The Georgia Branch of The International Dyslexia Association is a non-profit, scientific and educational organization which was formed to increase public awareness of dyslexia.
We are a resource and support system for parents, dyslexics, and educators.
Many of our members are actively involved in the diagnosis and remediation of dyslexia. Our members are educators, psychologists, physicians, individuals with dyslexia, and parents
who have dealt with learning disability issues within local public and private schools.
With its approximate 300 members, the Georgia Branch provides an information and referral hotline, community outreach activities, yearly conferences, teacher training workshops,
and e-newsletters. The Branch encourages teachers to train in multisensory language instruction.
Membership in the local branch is included in the cost of IDA membership. If you are one of the
many people affected by dyslexia or if you have family members or students with dyslexia, we urge you to join the IDA and become an active participant.
News & Events
Saturday, February 25, 2012 at Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA
Morning Keynote Speaker: David Boulton
Afternoon Keynote Speaker: Barbara A. Wilson
Join parents, teachers, psychologists, physicians, administrators, advocates, and individuals with dyslexia for a day packed with information you don't want to miss.
Our keynote speakers are the nationally-acclaimed David Boulton and Barbara A. Wilson. Attendees will also attend a morning and an afternoon breakout session.
Parking, a continental breakfast, and lunch are included in your registration fee.
Check-in begins at 8:00. Come early to enjoy your breakfast, visit our exbitors' tables, and browse the bookstore for the best reads on dyslexia. At 8:45, we'll have announcements
and at 9:00, David Boulton will give the morning keynote entitled "Mind Shame and the Health of Learning." At 10:30, attendees will attend their first session and at noon will
enjoy lunch and a chance to meet others who are connected in some way to dyslexia. Attendees will also have an additional opportunity to speak with exhibitors, and visit the bookstore.
Everyone will then gather for Barbara A. Wilson's afternoon keynote entitled "Reading for All: How Multi-tiered Instruction Can Help Rescue Students with Dyslexia." Following
the keynote, attendees will go to their afternoon session which will end around 3:50. The bookstore will remain open until 4:30 for attendees to make their purchases.
Click here for more information.
IDA-GA has a limited number of need-based conference scholarships available. If you or someone you know would like to apply for a scholarship, please fill out and email this form to
Sunday, January 29, 2-5 p.m. Oak Grove United Methodist Church Decatur, GA. For more information, visit www.kidsenabled.org/events.
Offered by Georgia Educational Training Agency
Come join speaker Brenda Fitzgerald and other parents on Friday, January 20 OR Saturday, March 31
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
School Box at Town Center
Click here for flyer.
Would you be interested in helping with the grass roots effort for a dyslexia bill? Legislation would provide early screening and identification, teacher training, and services
for students with dyslexia. If you are interested in volunteering, please email us at
and we will put you in contact with the parent who is spearheading this effort, Tina McGinley.
October 6, 2011
Over 150 people signed up for the showing of HBO2's Journey into Dyslexia at Mill Springs Academy. IDA-GA Board Members Leslie Stuart and Brenda Fitzgerald answered questions
and facilitated the discussion after the film. One attendee commented, "Yesterday's event was very inspiring. It was refreshing to see so many people who are passionate about
making sure that everyone gets the education they deserve." Co-coordinator Cindy Thorne from Mill Springs Academy wrote, "From my perspective, it was a wonderful and moving event.
We had people from a variety of backgrounds sharing common concerns and questions. The discussion session after the film was lively, informative and helpful for those members
of the audience who are dealing with the challenges that the diagnosis of dyslexia brings to their families."
October 19, 2011
Approximately 65 people attended our 2nd October Outreach Meeting on October 19. Thank you to our panelists who provided the audience with
valuable information about resources, to our audience members who posed good questions and shared their experience as an adult or teen with dyslexia, to Willie Thomas for helping
to coordinate this meeting, to Gina Jenkins from the Decatur Library* for allowing IDA-GA to use the spacious and comfortable auditorium, to volunteer Shawn Davenport for checking
everyone in that evening, and to Emily Howard of the new parent group, Decatur Dyslexia Network, for supplying water and baking muffins for the meeting.
This website will be updated with information that was shared at this meeting.
The next Outreach Meeting for Adults is being planned for end of March or April. Please email
if you would like to be notified of when this and future meetings for Adults will take place.
