take a look at the Orton-Gillingham principles and the structured literacy elements and guidelines. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

We officially have merch! Show your love for the Together in Literacy podcast!

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

We're looking for topic and guest suggestions for season 4 of the Together in Literacy Podcast! Let us know what you want to hear this season!

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

In this episode, we’re joined by Peggy Stern for a conversation about a whole-child approach where each child no matter how he or she learns, is respected and heard, and the emotional and academic tools we can provide to develop strategies for success! 

Peggy Stern is an Academy Award-winning film Producer/Director with more than 30 years of experience. Her dyslexia led her to filmmaking and animation at a young age, and in March 2006 Stern won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. 

Stern has produced for PBS, HBO, Teachers College at Columbia University, The National PTA, and the National YWCA among others. She received her BA from Harvard University and her senior thesis film STEPHANIE, was turned into a PBS documentary special and broadcast nationally. SuperDville is a family affair, as her dyslexic daughter Emma has been a key advisor! 

Since the launch of SuperDville, Peggy has spoken at many webinars and on many podcasts, including the Dyslexia Narrative Conference, the Dyslexia Training Institute Virtual Conference, Learning Ally's Spotlight on Early Literacy Virtual Conference, Embracing the Whole Child with Punkinfutz, The Virtual Summer Dyslexia Institute Conference, The Pakistan Grower's Circle Webinar, Denver Courage to Risk Conference, Stand Up LD Panel Discussion, and the UK Rebel Voices Virtual International Dyslexia Conference.

Connect with our guest, Peggy Stern! Visit her website, Super Dville, or email her at [email protected].

Resources mentioned in this episode:

We officially have merch! Show your love for the Together in Literacy podcast!

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

We're looking for topic and guest suggestions for season 4 of the Together in Literacy Podcast! Let us know what you want to hear this season!

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!