Literacy Conference to Offer Latest Information to Parents, Teachers

by Judy Long
The RiteCare Language and Literacy Conference, to be held Sept. 30 through Oct. 1 on the Baylor University campus, will bring nationally recognized language and literacy specialists to a setting where area parents, educators, physicians and other professionals can meet with them.
The conference, "Bringing Language and Literacy Success to the Classroom, Clinic and Home," will feature researchers publishing the most current findings on language and reading disorders.
"These nationally recognized speakers are an amazing group bringing cutting-edge language and literacy information to us," Dr. Michaela Ritter, Baylor professor and speech-language pathologist who directs the conference. "They speak all over the world, and we are able to have them in Waco, Texas."
The sessions will be offered in three tracks: one for parents and two for professionals seeking continuing education units.
Conference guests will choose from sessions offering a variety of topics such as causes of dyslexia, stress-free strategies for building language and literacy skills, adolescent language learning, creating a fluent reader and using storybooks to promote literacy in at-risk preschoolers.
The sessions will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Speakers include
? Maryellen Moreau, the speech/language pathologist and founder of MindWing Concepts, who developed Story Grammar Marker for collaborative language/literacy instruction in the classroom;
? Dr. Judy Montgomery, past president of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; and
? Dr. Linda Lombardino, professor of speech and language pathology at the University of Florida. She oversees the reading disabilities clinical program at the University of Florida's Speech and Hearing Clinic and co-authored The Assessment of Literacy and

Language (ALL), a new test designed to identify young children who are at risk for reading disabilities.
Other speakers include Ritter, well-known author and educator Dottie Zimmerman and Dr. Lynn Norwood, assistant professor of audiology at Baylor.
Fifteen language and literacy corporations will exhibit at the conference, including Super Duper Publications, MindWing, Beyond Speech Therapy, Learning Center and Thinking Publications.
Registration will take place from 7 to 8 a.m. Friday morning and 7:15 to 8 a.m. Saturday, or call 710-2567 for early registration. Conference fees are $35 for parents, $130 for teachers and $5 for students.
Conference registration and the opening session will be held in Waco Hall, with parking and a shuttle to campus available at the Ferrell Center. Baylor is located just off Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas.
To view a conference brochure, go here and click on "Rite Care Conference on Child Language and Literacy."
For more information, call the department of communication sciences and disorders at (254) 710-2567 or 710-2568 or e-mail Michaela_Ritter@baylor.edu.