IDA LOGOLos Angeles Branch 
Fall 2013 Newsletter

Serving the greater Los Angeles
area since 1983



In This Issue!
Parent Support Group
Get Involved!
Resources
Study Group
HW Help!
Student Spotlight
Dyslexia Awareness Month
Spring Conference
NJ Dyslexia Law
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Parent Support Group
 
The group is designed to provide a place for parents of students with language-based learning disabilities to discuss issues they are facing and connect with others traveling the same journey. The group will be located on the west side of Los Angeles. 
 
 
Get Involved!!

If you are interested in attending a meeting, joining a committee, or pledging a donation, please contact our branch office for more information.
Resources
ldonline.org

Learning Ally


For other resources and referrals, call our office at 818-506-8866
Review the Research with IDALA

November 23, 2013
Encino, CA
10:00am-12:00am

We will be discussing assistive technology!

Our study group is designed to bring us all up to date on the latest research in the field of language based learning disabilities. Professionals, parents, and students are welcome to join.

Join us!
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Contact us at [email protected] to find out how!!

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Save the Date!
Saturday, 
May 3

Spring 2014 Conference
featuring
keynote 

Susan Hall

Exhibitor and 
Sponsorship
Opportunities available
 
The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia
Out on DVD!



 

I hope this letter finds you well. It's hard to believe that we are well into November and the school year is in full swing.

 

October was Dyslexia Awareness Month, which means IDALA was very busy!  Steve and Wendy Schall opened up their fabulous home to help us host an evening honoring journalist Robert Scheer at our Great Minds Don't Think Alike fundraiser. Thank you to all of our guests who came out to support us.Thank you, also, to our honorary hosts and board members for all of your hard work and dedication! Please read more about all about Dyslexia Awareness Month below.  

 

In addition to our Dyslexia Awareness Events, we were also asked to join Larry Mantle on Airtalk (KPCC/NPR 89.3) to discuss what dyslexia is, and what it is not! It was a fabulous opportunity to spread the word and to meet Harvey Hubbell. Harvey is a documentarian who filmed his troubles in life, along with various other actors, as they deal with dyslexia in Dislecksia: The Movie. It was a pleasure to be involved in this and we look forward to collaborating with Harvey in the future! Click here to hear the discussion!

 

 

In the coming months, we have plenty to tell you about. We are thrilled to welcome Heidi Shaw, LCSW, and Sharon Shaw, LCSW, as the new leaders of our ever-growing parent support group and bring over 45 combined years of experience in their field.  These new leaders are an incredible addition to our team and the feedback has been so positive. The support group is held on the 3rd Monday of every month. Our next group will be meeting at 8pm on November 18th.  For more information about the location or to RSVP, please contact us at [email protected].

 

We also have our study group beginning again on November 23 in Encino. This month we will be discussing assistive technology and how it can help the dyslexic reader. Be sure to look for the email about this event and don't forget to RSVP. Spots fill up quickly for this group!  Also, mark your calendars for January 11, 2014 for our annual membership event and, of course, our spring conference in Santa Monica on May 3, 2014. I am very excited to announce that our morning keynote speaker for our spring conference 2014 will be Susan Hall, co- author of Parenting the Struggling Reader and Straight Talk about Reading. The conference is shaping up to be another incredible one. The response to our call for proposals has been overwhelming! Thank you to everyone who has submitted; this is not going to be an easy decision. However, I look forward to combing through each proposal with our committee and working hard to balance the day for both our professional attendees and parent participants.

 

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity to serve as your president for the last 2 years. It has been an incredible experience, and I am so proud to have helped lead our branch into a new era. Come January, our Vice President, Liz Lutsky, M.A., ET/P, will take the lead as president and Jennifer Kalan, M.A., ET/P, will come on as Vice President (assuming you all vote!), and I will take the position of Immediate Past President. Sarae Shenkin, M.A., BCET, will remain our treasurer and Allison Purdy, M.A., will officially take the position of Secretary. I want to thank Lori Waldman for her service on the executive board and look forward to her continued commitment on our board.  Without her, our doors would have closed a long time ago. Thank you, Lori!

