Saturday, October 3, 2026 – Day Two

(Please note that session times and descriptions may vary slightly from what is currently posted below. If a session shown below is not available in the registration system, it is likely sold out.)

Registration & Continental Breakfast – 7:00 to 8:00 am

Welcoming Remarks – 8:00 to 8:20 am

Saturday Morning Plenary

8:20 am to 9:40 am

Claude Goldenberg, Ph.D.

Research Must Guide How We Teach English Learners to Read

Most recently, these questions have emerged that leave teachers of English learners puzzled: First, does research on reading, sometimes referred to as “the science of reading,” include English learners, or is it based solely on English-speaking monolinguals? Second, do English learners, also known as emergent bilinguals, have a “bilingual brain” that requires a fundamentally different sort of reading instruction than monolingual students require? In this session, we will also cover the following:
– What’s “Reading Science” Got to Do with English Learners?
– The Reading Circuit and Els
– Impact of Providing Equitable Instruction for Els
– Is beginning literacy instruction different from beginning literacy instruction for English Speakers?

Break – 9:40 am to 10:00 am

Visit Exhibitors, Last Chance for Raffle Signups, & Check out the IDA-RMB Bookstore

Saturday Morning – Breakout Sessions

10:00 am to 11:30 am – Choose 1 of 6 Possible Sessions

Dr. Shane Saeed, Elementary ELA Curriculum Coordinator

Planning Lessons with the Science of Learning in Mind

Have you ever taught a concept and when you refer back to it later you hear, “We never learned that!”? The good news is by understanding how our brains learn and form memory, we can teach in a way that helps students to move that information to long term memory. This session is designed to quickly introduce the “what” and “why” of the science of learning and quickly get to the “how.” We will dive into a toolkit of high-impact strategies that you can start using tomorrow. You’ll see how small tweaks to things you’re already doing, like how you start a class or how students review their work, can be the difference between a student forgetting a concept by Friday and mastering it for longer. These are low-prep, high-yield practices that help students move from being passive observers to confident, self-driven learners. The best part? This isn’t “one more thing” being added to your plate. It’s about teaching smarter. We’ll look at how to weave these practices into your existing lessons so they become a natural part of your daily routine. You’ll walk away with a practical set of strategies to make your content stick–saving yourself time in the long run, and help your students truly own their learning!

Dr. Jamie Davis

Making Every Minute Count: Intensifying Reading Instruction in Tier 2, Tier 3, and Special Education

Many students who struggle with reading require more than additional practice; they need instruction that is intentionally intensified to address their specific learning needs. This session explores evidence-based practices for increasing the effectiveness of reading intervention through diagnostic teaching, targeted skill development, and responsive instructional decision-making. Participants will learn how to identify patterns of student errors, analyze assessment data, and adjust instruction to provide the appropriate level of support.
The session will focus on practical strategies for increasing instructional intensity, including explicit modeling, scaffolded practice, corrective feedback, cumulative review, and increased opportunities for student response. Attendees will examine how to use ongoing progress monitoring to evaluate student growth and make data-driven decisions that improve outcomes for struggling readers.
Designed for educators, interventionists, instructional coaches, and special education professionals, this presentation provides actionable tools that can be immediately applied within Tier 2, Tier 3, and special education settings. Participants will explore how to intensify instruction while maintaining student engagement and confidence and will leave with practical strategies, resources, and implementation tools that can be used the very next day. By combining structured literacy practices with a diagnostic teaching approach, educators can accelerate learning, close skill gaps, and support students with persistent reading difficulties in achieving meaningful academic growth.

Melody K. Ilk, M.A.

Talk. Read. Write. Repeat! The Instructional Cycle That Builds Strong Readers and Writers

Oral language is the bridge that connects reading, writing, and thinking. Decades of research in the science of reading demonstrate that students learn best when they have frequent opportunities to listen, speak, read, and write about meaningful content. Yet, in many classrooms, oral language instruction remains an underutilized component of literacy instruction.
In this engaging and interactive session, participants will explore the research connecting oral language to vocabulary development, language comprehension, reading comprehension, and written expression. Grounded in the Simple View of Reading, Scarborough’s Reading Rope, structured literacy, and current cognitive science, participants will examine how purposeful classroom conversations, interactive read-alouds, oral rehearsal, academic discourse, and collaborative learning accelerate literacy development for all students.
Through classroom examples and instructional routines, participants will learn practical strategies for embedding oral language into daily literacy instruction without adding another program or initiative. Whether supporting beginning readers or developing skilled writers, educators will leave with immediately applicable tools for transforming classroom talk into deeper thinking and stronger literacy outcomes.
Learning Objectives – Participants will:
– Understand the research connecting oral language to reading comprehension and writing.
– Explore instructional routines that integrate speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
– Learn how oral language supports vocabulary, syntax, background knowledge, and executive functioning.
– Examine practical classroom strategies that promote rich academic conversations.

