To kickoff Dyslexia Awareness Month, IMSE is spotlighting Sarah Walters, District Instructor and Literacy Instructional Support Specialist at Troy City Schools. In this Q&A, Sarah shares how IMSE training is transforming instruction at Troy City Schools, the inspiration behind her book, and why raising awareness about dyslexia is so important for educators and families alike.

Jeanne Jeup, IMSE cofounder and CEO, reflects on the current literacy landscape: what’s working, what’s not, and where the movement is heading next.

Emily Hanford is a senior education correspondent at APM Reports, the documentary and investigative journalism group at American Public Media. She has been working in public media for more than two decades as a reporter, producer, editor, news director, and program host. For the past three years, she has been reporting extensively on early reading instruction.

Dr. Maria Murray is the founder and CEO of The Reading League, a not-for-profit association dedicated to advancing the awareness, acceptance, and use of evidence-based practices in schools and other education agencies.​ Murray is also an associate professor at the State University of New York at Oswego in the Curriculum and Instruction Department, where she teaches courses related to literacy assessment and intervention.

The IMSE Journal spoke with Murray about her experience and what she and her organization want others to know about uplifting the next generation of learners.

Bridgeton Public Schools, which has now trained over 200 K-3 educators in all six of its elementary schools in the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education’s Orton-Gillingham methodology, has seen significant gains for students who have been taught reading via the new approach. Orton-Gillingham is an explicit, multi-sensory method of teaching students how to read and write that has proven particularly useful for students with a range of learning abilities.