 

Please keep an eye out for e-mails regarding the exciting events and activities coming up throughout this year.  We hope you will join us on our extraordinary journey to make a difference for individuals with Dyslexia and their families.   

 

All the best,

Lainie S. Donnell, M.A., ET/P 

President, IDALA

 


Homework Help: 5 Ways to Motivate Kids with Disabilities
by Katie Hurley, LCSW from her Everyday Family Blog
 

The beginning of the school year is often full of excitement, and kids appear motivated to learn. They come home with complicated descriptions of interesting lessons taught in their favorite subjects. They take a break, eat a snack, and then begin their homework.

Ok, maybe it's not always that seamless, but for a while, there tends to be a "honeymoon" period when kids are enjoying a new classroom and fatigue has yet to set in. 

As kids settle in, and the academics become more difficult, many kids begin to experience difficulty with motivation. And while motivation can be an obstacle for any young learner, it can be particularly difficult for children with learning disabilities. 

When children struggle to learn, they are up against much more than the words on the page. They might struggle with anxiety, low self-esteem, feelings of depression, and/or increased frustration. Checking out and avoiding the workload are natural defense mechanisms. 

Lainie S. Donnell, M.A., ET/P, Educational Therapist and President of the International Dyslexia Association, Los Angeles Branch (IDALA), suggests that a team approach benefits children with learning disabilities. "If your child sees that there is a team in place that's working toward a common goal, it can feel very reassuring. They find it find comforting to know that everyone has a sense of their learning style and understands that it is not a lack of intellect that is getting in the way of homework success."

In fact, there are a number of things parents can do help kids stay motivated when school becomes difficult.

5 ways to motivate kids with learning disabilities:


STUDENT SPOTLIGHT:
by 
Elizabeth M.
11th Grade, 
Thousand Oaks High School

Before I found out I was dyslexic, school was an intimidating place. I didn't want to go because it was hard to learn. On Fridays, there would be spelling tests and I would always dread them; I would work rigorously all week to memorize the spelling of the words, and it never worked no matter how many different ways I tried. In addition, reading groups were a huge embarrassment.  Even though the teachers never explained how reading groups were organized, you always knew which groups were the smart ones and which needed help.  Out of all the leveled reading groups, mine was the lowest and the smallest, which was kind of sad to know how much I was struggling in one of the main areas of learning.

 

Another annoyance about school was the Rocket Math timed multiplication tests. It was extremely difficult to memorize the times tables, and I would always find a way of cheating so I could move on to the next level. When I was still on basic math facts, all of my friends were way beyond me; I wanted to get better to be where they were. I felt like all of my friends were smarter than me. Another way the teachers tormented me was the game, "Me vs. Calculator." This terrible game involved two people picked at random and herded to the front of the class. The teacher would give us a math fact and told both of us to solve it, one with a calculator and one with our mind. This sickening game was supposed to show us that our brains could work faster than a calculator. For everybody else, it worked, but I consistently lost. It was such an embarrassment as the entire class watched the calculator beat me. 

 

 Click here to read more! 

Great Minds Don't Think Alike
Honoring Robert Scheer
by Jennifer Kalan, M.A., ET/P
Vice President Elect

On October 12, in honor of Dyslexia Awareness Month, IDALA hosted its annual Great Minds Don't Think Alike fundraiser at the beautiful home of Wendy and Steve Schall in Pacific Palisades. Jonathan Mooney, last years recipient of the Great Minds Don't Think Alike award, introduced this year's honoree Robert Scheer, awarding-winning journalist, author, and co-host of KCRW's "Left, Right, & Center." With over 90 people in attendance, Scheer shared his inspiring story of discovering, coping and finally thriving in spite of his learning differences.  From the "moron" class to the "genius" class and everywhere in between, Scheer benefited when one teacher noticed his intellect and strengths in math and science.   Throughout the evening, Scheer mingled with parents, educators, and related professionals over wine and cheese.  All who were in attendance realized that all it takes is one person, a parent, a teacher, or a friend to motivate and encourage and individual with learning differences to succeed in all that life has to offer. Another exciting event in October was a fundraiser at Pitfire Pizza in Marina Del Rey.  On October 30th, they donated 10% of their sales to IDALA.  Thank you, Pitfire!

