Neighbor News
MGH Institute of Health Professions Helps Promote Dyslexia Awareness Month
Navy Yard grad school hosted a family to help raise awareness about the condition that affects millions of Americans.
MGH Institute of Health Professions faculty who focus on research include (l-r) Melissa Feller, Charley Haynes, Joanna Christodoulou, Lesley Maxwell, Bonnie Halvorson-Bourgeois, and Sue Lambrecht-Smith.
MGH Institute of Health Professions hosted a family forum on Sunday, October 23, to promote Governor Charlie Baker’s declaration that October is Dyslexia Awareness Month.
he event was sponsored by the parent organization Decoding Dyslexia at the Institute's Charlestown Navy Yard campus and featured a viewing of a documentary, followed by a panel discussion about the condition that affects as many as 40 million Americans – of which less than 10 percent know they have it. Afterwards, attendees and others walked to nearby Paul Revere Park to see the Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge lit red at dusk to call attention to the condition.
Several faculty in the MGH Institute’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders focus on dyslexia and other reading issues in their teaching, research, and clinical work: Professors Charles Haynes and Tiffany Hogan, Associate Professor Lesley Maxwell; Assistant Professors Joanna Christodoulou and Bonnie Halvorson-Bourgeois, Sue Lambrecht-Smith; and Instructors Melissa Feller and Trish Nazarro-Smith each have spent a large portion of their professional lives working with clients and students who have dyslexia, as well as researching ways to improve teaching techniques and advocating for appropriate scientifically based services. Project manager Katy Cabbage, and PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences students Crystal Alonzo and Lauren Baron from the Institute’s Speech and Literacy (SAiL) Lab also are focused on dyslexia.
Find out what's happening in Charlestownfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“Our faculty are world renowned for their expertise in literacy, including dyslexia,” said CSD Chair Dr. Gregory Lof. “They are active not only in cutting edge research and education for this disability, but also for helping change the course of literacy instruction for all developing readers. Literacy is one of our core specialties because of our remarkable faculty members.”