Stacey Prusak, M.Ed. and Jana Thomas, M.Ed., The Schenck School

Reading Between the Lines: Inferencing with Dyslexic Students

Inferences advance a reader from individual sentence level interpretation to a comprehensive meaning integrating multiple sentences. Students must comprehend the text, as well as determine what is implied, requiring them to retrieve background knowledge, vocabulary, as well as information encountered in the text they are currently reading. By focusing on instructional strategies that build comprehension, students can be taught to analyze text and construct a mental model. Specific instructional strategies can be taught to help build students’ inference skills, comprehend both the surface code and the implied information.
Participants will gain a clear understanding of the language and cognitive processes, including local and global coherence inferences, necessary for dyslexic learners to move beyond surface-level reading. We will explicitly address how challenges in working memory, processing speed, and phonological awareness can impact inferential reasoning. The session will highlight practical, evidence-based strategies for explicitly teaching inference-making, focusing on key areas such as pronoun resolution, activating and leveraging background knowledge, and identifying implied relationships. Attendees will leave with ready-to-implement tools and techniques to empower dyslexic students to become skilled inferential thinkers, thereby unlocking deeper meaning and improving comprehension across all subject areas.

Alexandra Marquez, Instructional Coach

Pre-Literacy and Oral Language: Building Language Through Intentional Read-Alouds

This session will highlight the reading plans developed for our Early Childhood Education Department to support pre-literacy and oral language development through interactive read-alouds. Participants will explore a structured approach to reading that intentionally builds vocabulary, comprehension, and communication skills across three readings of the same text. Each reading plan includes explicit instruction of four target vocabulary words, book introductions, commenting strategies, opportunities for wondering and discussion, and intentional emphasis on emotions, problem-solving, and story structure. The session will also demonstrate how the included writing prompts can be used in both large-group and small-group settings to extend learning and strengthen early literacy skills. Attendees will leave with practical strategies and resources they can immediately implement to make read-alouds more purposeful, engaging, and language-rich.

Craig Nydick, Attorney, Office of Civil Rights, US Department of Education

Ensuring Students with Disabilities Are Able to Equitably Access Educational Opportunities (K-12 Through Post-Secondary)

The Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education enforces Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the ADA, as well as civil rights laws protecting people on the bases of race, color, and national origin; gender; and age. Come to this presentation to learn about OCR’s role in enforcing civil rights laws, and, specifically, ensuring students with disabilities, including students with dyslexia, are able to equitably access educational programs and activities from K-12 through post-secondary schooling.

Lunch Buffet – Synthesize the Morning’s Learning with Colleagues

11:30 am to 12:30 pm – Visit Exhibitors & IDA-RMB Bookstore – Exhibitor Raffle Winners Announced

Saturday Afternoon Plenary

12:30 pm to 1:50 pm

Claude Goldenberg, Ph.D.

Oral and Written Language: Understanding the Differences and Implications for Teaching – Especially for English Learners 

Debates around reading education center on an issue that is insufficiently recognized and understood: The differences between acquiring and developing oral language and written language. The two are obviously related, but they are not the same thing. Each is learned in a distinctly different way that has important implications for teaching students to become fully and joyfully literate. This presentation will identify the differences between oral and written language, why each must be taught distinctly, how they merge to produce successful readers (and writers), and why this matters for all students and especially English Learners.
– The difference between oral and written language
– How and why oral language and written language are different and why that matters when teaching students to read and write
– Why the difference really matters when teaching ELs
– What teachers need to do differently when teaching ELs to read and write in English compared to when teaching English speakers to read and write

Break – 1:50 to 2:05 pm – Visit Exhibitors & Pick Up Prizes

Saturday Afternoon – Breakout Sessions

2:05 to 3:35 pm – Choose 1 of 6 possible sessions

Claude Goldenberg, Ph.D.

Question and Answer Time

Do you have more questions beyond what Dr. Goldberg addressed in his plenary topics? Do you want him to expand on something specific? Interested in how Dr. Goldberg’s topics impact your classroom? Join fellow professionals in this Q&A session.

