NJIDA Fall Conference 2026
About this Event
Welcome to the Forty-First NJIDA Fall Conference 2026!
“Framing the Future: From Data to Dynamic Literacy Instruction”
#UntilEveryoneCanRead
Friday, October 16, 2026– In Person Only 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM
NEW LOCATION - Hilton East Brunswick Hotel& Executive Meeting Center 3 Tower Center Blvd | East runswick, NJ 08816
Saturday, October 17, 2026– Virtual Only 8:00 AM - 2:30 PM with Sessions being recorded for viewing through October 20
Friday In Person Agenda:
7:00 a.m. Registration and Exhibits (coffee and pastries provided)
8:00 a.m. Welcome and President’s Address: Patricia Barden, M.A., OGTT, Director of The Children’s Learning Center of Tenafly
8:10 a.m. Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Emerson Dickman, JD, past president of the International Dyslexia Association
8:15 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Keynote Address: Understanding IDA’s 2025 Definition of Dyslexia: What It Means for Identification, Instruction, and Support—Charles W. Haynes, Ed.D. , CCC/SLP, Professor Emeritus, MGH Institute of Health Professions; Senior Advisor, IDA Global Network
Description: In this keynote address, Charles Haynes will briefly review the scientific advances that shaped IDA’s 2025 definition of dyslexia and explain how the revised definition can guide practice and understanding across the dyslexia community. Particular attention will be given to how the definition supports earlier and more accurate identification, informs instruction and intervention, and helps parents, educators, and clinicians better understand the diverse ways dyslexia may present across learners. The session will also address common questions and implications for schools, families, and advocacy efforts moving forward.
10:00 a.m.-10:15a.m. Advancing Literacy for All: NJDOE Updates and Initiatives- Natalie Dougherty, M.A, M.A.T, NJDOE
Description: Natalie is the Director of The Office of Learning Equity and Academic Recovery with the NJ Department of Education. She will present NJ Department of Education updates and initiatives as they pertain to literacy for all.
10:15 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Visit vendors
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Morning Sessions (Must Select One Morning Session, But Only One)
Session 1: The Reading Brain from Womb to Classroom: Typical and Atypical Development, the Dyslexia Paradox, and Implications for a Preventative Education Model
Speaker: Nadine Gaab, PH.D, Harvard University/Harvard Graduate School of Education
Description: Learning to read is a pivotal milestone in a child’s life, and it is associated with many vocational, economic, and health indices. This talk will give an overview of children’s reading development and cover the typical milestones of learning to read, the brain regions involved in reading and literacy development, and what aspects of a child’s home and community support learning to read. Furthermore, we will cover the role of oral language in typical and atypical reading development, including dyslexia, and provide an overview of reading disabilities as well as early identification. We will conclude with a discussion on how we can work together as a community of professional, educational, and community stakeholders to maximize the joy of learning to read.
Session 2: Confronting Common Myths of Reading Education
Speaker: Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus, Kent State University
Description: Over the years a number of “myths” have been developed on the “best” ways to teach children to read. In his presentation Dr. Tim Rasinski will identify several common myths, explain why they are myths and not factual, and provide science-based and artful instructional approaches for dealing with these myths.
Session 3: Syntax Instruction for Students with Language-Based Learning Disabilities
Speaker: Margie B. Gillis, Ed.D., Founder and President, Literacy How, Inc. C.A.L.T., Syntax Instruction for Students with Language-Based Learning Disabilities
Description: The presentation will explain the importance of explicitly teaching students about how sentences work. Attendees will understand that syntax is the bridge between reading fluency and comprehending connected text. They will also understand why and how to develop students’ syntactic awareness—a metalinguistic skill that is especially important for students who have difficulties with reading fluency and/or language comprehension. Participants will learn how to use a functional approach to teach grammar and syntax that will include activities on how to teach phrasing and sentence structure with a focus on oral language and written expression.
Session 4: Using Data to Guide Classroom Literacy Instruction
Speaker: Jessica Hamman, M.A. Glean Education, Founder & CEO
Description: In this presentation, Jessica Hamman will dive into how to use assessment to guide instruction. Participants will explore what screener data can tell you about your students, how you can use it to create small groups, and how you can design instruction to meet those groups’ learning needs. We’ll also discuss the importance of setting goals and progress monitoring to determine if progress is being made.
Session 5: OG Math OR Multisensory Manipulative-based Math (MMM)
Limited to 25 attendees, first come first served
Speaker: Ronald Yoshimoto, M.Ed., M.S.S. Fellow/AOGPE
Description: Let's have fun building addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems using manipulatives. Although this is normally, a two day training, the presenter provides enough information for the participants to apply strategies right away. This session is interactive and includes movement and partner work. There may be small differences with procedures - keep an open mind. Also, with manipulatives, a teacher can teach higher level concepts earlier.
