Webinar #15

Effective Reading Instruction for Beginning Readers
Clearing Up Misconceptions About the Science of Reading

With Special Guest, Susan Brady, Ph.D. Professor Emerita at the University of Rhode Island

Thursday,
January 23, 2025

About the Presenter

Susan Brady received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Connecticut in 1975. She is presently a Professor Emerita at the University of Rhode Island, where she was a faculty member in the Psychology Department for 35 years. Earlier, she was a faculty member at St. Andrews University in Scotland, and, along with her teaching roles, served as a Senior Scientist at Haskins Laboratories through much of her career. Concentrating on topics in the field of literacy, her research has focused on language factors in reading development and in reading difficulties. In 2009, she was the recipient of the Samuel T. Orton Award, the International Dyslexia Association's Research Award. In addition, Dr. Brady has been committed to translating the implications of the large body of reading research for practice and has conducted multiple grant-funded professional development projects. She has served on the Board of Directors for IDA and for Haskins Laboratories.

The importance of phoneme awareness and other foundation skills for beginning readers is well documented. Unfortunately, there are widespread misunderstandings about how phoneme awareness skills develop and about how they should be taught. In this session, the misunderstandings will be evaluated, drawing on research findings that clarify how phoneme awareness actually develops and that provide guidelines for effective teaching of phoneme awareness and other foundation skills both to beginners and to older struggling readers.

Questions and discussion will follow.