Dr. Jennifer Throndsen, Educational Consultant

Scaffolding Strategies for Inclusive Access to Grade-Level Text

Accessing grade-level text is essential for all learners—including students with dyslexia and multilingual learners—and requires intentional, explicit scaffolding rather than lowered expectations. This interactive 90-minute session bridges research to practice by introducing several evidence-based scaffolding strategies grounded in the science of reading, language development, and learning sciences.
Participants will explore how to systematically support background knowledge, vocabulary, language comprehension, and executive functioning skills to improve access to complex texts across content areas. Through modeling, guided practice, and collaborative application, attendees will examine how these strategies can be used to support diverse learners, including those with reading and writing difficulties, attention challenges, and language-based learning differences.
Participants will engage with ready-to-use planning tools, explicit instructional routines, and adaptable scaffolding techniques that can be immediately applied in classrooms and intervention settings. Attendees will leave equipped to design inclusive, grade-level instruction that promotes access, engagement, and comprehension for every learner.

Dr. Jamie Davis

Making Every Minute Count: Intensifying Reading Instruction in Tier 2, Tier 3, and Special Education

Many students who struggle with reading require more than additional practice; they need instruction that is intentionally intensified to address their specific learning needs. This session explores evidence-based practices for increasing the effectiveness of reading intervention through diagnostic teaching, targeted skill development, and responsive instructional decision-making. Participants will learn how to identify patterns of student errors, analyze assessment data, and adjust instruction to provide the appropriate level of support.
The session will focus on practical strategies for increasing instructional intensity, including explicit modeling, scaffolded practice, corrective feedback, cumulative review, and increased opportunities for student response. Attendees will examine how to use ongoing progress monitoring to evaluate student growth and make data-driven decisions that improve outcomes for struggling readers.
Designed for educators, interventionists, instructional coaches, and special education professionals, this presentation provides actionable tools that can be immediately applied within Tier 2, Tier 3, and special education settings. Participants will explore how to intensify instruction while maintaining student engagement and confidence and will leave with practical strategies, resources, and implementation tools that can be used the very next day. By combining structured literacy practices with a diagnostic teaching approach, educators can accelerate learning, close skill gaps, and support students with persistent reading difficulties in achieving meaningful academic growth.

Anne Whitney, Ed.D., CCC-SLP; and Morgan Lipton, M.A., CCC-SLP

Teasing Out Hidden DLD in School-Aged Children

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) has been known by many names, including specific language impairment, language delay, and developmental dysphasia. DLD is often referred to as a hidden disability; however, it emerges in early childhood and persists into adulthood. DLD may be associated with a variety of comorbidities, including dyslexia. As students get older, DLD is often far more difficult to identify, and responses to interventions are hindered by inadequate identification. In this session, we will investigate the defining features of DLD in the school-aged population – which skills are affected and which evaluation methods are recommended. After exploring what DLD is and how it presents in the school-aged population, we will look at three case studies of individuals with late-diagnosed DLD, specifically examining their diagnostic profiles and how DLD was differentiated from dyslexia.

Stacey Prusak, M.Ed. and Jana Thomas, M.Ed., The Schenck School

Reading Between the Lines: Inferencing with Dyslexic Students

Inferences advance a reader from individual sentence level interpretation to a comprehensive meaning integrating multiple sentences. Students must comprehend the text, as well as determine what is implied, requiring them to retrieve background knowledge, vocabulary, as well as information encountered in the text they are currently reading. By focusing on instructional strategies that build comprehension, students can be taught to analyze text and construct a mental model. Specific instructional strategies can be taught to help build students’ inference skills, comprehend both the surface code and the implied information.
Participants will gain a clear understanding of the language and cognitive processes, including local and global coherence inferences, necessary for dyslexic learners to move beyond surface-level reading. We will explicitly address how challenges in working memory, processing speed, and phonological awareness can impact inferential reasoning. The session will highlight practical, evidence-based strategies for explicitly teaching inference-making, focusing on key areas such as pronoun resolution, activating and leveraging background knowledge, and identifying implied relationships. Attendees will leave with ready-to-implement tools and techniques to empower dyslexic students to become skilled inferential thinkers, thereby unlocking deeper meaning and improving comprehension across all subject areas.

Judy Bloomberg, M.D.

The Imagine Project: Bridging Social-Emotional Learning and the Science of Reading

For students with dyslexia, the cognitive effort of decoding often triggers a “”fight or flight”” response, creating an affective filter that blocks learning. While Structured Literacy provides the “”how”” of reading, students must be emotionally regulated to access it. This session introduces The Imagine Project, an evidence-based expressive writing framework that acts as an emotional primer for learning.
Rooted in the research of Pennebaker (Expressive Writing), Kross (Self-Distancing), King (Best Possible Self), and Snyder (Hope Theory), this framework reduces chronic stress and fosters a growth mindset. Participants will write and share their own “Imagine” story and leave with a ready-to-use toolkit to lower student anxiety, improve persistence, and empower every learner to “”imagine”” a new future.