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

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