Saturday, April 26, 2025, 8:00am-3:30pm in Littleton, Colorado

Registration Check In – 8:00 to 8:45 am

Pick up Your Name Badge to confirm your attendance and grab goodies from our sponsors!

Welcome & Plenary Session

8:45 to 10:30 am

Breakthrough Strategies to Facilitate Independent Executive Function Skills

Sarah Ward, M.S., CCC/SLP, and Co-Director of Cognitive Connections, LLP

Executive function (EF) skills are crucial for helping students stay focused, follow routines, transition smoothly between tasks, and work independently. However, many students struggle with these essential skills, leading to classroom and homework challenges such as difficulty starting tasks, staying on track, and managing their time effectively.

This keynote session is full of practical, easy-to-implement strategies to support students in developing stronger executive function skills. Based on our award winning 360 Thinking Executive Function Curriculum, this session will focus on key areas such as:

• Transitions & Routines: Helping students move smoothly between tasks and follow daily classroom expectations.
• Time Awareness: Teaching students how to understand the passage of time, manage their workload, and complete tasks within given time limits.
• Task Initiation & Persistence: Encouraging students to listen, start tasks independently, and stick with them to completion.
• Self-Regulation: Providing strategies to help students stay focused, resist distractions, manage frustration and smoothly transition between tasks

Attendees will gain insights into foundational concepts such as “mind MIME” and forethought skills, as well as hands-on techniques to support students in developing independence and confidence in their learning.

Break – 10:30 to 10:50 am

Morning Breakout Sessions

Choose 1 of 6 Options – 10:50 am to 12:00 pm

From Stuck to Success: Helping Students Start, Focus, and Finish

Sarah Ward, M.S., CCC/SLP

You know that student—the one who stares at their assignment, unsure of where to begin, or the one who keeps putting it off because the task feels overwhelming? or the one who starts a task only to get sidetracked two minutes later? We’ve all seen it! In this breakout session, we’ll explore practical, real-world strategies to help students start their work, stick with it, and get it done. We’ll talk about:
1. Task Initiation & Persistence: Encouraging students to listen, start tasks independently, and stick with them to completion.
2. Self-Regulation: Providing strategies to help students stay focused, resist distractions, manage frustration and smoothly transition between tasks.
Expect a mix of new approaches and lots of practical tools you can use tomorrow.

Experience Dyslexia™ Simulation

The IDA-RMB Board of Directors

This simulation lets participants experience some of the challenges and frustrations faced by people with language-based learning differences. Participants are guided through six learning tasks commonly encountered in the classroom or workplace. These activities are followed by a group discussion focusing on experiences shared and lessons learned, as well as practical tips, accommodations and interventions for the classroom.

What Does It Take to Get Results?

Melody Ilk, M.A. & Sara Reeser

This session will introduce school and district leaders to the research on the critical systems required to build a successful multi-tiered system of support for literacy implementation. It will include a panel of principals, coaches, and leadership team members from different challenging school settings who have successfully implemented these systems and drastically improved their students’ ability to read and write.

Empowering Independent Writers: A Beginner’s Guide to thinkSRSD and the POWeR Cycle

Traci Thorstenson, M.Ed., CALT & Kristen Amos, M.Ed.

Discover how thinkSRSD can transform your writing instruction by empowering students to become self-regulated, confident writers. This session offers an engaging introduction to thinkSRSD, including an overview of the evidence-based approach and a deep dive into the steps of the POWeR Cycle (Plan, Organize, Write, edit, Revise). Walk away with an understanding of thinkSRSD routines, free resources, memorable chants, and evidence-based strategies you can implement with your students immediately to kickstart their journey toward writing success. Perfect for educators looking to elevate their literacy instruction and support student independence in writing.

We All Fly with UFLI:  Leveraging Diagnostic Data to optimize Student Outcomes

Lynni Nordheim

Navigating diagnostic data, forming effective student groups, and optimizing every instructional minute can often feel overwhelming. In this dynamic and interactive session, participants will learn how to efficiently collect and analyze diagnostic data to pinpoint each student’s specific learning needs, thereby accelerating their literacy development. We will explore strategies for creating targeted student groupings that foster growth in foundational literacy skills. Additionally, we will introduce UFLI Foundations as a valuable, engaging, and cost-effective resource for teachers and schools to enhance foundational skills instruction.
The session will include real-world examples from classrooms and schools, hands-on exploration of UFLI Foundations resources, and collaborative time for problem-solving. Teachers and teams will leave with a clear, actionable plan for collecting, analyzing, and leveraging data to ensure that every instructional minute is used to accelerate literacy outcomes for all students.

