5th Annual Learning Differences Conference

Featuring Dr. Maryanne Wolf, speaking about “How the Reading Brain Teaches Us to Read, Think, and Teach in a Digital Culture”

Saturday, February 11, 2023
1-3pm EST (Virtual)

Dr. Maryanne Wolf will be the keynote speaker at the 5th annual Learning Differences Conference, presented by The Hamilton Institute. This virtual conference brings together educators and caregivers who wish to learn more about dyslexia and other language-based learning differences. In addition to the keynote address, participants will select and engage in one breakout session led by a variety of experts in the field of learning differences. For information about the breakout sessions, please see the menu below.

Dr. Wolf is an advocate for children and literacy around the world. She directs UCLA’s Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice in the School of Education and Information Studies. She is the author of over 160 publications and books including: Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, and Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World.

Registration is required and costs $35. This conference is open to the public and is free to Wheeler and Hamilton community members who can contact hamiltoninstitute@wheelerschool.org for a special code.

Breakout Sessions

The focus of this breakout will be on supporting children with language-based learning differences as they work to develop friendships and social connections. What does it mean to be a good friend? A good partner/group member? A good communicator? This session is geared towards both parents/caregivers and educators. It will include practical strategies for facilitating an environment that makes communication easier for children, both at home and at school.

Presenter: Brittany Ciullo is a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a certified speech-language pathologist.

This workshop is designed to support all participants to be able to recognize how self-regulation, posture, and breath support visual and auditory processing skills in preparation for reading and writing. Practical suggestions for classrooms are discussed to support students develop self-regulation, postural control, bilateral coordination, visual spatial and motor sequencing skills. These foundational readiness skills are often overlooked and can hamper progress in reading fluency, attention and written expression.

Presenter: Lise Faulise, MS, OTR/L, BCP

Review a variety of assistive technologies in the form of apps, websites, gadgets, and web extensions. Learn about what tools might be best to support your child or student as they complete academic work as well as literacy tasks beyond the walls of the classroom. Learn practical strategies for introducing and implementing these assistive programs.

Presenter: Beau Poppen-Abajian, M.A.T., Hamilton Middle School Faculty

For students with dyslexia and executive function challenges, understanding the language and complexities of math can seem like an impossible barrier. By applying what we know about the Science of Reading, the Science of Math, and other research-based strategies, we can quickly change that outlook. This session focuses on easy-to-implement teaching techniques that are founded in the latest research to support student success in math. The following critical components to student success in math are addressed: explicitly teaching the language, applying a multi-sensory (CRA) approach, directly addressing retention, and effective strategies for teaching word problems.

Presenter: Cheryl Cook, Upper School Academic Dean at Lawrence School in Ohio