Special Education Speaker Monday, April 28th

Seattle SpEd PTSA April Meeting
7 pm Monday, 4/28/2014
Rm 2700, JSCEE 
2445 3rd Ave
Seattle's SODO neighborhood

Dr. Nicole Swedberg will present practical tips and information on:

How to help your child If your child is dyslexic?

How to best support your dyslexic child at home?

What skills should your child be learning?  

How can you get your child access to these skills?

How can your child’s school (and district) help your child?  

How can you advocate for positive change in the system?

What accommodations does your dyslexic or dysgraphic student need?

Is there anything easy that will help your child with the overwhelming homework load?

Dr. Swedberg works in private practice as a dyslexia specialist, spending approximately a thousand hours a year serving dyslexic and dysgraphic students in elementary, middle, and high school.  When not working directly with students, she assists parents and teachers to create a support network for each student, whether that student is in a public or private school. Half of her clients attend Seattle Public Schools.

Before her private practice, Dr. Swedberg worked for three years in Seattle Public Schools as a literacy coach. This position involved working with teachers to help them plan their literacy blocks, getting effective curriculum into their hands,  providing training and professional development, and leading school-wide meetings.  

The topics of dysgraphia and dyslexia have come up frequently in meetings and open forums this year.  Swedberg's presentation will focus on practical tips on how best to support your child including:  routines to encourage reading, technical assistance, rewards and encouragement, graphic organizers and much more.  There will be time for questions and answers.

Other business on the agenda includes election of members for the nominating committee.  Please consider how YOU can volunteer your time to help special education students and families in our district by serving as a PTSA officer next year.

See you Monday.

Comments

mirmac1 said…
There is a Board Work Session on Special Education, from 4-5:30 on Wedneday April 30th at JSCEE. Public testimony is not allowed but I would urge SpEd parents to attend and provide the Board with feedback on what they hear.
Anonymous said…
I'm glad the Special Ed PTSA is hosting this meeting. I just completed by Special Education Survey and this is what I wrote:

"My child is dyslexic and I wish the district would embrace this term "dyslexia" vs. the wishy-washy term of "unspecified learning disability" and proceed to provide an IEP for reading and comprehension. Real and proven strategies and tools that work for dyslexic students need to be incorporated into the curriculum. Screening for dyslexia in the Pre-K or K years is also imperative. 1 in 5 people are dyslexic yet in a class of 30 the teacher is usually only aware of 1. We're missing out on A LOT of kids! There are lots of early "warning signs" that could prevent a child from having to wait until 3rd grade to start getting help."

Hopefully we'll start seeing some momentum in this direction....
~Dyslexic Mama
Anonymous said…
Thank you for sharing information about this meeting. Appreciated the chance to learn and connect a bit with other SPS families whose children are dyslexic.

There is a national parent-led grassroots movement working to raise dyslexia awareness, empower families, and inform policy: Decoding Dyslexia. The WA chapter has a FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/decodingdyslexia.wa

- North Sea Mama

mirmac1 said…
Thank YOU North Sea Mama for the great networking info : )
mirmac1 said…
BTW, for those who would like additional resources on dysgraphia and dyslexia, here is a handout prepared by Swedberg:

Get Plugged In!
Anonymous said…
Thank you mirmac - is it possible to post a version that does not require logging in to Google (I'm somehow google-impaired and can never seem to get it to work. I end up having to create a new identity every time I want to look at something).

Mom of 4
mirmac1 said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
mirmac1 said…
Here's the handout, on the SEAAC webpage
mirmac1 said…
Look for Decoding Dyslexia - WA
on Facebook.

And here is a link to the Washington branch of the International Dyslexia Association

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