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Empowering Readers With Dyslexia: Using Diagnostic and Prescriptive Teaching to Navigate Roadblocks
Wednesday, October 8, 2025 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EDT
Presented by Casey Harrison, Author of Teaching Beyond the Diagnosis: Empowering Students with Dyslexia, Educator, Dyslexia Expert, and Founder of The Dyslexia Classroom and Wimberley (Texas) Dyslexia and Learning Center
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.
Imagine a student on the journey to becoming a confident, independent reader, but along the way, they face unexpected roadblocks. As educators, you play a crucial role in helping them overcome these barriers, even within high-quality, evidence-based dyslexia intervention.
According to the IDA, about 13–14% of the school population nationwide has a handicapping condition that qualifies them for special education. Current studies indicate that one-half of all the students who qualify for special education are classified as having a learning disability.
Dyslexia often presents persistent challenges in unlocking reading and writing skills—challenges that can impact academic achievement, confidence, and lifelong learning. Meaningful scaffolds within dyslexia and reading intervention are essential to help students overcome these barriers. When thoughtfully designed and delivered through evidence-based instruction, these scaffolds ensure support is responsive, targeted, and always aimed at advancing learning.
During this eye-opening second edWebinar of the Dyslexia Awareness Lunch and Learn Week, the presenters explore how educator knowledge, keen observation, and adaptive teaching play a pivotal role in meeting the diverse needs of students, especially those with dyslexia. You leave with the tools and strategies you need to make a positive impact in your students’ lives. Viewers learn how to:
- Apply diagnostic and prescriptive teaching strategies to identify and respond to individual student strengths and needs
- Use diagnostic tools and keen observation to uncover literacy challenges and adjust instruction in real time
- Design and implement targeted scaffolds and adaptive supports that meet students where they are, ensuring focused, evidence-based, mastery-oriented instruction
- Foster student independence and confidence through a gradual release of responsibility and explicit teaching within a structured literacy framework
By intentionally integrating these practices, educators can fine-tune their instruction to help students overcome obstacles and unlock their full reading potential. 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
Casey Harrison is the founder of The Dyslexia Classroom and Wimberley (Texas) Dyslexia and Learning Center. She is a Certified Academic Language Therapist (ALTA), a Licensed Dyslexia Therapist (Texas, ALTA), a Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist (IDA), and a qualified teacher with more than 27 years of experience. Casey is a national presenter and author of Teaching Beyond the Diagnosis: Empowering Students with Dyslexia (released in 2025).
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.
