Dyslexia Conference to Celebrate MC’s 20 Years of Training Educators to Help Students Overcome Written Language Challenges

Attendees of the 2023 Dyslexia Conference at Mississippi College hear about best practices when working with students who have language-learning differences and other learning challenges.

In July 2004, the Mississippi College School of Education, in cooperation with the Academic Language Therapy Association and with support and encouragement from the Scottish Rite Masons of Mississippi, launched the first graduate credit Dyslexia Therapy Program in the state of Mississippi.

The M.Ed. in Dyslexia Therapy Program is a two-year, research-based training platform that prepares therapists and educators to meet a community need and assist students struggling with dyslexia and written language challenges.

It is fitting that on the 20th anniversary of this landmark achievement, the Mississippi College Dyslexia Education and Evaluation Center will conduct its fifth joint two-day Dyslexia Conference with the Mississippi Chapter of ALTA on Thursday-Friday, Sept. 26-27, in Anderson Hall in the B.C. Rogers Student Center. The theme of this year’s conference is “Knowledge Is Power!”

Jan Hankins director of MC’s Dyslexia Education and Evaluation Center, said the conference aligns with part of the center’s mission to “provide information and resources for parents, therapists, teachers, and other professionals” about the neurobiological learning condition that primarily effects reading and writing skills.

“The conference allows attendees to visit the Mississippi College Dyslexia Education and Evaluation Center, to experience MC’s unique campus, and to explore Olde Towne Clinton,” Hankins said. “It is also an opportunity to spotlight Mississippi College and the excellent programs of study, including the M.Ed. in Dyslexia Therapy offered here.”

For two decades, MC has been preparing graduates to hold an AA traching license with a 203 K-12 Dyslexia Therapy Endorsement. Based on the Orton-Gillingham approach, a scientific, universally successful, specific teaching approach that combines auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning modalities, the course trains students to enjoy a rewarding career as a therapist.

MC’s M.Ed. in Dyslexia Therapy Program is accredited at both the Therapy and Instructor of Therapy levels by the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council and is also an International Dyslexia Association-accredited program. The M.Ed. in Dyslexia Therapy at MC has been approved by the State Board of Education as a graduate degree meeting all requirements for an advanced degree for elementary and secondary licensed teachers.

The Dyslexia Conference will offer invaluable information for academic-language therapists, educators, administrators, psychometrists, college students, parents, and all interested individuals eager to learn about best practices when working with students who have language-learning differences and other learning challenges.

“Attendees will hear from experts in the field of dyslexia who will discuss the latest research and strategies for implementing that research,” Hankins said. “Attendees will also have the chance to network with other attendees from all over Mississippi and from surrounding states.”

Andrew Magers, Psy.D., founder of the Renewal Health Group in Madison, an outpatient clinic providing holistic and strategic mental health care, and Coretta Doss, a Ph.D. student in reading education and language arts and an R2D2 fellow at Florida State University who has more than 20 years of experience as an elementary and middle school teacher, will serve as the conference’s keynote speakers on Sept. 26.

A Clinton native and a graduate of Clinton High School and Mississippi College, Magers completed his doctorate of psychology at Wheaton College in 2016. His Renewal Health Group provides therapy, testing, medication management, and dietary counseling to the public. Magers’ areas of specialty include psychological testing, the holistic treatment of trauma, and the integration of psychology and spirituality.

Magers will present “Why Diagnosis Matters.” Within the realm of mental health concerns, it is common to hear the expression, “I’m not interested in getting a diagnosis, but . . .” Magers will explain the “what, why, and how” of differential diagnostics and argue for the benefit of diagnostic categories in people’s everyday lives.

Originally from Brooksville, Doss began her journey in education and service by joining the military in high school through the Delayed Entry Program. She earned her undergraduate degree from Texas State University and her graduate degree from the University of Michigan. She taught in the Oxford and Jackson Public School Systems and worked as a regional literacy coordinator and literacy coach for the Mississippi Department of Education under federal and state grants and with the Reading-Based Promotion Act Initiative.

Her commitment to advancing literacy led to her being awarded an R2D2 fellowship training grant by the Office of Special Education, which enabled her to pursue a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction at FSU, specializing in reading disabilities and dyslexia. She has a Master’s degree in dyslexia therapy from Mississippi College and is a Certified Academic Language Therapist.

During her presentation, “The Power of Knowledge Stewardship,” Doss will explore the power of knowledge in various roles. The knowledge that can help individuals flourish as readers is a sacred gift. How we steward that gift is important: one should never underestimate how he or she can add value and influence others when knowledge is stewarded responsibly on the road to helping develop readers.

Additional sessions on Sept. 26 will cover math, writing, and movement activities for student success; transition/maintenance plans for the MC Dyslexia Therapy Program and its students; a dyslexia simulation; activities to enhance executive functioning; multisensory activities for middle and high school students; Dyslexia 101; writing instruction that works; and expressive/receptive language, among other topics.

Ben Foss, founder of Headstrong Nation, a national organization for dyslexic adults and parents of dyslexic children, will serve as keynote speaker on Sept. 27. During his morning presentation, “The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan,” and his afternoon talk, “Choosing Strength, Not Shame,” Foss will explain how, after years of battling with a school system that did not understand his dyslexia, he became proud of his condition.

Foss earned his J.D./M.B.A. from Stanford University and invented the “Intel Reader,” a mobile device that takes photos of text and immediately recites it aloud. He is the author of “The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan: A Blueprint for Renewing Your Child’s Confidence and Love of Learning.”

Additional sessions on Sept. 27 will include an update from the Mississippi Department of Education and a breakout session, “AI and You: Keeping True in an Algorithm World,” by Sarah Willis.

The conference costs $150 for the Thursday sessions, $150 for the Friday sessions, and $275 for both days. Costs include meal tickets for lunch in the MC Cafeteria. Registration will begin each day at 7:15 a.m. with the program to follow at 8. Continuing education is available.

Registration will end on Friday, Sept. 20. For more information or to register for the conference, click here.