Monday Keynote Address - Beyond the Label: What Happens When Systems Work for Students with Dyslexia
Presented by Jeanne Schopf
Founder, Pathways Towards Literacy
Students with dyslexia deserve more than awareness. They deserve systems and instruction that change outcomes.
In this opening keynote, Jeanne Schopf shares the stories of students she has taught and supported as a dyslexia interventionist, illustrating the powerful impact that instructional decisions and system design have on literacy outcomes. As an interventionist, for a long time, it was difficult to determine which programs were truly aligned with how older students learn to read, highlighting a broader challenge many educators face in providing effective instruction for adolescent and secondary learners. Through real classroom experiences, she highlights how some students struggled for years without targeted support, while others made significant gains when instruction became explicit, systematic, and aligned across settings.
Drawing on both her professional experience as an educator and interventionist and her perspective as a parent of a child with dyslexia, Jeanne explores how beliefs, instruction, and systems intersect to shape student identity and achievement. This session challenges participants to examine how students are currently supported in their own schools and what becomes possible when instruction is intentional and systems are aligned. Participants will leave with a shared vision for dyslexia education grounded in clarity, urgency, and hope, and a deeper understanding of how systems and instructional practices directly influence student outcomes.
Tuesday Keynote Address - How Can We Best Help Students with Dyslexia Learn to Read?
Presented by Dr. Devin Kearns
Professor in Early Literacy, North Carolina State University
Serious difficulty with word recognition can have pernicious consequences for students. Many students with word recognition difficulty are identified with a specific learning disability in reading, often dyslexia. There are at least 6 ways to explain the nature of a child’s reading difficulty. Dyslexia is one important cause of word recognition difficulties, but there are others.
In this session, Devin discusses these different causes of reading difficulties and explain some confusing points and controversies related to word recognition difficulty. Then, strategies are provided to support children with word recognition difficulties including dyslexia. The strategies include very foundational strategies for students with very limited reading skills and more advanced strategies for students who have acquired skills for reading monosyllabic words.