Dear Members,
The 2013 Spring Conference was a stellar moment for NEALS. People were intrigued by the preliminary results of the survey and, with me, ask that you all go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2012NEALSsurvey to complete it if you have not already. It will be most accurate and edifying if, this week, we increase the number of schools and specialists represented.
Barbara gave a wise and graceful acceptance speech in response to our gift and our establishment of the NEALS' Dr. Barbara Kenefick Award for Distinguished Service to Students and Learning Specialists in Independent Schools. As best as Vaunie and I can recall and paraphrase she said,
"I want to thank you all very much. I have lost my husband, my home and possessions (to a fire but that was alright because I had too much stuff anyway), my health, including a broken hip that could not be fixed because I was too fragile for surgery, several forms of poisoning, etc, and yet none of these losses were as difficult as losing my most precious tool, my language ability. No one knows the frustrations our children with language disabilities face every hour unless they go through it themselves. Use this gift in your work. You all have it! And use it whenever you can to serve those who do not have it."
Her story, her dedication to kids, and her leadership in the field, continue to inspire.
Sally and Bennett Shaywitz gave a masterful presentation. Seldom have I come across speakers so entirely dedicated to getting the word out for their constituents, children with dyslexia. Their presentation was fascinating with Sally sharing the human side of the likes of John Irving and Charles Schwab struggling with dyslexia while mastering the creative strengths it often brings. Then, Bennett, brilliantly but accessibly, described the brain's reading process as revealed on fMRI scans making visible what was once an invisible ability. Brains of those with dyslexia fire inefficiently and in alternate areas from those for whom reading is fluent. They shared the film The Big Picture that inspires diligence, respect, and activism for those who learn differently but have so much to offer the country and the world. I hope to share it with my entire school - which is the point of the Shaywitz's extreme generosity to NEALS.
The panel of Yale students with dyslexia - hard to capture the power of that group of strong, resilient, self-aware young men and women who, like Barbara, Sally, and Bennett, are heading out to make the world a better place. They credited their success to their parents and supportive adults in school as well as to their own willingness to devote many extra hours to their school work. They articulated the value of extra time and of figuring out their own individual ways of learning and of dealing with or not taking a foreign language.
For more details and opportunities, members, please be sure to join us on our Google Group, the vehicle by which we all connect and question and grow as learning specialists. I wish every member of NEALS could have been there Monday to experience what was one of the best conferences I have attended in 35 years insatiable searching for information on how to serve students with learning disabilities, like my mother, my brother, and my son.
For more information and photos from the conference please visit this Yale website page dedicated to the conference.
Yours,
Susan
Susan Cole Ross
President, Northeast Association of Learning Specialists
203-236-9525