Launching Successful Readers in Kindergarten and First Grade

Presented by Dr. Susan Brady

The importance of phoneme awareness and other foundation skills for beginning readers is well documented.  Yet, 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.

About the Presenter

Susan Brady received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Connecticut in 1975. She presently is a Professor Emerita at the University of Rhode Island where she was a faculty member in the Psychology Department for 35 years. She held additional positions at the University of Sussex, St. Andrews University, and Haskins Laboratories. 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, IDA’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 the International Dyslexia Association and for Haskins Laboratories.  She recently was invited to be a member of the Evidence Advisory Panel for the newly formed Evidence Advocacy Center, the goal of which is to establish evidence as the basis of a professional education system.