Bridging the Achievement Gap: Allie's Story Webinar (Recording)

Presenter: Gloria Maccow, PhD

Allie is a 9-year-old student who recently completed the fourth grade. She exhibits excellent creative story-telling skills and a strong oral vocabulary, but she is struggling to master grade-level objectives in reading and spelling. Reading difficulties were first identified when Allie was in Kindergarten, and, over the years, her teacher and the reading specialist have provided tutoring and other reading interventions. Despite instruction and targeted intervention, Allie continues to struggle with written language. Her mother requested a psycho-educational evaluation to determine Allie’s eligibility and need for direct specialized instruction, and to identify appropriate instructional goals. This webinar will describe and analyze the results of the evaluation in an effort to understand (1) why Allie has not responded to reading interventions; (2) if Allie has a Specific Reading Disability (Dyslexia); and (3) what interventions are needed to improve Allie’s academic performance.