Language and Literacy: Working Together to Build Stronger Readers

About the Presenters

Dr. Charles Hulme is Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Oxford. An expert on reading, language, and memory processes and their development, he is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and a Fellow of Academia Europaea (see publication list). Dr. Hulme has received numerous awards for his research, including the Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (2019), the Leverhulme Medal and Prize (2024), and the Samuel Torrey Orton Award (2025). He is ranked in the top 2% of scientists for citations in Education and Psychology and, in 2025, was named a highly ranked lifetime scholar in the field of Social Sciences.

Dr. Anne Penn Cox is a former teacher, elementary principal, and director of student support/early childhood liaison who has led and supported district- and state-level early language and literacy initiatives. Her work has included redesigning PreK–1 language and literacy supports, implementing oral language screening and tiered support through OxEd’s LanguageScreen and TEL Ted Program, and strengthening MTSS aligned to the Science of Reading. Her doctoral research focused on implementing inclusive practices through design-based school improvement. During Montana’s Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant, she helped strengthen early identification practices and modernize reading disability identification to increase equity for learners. Outside of work, she enjoys running, skiing, and snowmobiling in the mountains and spending time with her partner and their two birddogs, Cricket and June Shirley.

Dr. Laurie Rossback brings over two decades of experience in education, with deep roots in elementary teaching and leadership. She serves as Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment for Durango School District 9-R in Colorado, where she leads systems-level work to strengthen foundational literacy and numeracy across PK–12. Under her leadership, the district put IMSE Orton-Gillingham in place, with fidelity, in every K–5 classroom. That work produced 73% proficiency on DIBELS 8, the district’s highest early literacy result on record. Laurie has been an elementary teacher, a special educator, and an elementary principal. Her work draws on implementation science, MTSS, and high-quality instructional materials. She shares nationally on building coherent systems that turn a district’s instructional vision into lasting results for students.

About the Moderator

Dr. Allison Slone is a pediatric speech-language pathologist with experience in early intervention, schools, and private practice. She is a Curriculum Designer at the Institute for Multisensory Education (IMSE) and provides nationwide professional learning on evidence-based language and literacy practices. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses, preparing educators to support student achievement. Dr. Slone earned her doctorate in reading science from Mount St. Joseph University, where she researched integrated language comprehension in early elementary education. She is dedicated to helping all children build strong language and literacy skills necessary for academic success and empowering educators with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to make that possible.

The Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE) offers Structured Literacy curriculum and professional learning based on the Orton-Gillingham approach. IMSE’s training and resources help educators learn to teach reading effectively and improve reading proficiency across all student levels. IMSE’s curricular resources provide direct, explicit instruction in foundational reading skills and morphology to support every learner. IMSE’s programs are designed to align with the latest research in the Science of Reading, supporting equitable literacy education in classrooms nationwide.