QUESTION 01Tell us about Project Uplift! What is it, and how and why did you get involved?
I co-founded Project Uplift to help support teachers, parents, and, most importantly, children with dyslexia. I am dyslexic and I’m passionate that every child has the right to be educated in a way that respects their own individual learning style. After sitting on a few school boards, I came to realize that there were so many teachers and parents didn’t know or understand about best practices for kids with dyslexia.
QUESTION 02How does Project Uplift work? What are Orton-Gillingham certified facilitators? How do they work with students?
At Project Uplift, we created a two-year course to teach teachers how to identify and support children with dyslexia. The course is broken down into two parts: a year-long course where teachers meet twice per week and are instructed on how to educate children with dyslexia, and then a practicum where teachers select an identified child and work with that child on what they’ve learned in the first year of the program, supported by facilitators, who assess and confirm they are eligible for certification at the end of the practicum. The facilitators are highly-trained the Orton-Gillingham structured literacy method, which is approved and recommended by the international dyslexia association. We also educate parents.
QUESTION 02What is Uplift House?
Uplift House is an established nonprofit organization which receives donations and grants to support programs like Project Uplift.
QUESTION 03Do you have any personal success stories from Project Uplift you'd be able to share?
Project Uplift has many success stories in our two years of operation. We’ve proudly partnered with the Dyslexia Center of the Caribbean. We’ve also received letters from children thanking us for passing their tests and exams and even their school year, which is very rewarding. We have also heard from grandparents and parents saying that there has been an enormous change in their child’s education. It doesn’t get better than that, and it’s so rewarding for our team!
QUESTION 04What do you wish more people understood about dyslexia?
