Sponsor a Student

Literacy is a human right, one that is not within reach of all Americans today for countless inexcusable reasons. We who have the privilege to easily learn to read and write through high quality education, or have the resources to access necessary testing, intervention, and remediation, take for granted our abilities to read, write, spell, and comprehend language. We take for granted how easily it becomes to find an address by reading street signs, cast a vote on a ballot for our representatives, or read the cursive handwriting of loved ones on birthday cards. It is, therefore, our responsibility to, as Tony Morrison said, "free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else."

Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects the acquisition and use of language in 1 in 5 people, and the most effective intervention for dyslexia remediation is a multi-sensory approach to teaching phonological/phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, spelling, cursive handwriting, oral language, and reading comprehension. In the summer of 2020, I was trained to provide Sounds In Syllables multi-sensory remediation to dyslexics of all ages. Sounds In Syllables (SIS) is an intensive Orton-Gillingham-based approach to teaching language skills developed by Sandra Dillion, Director of the Multi-sensory Language Training Institute of New Mexico. SIS is highly structured, explicit, sequential, and cumulative; its comprehensive nature can benefit all learners.

This fundraiser is my effort to use my power but I can't do this alone. I'm asking you to help me by using your power, and free someone else with the gift of literacy through dyslexia remediation. My goal is the cost of one year of academic therapy, 3-4 times a week, for one student who would not otherwise be able to afford this intervention. My deepest gratitude for your support.