Why is October Important?
As some of you may know, every October people around the world celebrate two very important causes: Learning Disabilities Awareness Month and Dyslexia Awareness Month. Both of these nationally recognized months are closely related and share common goals; to shine a spotlight on the needs and accomplishments of individuals with learning differences.
President Ronald Regan designated Learning Disabilities Awareness Month in the United States through a proclamation in 1985. Since then, learning disabilities organizations in the U.S. have used the month to inform the public about learning disabilities through events and proclamations. We continue this tradition.
It is vital that as a society we work toward educating each other about the intricacies of learning differences and disabilities in order to become more compassionate and respectful toward those with different needs and challenges. We are all unique in our own way and just as we would expect people to make an effort to understand us, we must each make an effort to understand others. Not only that, we must help spread this understanding and share our knowledge with those around us. That is the purpose of the aforementioned months of awareness.
How does the Stern Center Contribute?
Increasing awareness and empowering both teachers and learners are cornerstones of what Stern Center staff aim to accomplish every single day. Through our Evaluation services, our expert staff helps administrators, educators, and parents become more aware of the strengths and challenges of learners based on their particular set of skills and abilities. With this knowledge, the support group surrounding these learners is better able to put plans in motion to help the students achieve goals. Through our Professional Learning services, our experienced providers help elevate teacher expertise by equipping them with research-based teaching approaches designed to reach all types of learners, including those with learning disabilities. In fact, our Instruction team utilizes these research-based teaching approaches while working with Stern Center students, both in-person and through our online eLearning delivery method.
In the video below, Stern Center’s Dr. Sharon Leach shares how evaluations act as a way of raising awareness around learning disabilities and learning differences.
(INSERT VIDEO)
What Can YOU do?
Without even knowing it, many of you probably have family, friends, or family/friends with children who struggle due to a learning difference. In fact, almost two-thirds of people (63%) know someone who has a learning disability (The State of Learning Disabilities, 2014).Taking just one day out of this entire month to become better informed about these challenges could impact their lives more than you can imagine.
We encourage you to watch this video in its entirety, check out other reputable organizations such as Learning Disabilities Association of America, or even just join the conversation around Dyslexia Awareness Month by searching #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth and #UntilEveryoneCanRead on Facebook and Twitter!
