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«Back to all edWebinarsAdolescent Literacy and Mental Health: The Hidden Cost of Reading Difficulties
Monday, November 9, 2026 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST
Adolescent Literacy and Mental Health: The Hidden Cost of Reading Difficulties
Presented by Paul Black, Ed.D., NCSP, Literacy Advocate, School Psychologist, Salt Lake City School District (UT), and Board Chair, RISE Institute for Literacy; Angelica Hoffman, Reading Interventionist, Horn Lake High School (MS); and David Hoffman, Ph.D., Teacher, Horn Lake High School (MS)
Sponsored by Reading Horizons
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Struggling with reading feels different in adolescence. By the time a student reaches middle or high school, they are often dealing with years of accumulated academic and emotional impact. In this edWebinar, school psychologist Dr. Paul Black and educators from DeSoto County, Mississippi, will explore how reading difficulties and psychological distress can coexist, affecting adolescent students’ confidence, motivation, and identity, and discuss practical, research-informed ways to rebuild students’ confidence while closing their skill gaps.
They will cover important topics, including:
- Assessing decoding, word recognition, fluency, and language comprehension
- Explicit, systematic instruction and making progress visible
- Identifying self-efficacy, academic self-concept, and global self-esteem, and applying each in the classroom
- How to spot the cycle of academic avoidance and investigate the barrier before addressing the behavior, using the Notice → Understand → Respond → Reinforce framework to support struggling readers
Attendees will gain a new lens for reading student behavior and walk away with five clear, immediately applicable strategies to help striving adolescent readers experience real success. It’s not too late for our adolescent students to learn to read, and we can keep a student’s greatest difficulty from becoming their whole identity.
This edWebinar will be of interest to middle and high school teachers, interventionists, special educators, school psychologists, school counselors, and school and district administrators.
About the Presenters
Paul Black, Ed.D., NCSP, is a school psychologist and educational leader with over a decade of experience supporting literacy development, assessment-driven instruction, adolescent literacy, mental health, and learning outcomes across early childhood, K–12, and special education settings. Dr. Black’s work sits at the intersection of the Science of Reading, dyslexia, and the mental health needs of neurodiverse learners, with a focus on translating research into practical, school-ready implementation. He earned a doctorate in school psychology from Loyola University Chicago and serves as Chairman of the Board for RISE Literacy, leading the development of evidence-based literacy programs grounded in the Science of Reading. He also serves on the Governing Board of Directors for Weber State University Charter Academy, supporting governance, leadership evaluation, and research-informed educational practice.
Angelica Hoffman is a veteran educator with more than 20 years of experience and currently serves as a Reading Interventionist at Horn Lake High School in DeSoto County, Mississippi. She is passionate about helping struggling readers develop the skills and confidence needed for success. Through strong relationships, high expectations, engaging instruction, and a focus on students’ social-emotional needs, she strives to build a classroom culture where students feel valued, supported, and capable of success. Her approach promotes both academic growth and positive student behavior.
Dr. David Hoffman is a high school English teacher in DeSoto County, Mississippi, and an advocate for trauma-informed leadership in education. Before entering the classroom, he spent 25 years in the security industry, including mid-level and executive leadership roles directing large-scale public safety, crisis management, and emergency response operations for one of the nation’s largest resort complexes. After retiring from this profession, he returned to school at age 45 to begin a new path as an educator. Dr. Hoffman earned degrees from Northwest Mississippi Community College, the University of Mississippi, and Louisiana State University, culminating in a Ph.D. in ethical leadership from St. Thomas University. Now entering his ninth year of teaching, his research focuses on the connection between student trauma, teacher burnout, and turnover, and the role of trauma-informed systems in improving school culture and literacy outcomes.
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Science-based, tech-enabled foundational reading instruction that helps all students achieve reading proficiency. Reading Horizons® is a 40-year-old, mission-driven literacy education company dedicated to empowering educators to eradicate illiteracy. Serving more than 200,000 educators and two million students across 50 states and 35 countries, Reading Horizons provides evidence-based, structured literacy instruction through its comprehensive platform, Ascend, which unites core, supplemental, and intervention instruction for students in Pre-K through grade 12 and beyond. For more information, visit readinghorizons.com.