12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Lunch/Vendors
1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Afternoon Sessions (Must Select One Afternoon Session, But Only One)
Session 6: Constructing Comprehension: Connections to The Science & Structured Literacy
Speaker: Nancy Hennessy, M.ED. LDT/ C Literacy Consultant and Author, The Consulting Network
Description: The complexity of comprehension presents unique challenges for the reader. The research has surfaced the critical roles that language, cognitive processes and sources of knowledge play in constructing meaning of text. A structured integrated framework, based in the science of reading and learning, is essential particularly, for those who struggle to achieve reading proficiency. Let’s consider how an instructional blueprint addresses the purposeful planning necessary for acquiring and applying essential language skills and other contributors to comprehension. Then, explore examples of instructional routines that are key to teaching our students, whether reading by eye or ear, how to construct and ultimately, express understanding of text.
Session 7: The Reading Brain from Womb to Classroom: Typical and Atypical Development, the dyslexia paradox, and Implications for a Preventative Education Model
Speaker: Nadine Gaab, PH.D, Harvard University/Harvard Graduate School of Education
Description: Learning to read is a pivotal milestone in a child’s life, and it is associated with many vocational, economic, and health indices. This talk will give an overview of children’s reading development and cover the typical milestones of learning to read, the brain regions involved in reading and literacy development, and what aspects of a child’s home and community support learning to read. Furthermore, we will cover the role of oral language in typical and atypical reading development, including dyslexia, and provide an overview of reading disabilities as well as early identification. We will conclude with a discussion on how we can work together as a community of professional, educational, and community stakeholders to maximize the joy of learning to read.
Session 8: The Science of the Spelling System: Enlightening Data to Inform Literacy Instruction
Speaker: Sue Scibetta Hegland, Founder, Learning About Spelling
Description: The spellings of words in English provide us with evidence about how the spelling system works. This is important data to inform teaching, because the more teachers know about how the spelling system works, the better they can build literacy skills in all students. Deep knowledge about the spelling system allows literacy learning to occur across the content areas, beginning in preschool and lasting into adulthood.
Session 9: Morphology or OG Advanced
Speaker: Ronald Yoshimoto, M.Ed., M.S.S. Fellow/AOGPE
Limited to 40 attendees, first come first served
Description: The presenter will discuss the importance of morphology in decoding, encoding, and vocabulary development and thereby its impact on reading comprehension. Procedures (such as the introduction of a new morpheme) will be demonstrated as well as the integration of morphology with math, science, and social studies. A hands on workshop with materials (worksheets, mini card decks, etc.), participants will need to be flexible during the demonstrations.
Session 10: Has Handwriting Become an Instructional Dinosaur? Best Practices for Teaching Handwriting to Students with Dyslexia & Dysgraphia from skills to functional use
Speaker: Nancy Cushen White, Ed.D., C-SLDS, CSIT—Slingerland, CALT-QI, BCET, LDT—TX, Clinical Professor, UC-San Francisco-Pediatrics-Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine
Description: Handwriting and keyboarding do not develop naturally; they need to be taught. Writing is a simultaneous process involving spatial organization, margins, letter formation, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. Sufficient working memory is necessary for a student to remember and think simultaneously. Writing skills are more likely to develop optimally when the teaching of handwriting is part of overall literacy instruction, so that children gradually use handwriting functionally as they learn to read and spell. Which is better: Manuscript, Cursive, or Keyboarding? Manuscript, cursive, and keyboarding each have advantages at different ages and stages. Longitudinal research demonstrates that individual differences predict which students do best with manuscript, cursive, or keyboarding—and when. The goal of teaching manuscript, cursive, and keyboarding is to provide an automatic, legible tool that enhances all aspects of literacy. The presentation will include video clips demonstrating various stages of cursive handwriting instruction in the classroom.
Saturday October 17 Virtual Agenda
NJIDA is pleased to offer the second day of the fall conference, through a virtual platform. You will receive the links to access the virtual session(s) within 48 hours of Saturday October 17 conference day to the email you have provided on your registration. Saturday sessions WILL BE recorded for viewing through November 20. Viewing WILL NOT be extended beyond November 20 for any reason. The link(s) to view the Saturday recorded session(s) will be emailed to all registered on Eventbrite for Saturday on Monday October 19 by 6 pm to the email you have provided on your Eventbrite registration.