Neglected but Powerful: The Case for Teaching Set for Variability

Dr. Marnie Ginsberg

What if the missing piece to unlocking decoding success has been hiding in plain sight? This session reveals Set for Variability (SfV), an often-overlooked but essential decoding strategy that empowers students to flexibly adjust incorrect pronunciations of unfamiliar words. A growing body of research since 2012 identifies SfV as critical for decoding success, beyond letter-sound knowledge and blending, and shows it can be improved with targeted instruction. For instance, researchers have demonstrated that SfV is much more predictive of word identification than PA for 2nd grade and up.
Attendees will discover the science behind SfV and why it demands a shift in how we view decoding development. The presenter will demonstrate practical activities and show engaging video examples of SfV in action. By integrating SfV into their teaching, educators can better align with contemporary research on how children learn to read while equipping students to master English’s unpredictable code.

Lunch – 12:00 to 12:45 pm 

Lunch for this year will be provided by Tokyo Joe’s and will accommodate those with meal requirements such as dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan. Make sure to reserve the appropriate option during registration. We will not have extras. You may decline the meal, or bring your own, but we will not issue partial refunds. The meal options are as follows:

• Gluten Free/Dairy Free White Chicken Bowl: white rice, chicken, mixed veggies, teriyaki sauce, & a drink
• Gluten Free/Dairy Free Tofu Bowl: white rice, tofu, mixed veggies, teriyaki sauce, & a drink

Please note that alcoholic beverages and other items with age restrictions are not permitted on school campus. 

1st Afternoon Breakout Sessions

Choose 1 of 6 Options – 2:45 to 1:55 pm

The Care and Feeding of Exceptional Teachers’ & Parents’ Souls

Craig Knippenberg, LCSW, M.Div.

This presentation will touch the deep emotions which teachers and parents experience while teaching and raising exceptional students. It will help participants learn to let go of stress and guilt in a culture which places high expectations on teachers and parents. Concepts include:
1. The Crossroads of parenting /teaching exceptional students in modern culture.
2. The pressure on today’s parents and teachers.
3. Culture myths about teaching and parenting that don’t build child/student resilience.
4. Letting go of guilt and shame related to parenting and teaching mistakes.
5. Strategies for exceptional students.
Participants will laugh and cry as we explore the ups and downs of exceptional students!

Living with Dyslexia: The Student Perspective

YES! Ambassadors from St. Vrain Valley School District

Join us for an insightful session where middle and high school students share their experiences living with dyslexia. Hear firsthand what they want parents and teachers to understand about their challenges, the support that makes a difference, and how they navigate school and everyday life. This discussion will provide valuable perspectives on fostering a more inclusive and supportive learning environment.

Achieving Literacy Success: The Power of Well-Defined Goals and Objectives

Jamie Olson & Melissa Ahlstrand, CDE

Setting ambitious but attainable goals for students is the starting point for a strong plan of intervention. Writing strong literacy goals based on specific skill deficits is a skill that can be developed. This training will guide participants in how to identify student’s specific skill deficits, outline the components of a well written goal, and design measurable objectives that will create a pathway for literacy success.

How Trauma and Stress Impact the Brain’s Ability to Learn

Dr. Ana Dodson, M.A., Psy.D.

As educators, we know that many students come to school with social and emotional challenges that can make learning difficult—especially when it comes to reading. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore how stress and trauma affect students’ ability to engage with reading instruction and learn ways to help them. Participants will leave with practical, research-based strategies and specific activities that they can immediately integrate into classrooms to support emotional literacy, self-regulation, and the development of empathy. These simple SEL practices will help create a trauma-informed environment where students feel safe, connected, and ready to learn, leading to both emotional and academic growth.

Explicit Strategies to Improve Listening & Reading Comprehension Skills

Corey Pollard, M.S.

Skilled reading requires effective word recognition skills and language comprehension skills. Explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction in phonics is becoming more widely understood, but developing language comprehension skills seems more complicated. Comprehension is a complex skill that requires knowledge and understanding of several subskills including the ability to recall information, sequence information, connect with information, create inferences and predictions, and analyze information. Effective comprehension requires that we not only understand these subskills but also that we know when to use them. In this presentation, we will discuss the five different levels of comprehension and how to support students with explicit strategies at each level. The presentation will provide a systematic and cumulative approach to comprehension that can be used alongside systematic phonics-based instruction to support student development in listening and reading comprehension.

The Twice Exceptional Learner 101

BJ McDonald, M.Ed.

While the exact number is unclear, it is estimated that there are 300,000-360,000 twice exceptional or 2E students currently in American schools. Many of these students remain hidden, their learning differences masking their giftedness or vice versa. In my session, I will cover four common traits of giftedness: overexcitabilities, asynchronous development, perfectionism, and underachievement. Being aware of these traits can lead to better identification, understanding, and thus support for 2E students. While twice exceptional students are a diverse population not only in traits, but in needs as well, we will cover some general supports that can be put in place.

