I am passionate about education. As a former special education teacher with more than 30 years of experience, I love helping children succeed. In order for kids to truly succeed, they must read. Yet, one in five children struggle with learning how to read due to dyslexia and other language learning difficulties. 

• In 1887, Dr. Rudolf Berlin, an ophthalmologist, coined the word “dyslexia” to describe adults who could not read the printed word despite the absences of visual abnormalities. He assumed, correctly, that the cause of this “word blindness” must be within the brain. 
• In the 1920’s, Dr. Samuel T. Orton studied children who had reading and language processing difficulties. He determined that their difficulties must lie within the brain. He worked to formulate a set of principles for teaching such children. 
• Anna Gillingham, a gifted educator and psychologist, who mastered language, began working with Dr. Orton to help him develop instructional materials and strategies. So began the Orton-Gillingham method, still considered the gold standard for teaching reading.
• Fast forward to 2019. 132 years have passed since the word dyslexia entered our language. In those intervening years, the debate has raged as to the cause and cure for dyslexia. The debate is now over!  

Thanks to MRI, combined with scientific investigation of methods for teaching reading, we know (unequivocally) that dyslexia results from a brain-based, neurological origin. And, most importantly, we know how to teach children with dyslexia to read.

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) has determined that to achieve this vision of a classroom where every child reads, we must educate the TEACHERS. In this new century, the focus of IDA is to become part of every university that has an education strand and to provide curriculum and accreditation so that every teacher knows the structure of language and effective reading instruction. 

Imagine a classroom where every child is successful, and every child can read. This is the goal of the IDA. For almost 100 years, IDA has been in the forefront of scientific research to discover and promote development of the most effective method for teaching children to read.

IDA is promoting a method of instruction, coined “Structured Literacy” which is even now being introduced and used in several universities. This approach not only benefits children who struggle with learning to read, but it is so fundamental and natural that every child can excel. 

By donating to and being a member of IDA, you enable and support achieving the reality of our goal and our vision of EVERY CHILD READING.