Florida Learning Disabilities Experts at International Dyslexia Conference in Lake Buena Vista

Florida Learning Disabilities Experts at International Dyslexia Conference in
Lake Buena Vista

BALTIMORE, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Learning disability experts from
Florida, the U.S. and world will host 160 workshops and seminars at the 4-day
International Dyslexia Association Conference, at the Swan/Dolphin beginning
November 11. George Batsche, Co-Director of the University of South Florida,
Institute For School Reform, and Barbara Ehren, Director of the University of
Central Florida's Communication Sciences and Disorders Program, will host an
all day symposium "Implementation of Response To Intervention". The session
will be chaired by Kathleen Whitmire, Director of the National Center for
Learning Disabilities. Guidelines for school assessments and interventions
and specific steps for implementation of RTI programs in schools will be
presented.

The Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) at Florida State University
will present research findings and application of research related to
assessment, instruction and reading development at another full-day symposium.
Reading and learning disability experts from FCRR include: Barbara Foorman,
Elizabeth Crawford, Chris Lonigan, Carol Connor, and Joseph K. Torgesen,
Director Emeritus of FCRR. Topics this distinguished team will cover include,
"New Developments in Dyslexia: Specific Reading Comprehension Disability,"
"Early Identification and the Florida Assessment for Instruction in Reading:
K-2," "Supports for Teachers to Guide Instruction in Reading", and more.
Foorman and Elissa J. Arndt, an FCRR Intervention Specialist will also present
a Thursday session, "Students as Spellers: What Types of Errors Are They
Making?"

A tour of Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida--the only accredited college
offering AA and BA degrees exclusively for students with language-based
learning disabilities--ADD/ADHD, LD or gifted--is scheduled Nov. 11. Beacon's
small classroom settings, a Writing Center, supplemental instruction, special
accommodations and learning technologies will be presented on the tour.

The Honorable Karen Cole, Florida Fourth Judicial Circuit Judge, Honorable
Marcia Morales Howard, US District Judge, Middle District of Florida, and
Rebekah Gleason, J.D., Professor at Florida Coastal School of Law will present
an interactive presentation entitled, "The Smart Juror Who Couldn't Read: the
Many Ways Dyslexia Affects the Courts." Audience members will consider a
criminal, civil, juvenile, or domestic relations case and the actual impact of
dyslexia on individuals during the administration of justice. Krista Danielle
Drummond and Jenni Billings, from the Nemours Children's Clinic, Brightstart!
Dyslexia Initiative, headquartered in Jacksonville, will present "Empowering
Parents as Their Child's First Teachers: Giving Parents the Necessary Tools
to Develop Oral Language, Early Reading, and Early Writing Skills in Young
Children." Brightstart! will also have their mobile classroom for reading
readiness screening displayed at the Conference.

Sylvia O. Richardson, M.D., Emeritus Clinical Professor of Pediatrics,
University of South Florida and IDA past President, will preside at the Norman
Geschwind Memorial Lecture and the presentation of the Margaret Byrd Rawson
Lifetime Achievement Award.

International perspectives on language-based learning disabilities will be
presented by experts from Sweden, Brazil, Ontario, Japan, Kuwait, Germany and
Hong Kong. For information visit www.interdys.org or contact the
International Dyslexia Association in Baltimore at 410-296-0232.

Contact: Michael J. Hayes, Director/Marketing & Communications
mhayes@interdys.org

SOURCE The International Dyslexia Association

Michael J. Hayes, Director/Marketing & Communications, International Dyslexia
Association, +1-410-561-6400, mhayes@interdys.org