Break – 1:55 to 2:10 pm

2nd Afternoon Breakout Sessions

Choose 1 of 7 Options – 2:10 to 3:20 pm

Mastering Multiplication the Multisensory Way

Kristen DeBeer

Participate in a math simulation to learn why mastering multiplication facts can be so challenging for dyslexic learners, and then learn how to use multisensory methods to help students master multiplication.

Explicit Strategies to Improve Vocabulary Skills

Mykayla Storey

Phonics knowledge can only go so far if students can’t determine what words mean! During this presentation, participants will learn actionable strategies that can be immediately implemented to incorporate effective vocabulary instruction into their lessons. Walk away with explicit teaching strategies for vocabulary concepts like categories and parts of speech, definitions, multiple meaning words, synonyms, antonyms, and morphology. Help students move past rote memorization and provide them with a 4-part definition framework that will allow for deeper comprehension and long-term success.

Creating System-Wide Protocols to Recognize and Respond to Dyslexia

Kathy McCall, Carolyn Storz, and Elisabeth Vela

Have you wondered how you can support the development of a district-wide approach to recognize and respond to students who demonstrate the primary characteristics of dyslexia leveraging CDE READ Act legislation? During this session, participants will gain an understanding of how to implement a tiered model of support for students who are at risk for and demonstrate the primary characteristics of dyslexia. Using current research, evidence-based interventions, and early identification screeners, this session will focus on the following 5 areas: Dyslexia Awareness, Universal Curriculum, Interventions, Assessment, Family Engagement, and Student Agency.

Beyond identification and intervention: Strategies to maximize the potential of students with dyslexia

Mary Beth O’Hagan, Ph.D.

The confidence of many students with dyslexia and the success they achieve can be limited by a lack of understanding of dyslexia. This presentation focuses on helping adults make dyslexia understandable to a student. The manner in which adults frame dyslexia can increase a student’s ability to believe in themselves and trust that their situation will improve. This re-framing can make a student more receptive to support and increase their effectiveness in self-advocating. It will provide concrete language for how to demystify dyslexia and put it in a context the child can understand. It will discuss rationales for accessing intervention and accommodations. It will provide strategies to help the child understand they are not alone and that they can be successful. It will help adults empower a student with information so that they see accessing supports as an investment in themselves. It can maximize their potential.

High Frequency Word Instruction: A Fresh Perspective

Jennifer (Jen) Rowland, M.Ed., CALT-QI

“Have you ever wondered about the spelling of words like “does,” “they,” and “any?” Have you been told those are “irregular” words that just have to be memorized? We can and should explore grapheme choice within the context of meaning (morphology), history (etymology), and grammar (syntax). In this session, you will learn how knowledge of content and function words can contribute to improved reading and spelling outcomes for your students. This interactive session aims to deepen participants’ understanding of English spelling beyond phonology (sound). The presenter will not only provide explanations but also demonstrate the use of instructional routines and resources to help participants continue the work after the session with their own students.

It Takes a League!: Exploring The Reading League’s Compass Resources

Vicki Ferrari , M.Ed.

In this session we will dive into all the free resources that The Reading League has to offer schools for SOR, Structured Literacy, Curriculum selection and leadership.

Letter Position Dyslexia: Case Study to Improve Spelling

Cynthia Jacobson, Ph.D CCC/SLP, Fellow, ASHA

Children with Rapid Naming, Letter Position Dyslexia and working memory difficulties present differently for instruction than children whose dyslexia is due to phonological processing deficits. While initial instruction teaches the pairing of letters to sounds, planning for automaticity and fluency while preserving comprehension is essential. This presentation shares case studies, teaching methods, scaffolding and motivational strategies . The Wilson Reading System was provided. In addition the clinician shares experience working with children with language difficulties. The presenter also shares reflections from helping children in person and on line during COVID. Opportunities to practice skills will be included.

Scan the Code – Take the Survey – Get Your Certificate of Attendance

3:20 to 3:30 pm

After the closing session, please make sure you visit us to scan the code at the back tables with your phone and access our Conference Survey. You can download your Certificate of Attendance from the survey completion screen!

If you don’t want to take the survey in-person at the end of the conference, simply scan the code to visit the survey and then bookmark the survey webpage for use in the week after the conference.

“Dyslexia is a different brain organization that needs different teaching methods. It is never the fault of the child, but rather the responsibility of us who teach to find methods that work for that child.”

—MARYANNE WOLF, Director, Center for Reading and Language Research, Tufts University

 

“Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science”

—LOUISA C. MOATS, Ed.D., Author of LANGUAGE! Live® and LETRS