Reading in the Rockies 2011 - Presenters

Kevin Feldman, Ed.D.

Dr. Kevin Feldman is the Emeritus Director of Reading and Intervention with the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) and an independent educational consultant working with publishers, schools, and districts across the country. His career in education spans forty-one years. As the Director of Reading and Intervention for SCOE he develops, organizes, and monitors programs related to PreK-12 literacy and the prevention/ remediation of reading difficulties.

Dr. Feldman's primary focus is on improving academic literacy. His major contributions are in the areas of active student engagement, academic vocabulary, comprehension strategies, preventing early reading failure, linking assessment to instruction, developing school-wide literacy support models (e.g. RTI) for elementary, middle, and high schools, and accommodating and accelerating ELL/Special Education and other high risk students.

Suzanne Carreker, Ph.D.

Suzanne Carreker is a Certified Academic Language Therapist and Qualified Instructor. She is Vice President of Research Program Development at Neuhaus Education Center, a nonprofit organization in Houston, Texas, that has offered professional development in scientifically based reading methods to over 60,000 teachers since its inception in 1980.

Suzanne, a past president of The Houston Branch of The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and current member of the national IDA board, is a frequent speaker at regional and national conferences and has authored a number of multisensory curricula. She was the 2009 recipient of the HBIDA Nancy LaFevers Community Service Award that recognized her contribution to field of dyslexia.

Sally Grimes, Ed.D.

The career of Sally Grimes spans over thirty-five years and includes a range of positions that includes teaching learners from pre-K to graduate school, writing articles and courses, doing clinical evaluations at North Shore Children's Hospital, serving as Landmark School's first Admissions Director, consulting with Massachusetts State Officials in designing professional development, training trainers, providing workshops, planning policy, and most recently serving on the State's newly formed Literacy Planning Team.

For the last 15 years, Sally has been consulting with districts and various entities and providing professional development in Literacy to parents, paraprofessionals, teachers and school administrators in the areas of literacy and language. Sally also assists schools in creating or renewing their literacy plans and multi-tiered support systems.

María Elena Argüelles, Ph.D.

María Elena Argüelles is an educational consultant who provides support to states, districts, and schools in their implementation of effective instruction for struggling learners and English language learners. Dr. Argüelles is the co-author of several publications and a consultant to publishers developing programs for struggling readers and English language learners. In addition, she has teaching experience at the public school level as well as at the undergraduate and graduate level. Her primary areas of interest are early vocabulary development, students with reading difficulties, and reading instruction for English language learners.

Anthony True

Anthony True is a 13-year-old student living in Arvada, Colorado with his parents and a sister who is also dyslexic. He loves all things outdoors; Playing sports, camping, skateboarding, hang out with his friends and shooting hoops in the driveway. He is has a black belt in Kempo karate after studying the art for close to 5 years. Anthony was diagnosed with severe developmental dyslexia in the 3rd grade which affects him in reading, spelling, writing, and executive function skills. He is working hard and making tremendous progress in closing the gap between where he is and where he wants to be. He was a guest speaker at Reading in the Rockies 2009, he spoke at a symposium for Wilson teachers in the Jeffco School District and has presented his story publicly at other events as well. This courageous young man now shares his experiences, both the struggles and his successes, with the hope that others will find inspiration and motivation by hearing the story of his journey. He knows he is not alone and wants others to know they are not either.

Brittany Morris

Brittany Morris graduated from Rampart High School, in 2010, and was involved in the International Baccalaureate Program. She has Dyslexia and ADD, both of which have caused her difficulties in school and every-day life. She is surrounded daily by the struggles and incredible achievements that kids with ‘disabled’ brains exude, both through her relationship with her sister and the students at HillSprings Learning Center, where her mom teaches. Her driving goal is to help teachers understand kids whose brains work differently and to demonstrate how they can accommodate students in their classroom by making simple, easy changes.

Mary -V Benoit

Mary-V is a creative, fun, loving, 12 year old girl who lives in Denver with her parents and younger brother. She was diagnosed with a learning disability - dyslexia in 2nd grade. She struggled through a private school curriculum until she was successfully tutored by and gained a love of reading. Mary-V not only learned to read but learned different skills that have empowered her to self advocate. She is now a 7th grade student at the Denver School of Arts. She enjoys working and learning with her hands. Outside of school, Mary-V enjoys art, cooking, and like any other pre-teen, music, and shopping! Although she continues to have a few struggles in the areas of math, organization and time management, she embraces the fact that she has dyslexia!

Jacob Murphy

Jacob Murphy is a freshman at Arvada West high School. He first noticed his struggles in reading in second grade when he could not learn the alphabet. His teachers thought he was lazy and didn't want to work. His mom pulled him out of school and home-schooled him. Moving to Colorado his struggles to learn to read continued until 3rd grade when he began attending Fairmount Elementary School in Golden, CO. The school did a assessment and discovered that his problem was dyslexia. At that point Jacob got an iep and began the Wilson Reading program. While it looked liked a solution was in sight, the next year the special education teacher decided to teach writing instead of continuing with the intervention that was successful. Jacob, at that moment became a strong self advocate and with the support of his parents and an advocate, fought to get back into the Wilson program and continue his path to becoming a reader. This summer he is attend the Durango Mountain Camp to further strengthen his reading, writing, spelling and math skills.

Currently, Jacob continues to self advocate and looks forward to going into high school. Jacob's challenges continue require him to speak up for himself and work hard to succeed. Jacob is a relentless, hardworking student who does whatever he needs to to succeed despite being severely dyslexic.