Reflecting on our Spring Conference
by Liz Lutsky, M.A., ET/P
President Elect
 
As we begin preparing for our Spring 2014 conference, I can't help but reflect on where we were last May.  About a year ago, we put together a team of fabulous and dedicated volunteers who brought their enthusiasm and knowledge to the table as we planned what turned out to be a weekend dedicated to the mission of IDALA. It began at the home of Kristen and Sanford Panitch where we honored Jonathan Mooney, author and activist, for his amazing accomplishments despite of and because of his learning disabilities.
 
The weekend continued with our conference "Hurdles and Hopes: 30 Years and Running," which took place on Saturday at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica. Renowned author and researcher, Dr. Maryanne Wolf, gave the keynote speech, which was followed by six breakout sessions led by well-respected professionals in the field of learning disabilities. Thanks to the nearly 200 people in attendance and to those whose hard work and dedication brought this vision to life, including our board members and committee members:Sarae Shenkin, Jessica Corrinne, Lori Waldman, Clarann Goldring, Jen Kalan, Lauren Leavitt, Stacie Ottoson, Candace Presser, Allison Purdy, Lauren Roedy-Vaughn, Ashley Waldman, Amy Friedman, and Shawn SimonDana Abrams and Marni Haber at Haber Event Group; and our honorary hosts, Helen Bartlett and Tony Bill, Pam and Chris Fillo, Shelley and Richard Maslan, Kristen and Sanford Panitch, Macie and Jay Sherick, Jennifer Terrell-Schwartz, and Kristina Pappas;  Special thanks to Kristen and Helen whose generosity and guidance were indispensable.

 

Can't wait to see you in May 2014 for another wonderful weekend!

  
New Jersey Governor Signs Laws Recognizing Dyslexia, Requiring Teacher Training
IDA's Gordon Sherman, Ph.D., played key role in Governor's Task Force

Earlier this month, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law two bills designed to identify children with dyslexia and improve teacher training. International Dyslexia Association Past-President and current board member, Gordon F. Sherman, Ph.D., was a key member of the Governor's Reading Disabilities Task Force. 

 

A task force was charged with studying and evaluating practices for diagnosing, treating, and educating children with reading disabilities and examining how current statutes and regulations affect these students in order to develop recommendations to present to the Governor and Legislature. Beth Ravelli and her daughter, Samantha, who was diagnosed with dyslexia, were instrumental in getting the task force formed. 

 

One of the new laws requires the International Dyslexia Association's definition of dyslexia to be specifically written into special education code as one of the disabilities that need to be recognized by the New Jersey school system. 

"From the start, dyslexia was one of the issues that the task force wanted to tackle. But when it became clear that dyslexia is the most common type of reading disability, it made sense to concentrate on that," said Sherman, Executive Director of the internationally known Newgrange School in Hamilton, New Jersey and the new Laurel School in Princeton, New Jersey. The Newgrange School focuses on children with a wide range of learning challenges. The Laurel School's focus is strictly on dyslexia. 

 

"One of the key points of the task force was to determine a definition of dyslexia, so I presented the definition that the IDA came up with several years ago. Why reinvent the wheel when there is a definition out there that has been widely accepted by researchers and educators? This reinforces the fact that the IDA has the most comprehensive and clear definition of dyslexia," said Sherman. 

 

Click here to read more

 IDA LOGOInternational Dyslexia Association, Los Angeles Branch
1-818-506-8866