Please contact IDA-GA at
if you have a suggestion for an Outreach Meeting.
*Did you know that in the Decatur Library has Kurzweil on a computer there? If you would like to get a better feel for what Kurzweil is, come check out Kurzweil at the Decatur
Library.
On the morning of Saturday, October 22, runners and walkers of all ages gathered for the IDA-GA Dyslexia Dash 5K. The Georgia Branch would like to say thank you to our approximately
700 participants, our 32 generous sponsors listed below, the 13 businesses that donated prizes for the raffle, and our 87 hard-working volunteers for making this event such a
huge success. The funds raised from this run will go towards IDA-GA's efforts to demystify reading difficulties, spread knowledge, and encourage change.
To view pictures from this festive event click here. Enjoy!
We know our runners are anxious to see the final race results. As soon as we hear from Racing Solutions that the results have been posted, IDA-GA will notify participants. Thank
you for your continued patience.
November 9-12, 2011
Hilton Chicago ~ Chicago, IL
Go to the National IDA site for more information on how to order audio recordings of conference sessions.
Parents Educating Parents and Professionals, Inc. (PEPP) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on issues of education, disability, and/or youth, primarily in Douglas County.
PEPP received a grant to fund the training of several tutors in the Wilson Reading System. The training will be provided by Ava White, a certified Wilson trainer, and all tutors
will volunteer to work with a practicum student for free. To qualify for free tutoring, the person must be an economically disadvantaged resident of Douglas County between the
ages of 14 and 24 in need of reading instruction. All interested people would have their eligibility verified by a PEPP Inc. case worker. The tutoring will occur at the PEPP offices,
located at 8355 Cherokee Boulevard in Douglasville, Georgia. Scheduling would be determined on a case-by-case basis by the tutor and student. Please contact Lincoln Turner at
IDA-GA provides referrals to individuals who are seeking multi-sensory structured language (MSL) tutors for themselves or their child.
IDA-GA has recently received calls from teachers who have completed an intensive Wilson or Orton-Gillingham training course and are now seeking students for their practicum. These
courses require the teachers to complete a supervised practicum in order to become certified. These teachers are willing to tutor children for a reduced fee while working on their
practicum. If you are a parent of a child who has been diagnosed with dyslexia and you can commit to twice a week tutoring for at least as long as is needed for the tutor to complete
his/her practicum, then contact IDA-GA for a referral: info@idaga.org or 404-256-1232. (Note: Phone messages are generally retrieved once a
week, whereas email messages are retrieved within 24 hours.)
Email info@idaga.org or
call (404) 256-1232.
This year the IDA-GA Board of Directors has begun to use the term IDA-GA Action Group to refer to passionate
individuals throughout the state of Georgia who want to be actively involved in enhancing and building upon IDA-GA’s current outreach activities. With the help of the IDA-GA Action
Group volunteers, the Board of Directors believes IDA-GA will be able to do more and do it better than ever! Together we can demystify reading difficulties, spread knowledge,
and encourage change.
Click here to download an IDA-GA Action Group Flyer
What "tip" would you share with a teacher, a therapist/tutor, a parent, a child or adult with dyslexia?
We’d like to have a regular section in our e-newsletter that features tips from our readers to other readers. Now is your time to share something you have found works so others
can add to their bag of tricks! The more we share, the better we can help individuals with dyslexia and those who support them.
Email your tip to info@idaga.org, and let us know who the tip is from and who it is to. That is, tell us if it is from a teacher to parents;
a child with dyslexia to teachers; a parent to teacher, an adult with dyslexia to child with dyslexia, a tutor/therapist to other tutor/therapists, etc. Please be sure to give
credit to anyone whom you feel deserves credit for sharing the tip with you. Tips can range from one sentence to one paragraph to a one whole article, and feel free to include
a small photograph if it helps you to explain your “tip.”
On Tuesday, 6/28/2011, at 1 p.m., a book signing for The Sword of Darrow will be held at Barnes & Noble, The Avenue West Cobb, Marietta, 30064. The Sword of Darrow is a middle
grade fantasy novel that was co-authored by Hal Malchow and his son, Alex, beginning in 2002. At that time, Alex was just eight years old and struggling with undiagnosed learning
differences. Although Alex couldn't read at all at the time... read more
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