edWebinars
«Back to all edWebinars- This event has passed.
Celebrating the Strengths of Students with Dyslexia in Learning and Life: Beyond the Deficit
Tuesday, October 7, 2025 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EDT
Presented by Barbara Steinberg, Literacy Expert and CEO, PDX Reading Specialist
Moderated by Pam Austin, Director of Instructional Technology, Voyager Sopris Learning
Sponsored by Voyager Sopris Learning
Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.
Too often, dyslexia is framed through a lens of limitation—but what if we flipped the script? This first engaging edWebinar of the Dyslexia Awareness Lunch and Learn Week invites educators to move beyond a deficit-based mindset and explore the cognitive gifts that often accompany dyslexia, such as creativity, big-picture thinking, spatial reasoning, and entrepreneurial drive.
Grounded in research and inspired by real-life stories of successful individuals with dyslexia, this session offers practical strategies for nurturing these strengths in the classroom. Viewers walk away with a renewed perspective about neurodiversity and tools to create inclusive, empowering learning environments that help all students thrive.
Viewers learn to:
- Identify common cognitive strengths associated with dyslexia
- Apply instructional strategies that support and amplify dyslexic strengths
- Understand the impact of deficit-based vs. strengths-based approaches
- Foster a classroom culture that values diverse ways of thinking and learning
This recorded edWebinar is of interest to PreK-12 teachers, school leaders, district leaders, literacy coaches, and intervention specialists.
This edWebinar is part of Voyager Sopris Learning’s Dyslexia Awareness Week.
About the Presenter
Barbara Steinberg brings a wealth of experience spanning more than 25 years in education, starting as a dedicated classroom teacher and evolving into a champion for evidence-based literacy instruction. As the founder of PDX Reading Specialist, she is on a mission to help all students become confident and capable learners.
Internationally recognized, Barbara serves as a keynote speaker for distinguished organizations such as edWeb.net and Decoding Dyslexia. Her expertise is in training thousands of educators globally about evidence-based reading instruction and the Science of Reading. She empowers educators with the tools to deliver impactful instruction, firmly believing that not only can reading challenges be overcome, but they can also be prevented.
About the Moderator
Pam Austin, Director of Instructional Technology for Voyager Sopris Learning, has over 35 years of experience as an educator. She has worked as a Professional Learning Facilitator Manager with over 17 years of experience in training and supporting districts in various literacy and numeracy interventions for Voyager Sopris Learning in addition to delivering LETRS professional development sessions. She has also shared her love of proven VSL solutions as a Product Marketing Manager when she began her role as an EDVIEW360 podcast host in 2019 and continues to this day. Her goal is to aid teachers in changing the lives of students so that they not only become proficient and successful learners but also individuals confident in pursuing personal and professional life goals.
She previously held the role of Literacy Specialist at the Center for Development and Learning (CDL) now the Center for Literacy and Learning. As an educator in the New Orleans Public Schools for 14 years, she served as an elementary teacher, a reading interventionist, a school-based reading coach, and a central office field literacy facilitator. These varying roles allowed her to gain a myriad of experiences that has enhanced her ability to work in collaboration with other educators, schools, and districts for impactful professional learning. Pam’s first steps into a lifelong career as an educator began as a fourth-grade teacher in a small school in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. And the journey continues…
Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.
Join the Empowering Struggling Readers community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.
Voyager Sopris Learning® is the specialist in reading, writing, and math intervention. Fully focused on intervention, we have established four decades of results that demonstrate the efficacy of our solutions. Providing a holistic offering of reading, writing, and math interventions and assessments, our solutions help educators create strong, sustainable foundations to ensure academic success for all students.