8:00 a.m.- 10:00 a.m. Use and Interpretation of the Tests of Dyslexia
Speaker: Nancy Mather, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, University of Arizona
Description: This session will begin with a discussion of various definitions of dyslexia. The major focus will then be on using and interpreting the Tests of Dyslexia (TOD. 2024). The TOD consists of four major components: Tests of Dyslexia-Screener (TOD-S), Tests of Dyslexia-Early (TOD-E, K-2), Tests of Dyslexia-Comprehensive (TOD-C, Grade 1 to adult), and three rating scales. Case studies, (Grade 1 to college) will be used to illustrate the conceptual and organizational framework and components (e.g., composites, tests, and rating scales) and explain how these components can be used and integrated to assess individuals for dyslexia. The TOD was designed to address screening, diagnosis, and intervention-based assessment goals.
10:15 a.m.- 12:15 p.m. Rethinking Dyslexia and Dysgraphia: Assessment 2026
Speaker: Melissa Lee Farrall, Ph.D., M.A., M.Ed., SAIF, Affiliated Distinguished Scholar, Stern Center for Language and Learning, Retired
Description: This session examines current issues in the assessment of dyslexia and dysgraphia, with particular attention to how the new IDA definition reshapes evaluation practices. We will consider how well commonly used assessments capture word-level reading difficulties, phonological and morphological processing, and oral language skills. The new definition’s significance lies not only in what it states, but also in what it leaves unsaid—omissions that shape our diagnostic thinking as powerfully as the explicit language. We will therefore revisit domains, such as cognitive functioning, that no longer appear in the current definition and discuss the implications for school-based evaluation.
Participants will also learn best practices for assessing dysgraphia, including how a functional writing system supports students in their efforts to think on paper. We will look beyond total scores to examine what different tests actually measure and how those findings inform instruction.
Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the diagnostic parameters for dyslexia and dysgraphia and how to align those criteria with legal requirements for special education identification. We will also examine effective ways to communicate evaluation findings in reading and writing so that the results translate directly into meaningful, instructionally relevant guidance for classroom teachers.
12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Progress Monitoring: How Much Growth is Enough Growth?
Speaker: Matthew Burns, Ph.D. Fein Professor of Special Education, Assistant Director of UFLI, University of Florida
Description of Presentation:
Most schools implement some form of tiered intervention, but many do not evaluate the effects on student learning. This session will present information about assessing student learning over time to determine if they are learning what you are teaching and if they are becoming better readers. We will also discuss how to set goals for growth and the most efficient way to interpret the data.
Registration Details:
Your registration must be completed on Eventbrite.
The Deadline for Registration on Eventbrite is October 9, 10 pm. Late registrations cannot be accepted.
Fees:
Friday only $270.00
Saturday only $270.00
Two Day (Friday and Saturday) $370.00
For questions on Conference please go to nj.dyslexiaida.org or email Patricia Barden and Mary Jo Rieg at [email protected].
Payment must be done through Eventbrite. Checks and School Districts Purchase Orders are acceptable, but registrants must register on Eventbrite and select pay by check or pay by invoice, whichever is applicable.
Checks and Purchase Orders, payable and mailed to:
NJIDA, P.O. Box 32, Long Valley, NJ 07853
Friday 6.5 PD Hours earned certificate will be handed out in your afternoon session at the end of the conference day. Certificate WILL NOT be handed out early for any reason. Saturday 6.5 PD hours certificates will be emailed to registered attendees who attended live viewing, and submitted the google form, within one week after October 17, 2026. For those watching the recorded version, you must submit a google form provided, and certificate will be emailed within one week of that submittal. Kindly check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive them before contacting NJIDA.
NEW THIS YEAR: Marcia Mann Scholarship Lifetime Achievement Award in Field of Dyslexia, For details go to www.nj.dyslexiaida.org
Speaker handouts for both Friday and Saturday will be available, where applicable, to download within 48 hours prior to October 16 on nj.dyslexiaida.org
2-Day Course:
Must attend Friday October 16 in person and Saturday October 17 virtual
If interested in taking course for one graduate credit through FDU, contact Grace Hottinger at [email protected] or 201-692-2816. There will be a graduate tuition fee in addition to NJIDA conference fees and a required written assignment.
Continuing Education
IMSLEC: 2-Day Conference attendees can earn 13 hours of IMSLEC (International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council) CE credit. The Professional Development Hours form, supplied at the conference, is required for documentation.
IDA DISCLAIMER: The International Dyslexia Association nj.dyslexiaida.org supports efforts to provide instruction for individuals with dyslexia and to identify these individuals at an early age. The Association believes that multisensory teaching and learning are the best approaches currently available for those affected by dyslexia. However, the Association does not endorse any specific program, speaker or instructional materials, noting there are a number of such which present the critical components of instruction.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00 to USD 370.00
