Yale researcher Dr. Sally Shaywitz to
take questions during online chat
Washington, D.C. – Acclaimed researcher Sally Shaywitz,
M.D., will field questions from visitors to
www.readingrockets.org in a live, online chat to kick off "Target
the Problem," a new, collaborative project designed to help children
with reading disabilities. The centerpiece of the project is an
innovative online tool that helps parents and teachers recognize
and assist children with specific reading difficulties.
Dr. Shaywitz, author of the bestseller Overcoming Dyslexia, is
one of the nation's leading experts on reading skills development
and dysfunction. A pediatrician, neuroscientist, and member of the
National Reading Panel, she is co-director of the Yale Center for
the Study of Learning and Attention at the Yale University School
of Medicine. Dr. Shaywitz will respond to questions beginning at
2 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 27, 2005. Questions can be submitted
during the chat or beforehand by sending them to readingrockets@weta.com
(include "Chat with Sally" in the subject line). Autographed
copies of Overcoming Dyslexia will be awarded from random drawings
of those who submit questions beforehand, as well as from those
who participate in the live chat.
The new project, "Target the Problem < http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target
> " is a dedicated area within the Reading Rockets Web site
that was created to be the destination of choice for teachers and
parents of children with suspected or identified reading disabilities.
Problems with auditory processing, language processing, visual processing,
auditory/visual integration, memory, attention, fluency, and comprehension
are defined in lay terms, making it easy for parents and teachers
to match a child's behavior with characteristics of a reading disability.
"Target the Problem" also includes specific things parents, teachers
and children can do to increase skills, accommodate weaknesses and
build upon a child's strengths.
The project also features a "Put Downs and Comebacks < http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/putdowns
> " interactive that recognizes how self-esteem and motivation
plummet when children struggle with reading. The roll-over interactive
includes self-defeating comments ("put downs") that children who
struggle in school often say or think and the responses ("comebacks")
that parents and teachers can use to turn around these debilitating
thoughts and feelings.
"We're very excited about ‘Target the Problem' because we haven't
found anything like it anywhere on the Web," said Pamela McKeta,
director of online services for Reading Rockets. "By outlining specific
characteristics of reading difficulties, the interactive helps demystify
labels such as ‘auditory processing problems.' It helps parents
and teachers identify the issue and move on to detailed suggestions
for helping a child who is struggling to read."
The information for "Target the Problem" was researched and created
by the Access Center: Improving Outcomes for All Students K-8 (
www.k8accesscenter.org
), which is housed at the American Institutes for Research in
Washington, D.C. The Access Center is a national technical assistance
project supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Its goal is to increase
awareness of effective practices and programs that can help students
with disabilities learn the content and skills embedded in the general
education curriculum.
"Target the Problem" is part of an ongoing initiative called Reading
Rockets, which looks at how young children learn to read, why so
many kids struggle, and what can be done about it.
"Target the Problem" is also a collaborative project of Reading
Rockets' partner site www.LDOnLine.org
, the Web's premier site for learning disabilities. "Because
as many as 80 percent of students with learning disabilities have
reading problems, it made sense to build a bridge to LD OnLine,
our other Web-based education project," said Noel Gunther, executive
director of Reading Rockets and LD OnLine. "We wanted to make it
easy for parents, teachers and other users to access the wealth
of information that already exists, coupled with the new content
that we've created for this project."
The online chat with Dr. Sally Shaywitz is being offered in cooperation
with The Partnership for Reading, a collaborative effort by three
federal agencies – the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL), the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD),
and the U.S. Department of Education.
Reading Rockets and LD OnLine are national educational projects
of WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the
nation's capital whose educational projects focus on making learning
available to all. The station's television productions and co-productions
include "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"; "Washington Week"; and documentaries
by filmmaker Ken Burns, including "The Civil War," "JAZZ" and the
upcoming "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson."
Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO. More information
on WETA and its programs and services is available on the Web site
at www.weta.org .
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