Episode 79 – Helping everyone Access the Education they Deserve with Kait Feriante

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What’s the BIGGEST misconception about Dyslexia?

People with Dyslexia can’t learn to read or write. 

Well in this episode of the Podcast, we hear from Kait Feriante from Chicago to share with us why she is on a mission to help everyone struggling with literacy realise their potential and grow confidence to achieve their dreams and aspirations.

Growing up in Albania and travelling the world with her parents, Kait was exposed to a wide variety of different educational models from country to country. From this experience, she found that there are many routes to learning.

Kait shares that she believes everyone thinks differently therefore everyone’s education, especially those who are neurodiverse, should have a tailored education to meet their way of learning.

Kait shares that each teacher needs a big educational tool box to enable them to select the right tools to fit the situation of the student. Even in Dyslexia, there is no ‘one- size fits all’!

Through her experience as a teacher and tutor, she witnessed first-hand the discrepancy between different socio-economic backgrounds. She saw that the better access you have to resources, the more support you will have and the more likely the student is to succeed.

Not content with the inequality, Kait founded Redwood Literacy, with her partner, to see the evidence-based reading intervention they had seen change the course of many of their student’s lives become more widely available to any student who needed it, regardless of age, geographical location, or socio-economic background.

At Redwood, they do this by using a 50/50 model, whereby 50% of their services fund the opportunity for 50% of Redwood’s students to receive services for free. 

As of January 2021, Redwood is serving 290 students, with 160 of them having access to our services for free.

Dyslexic Hack:

  • Use of Assistive Technology

Key Topics:

  • Learning to read and write with dyslexia.
  • Tailoring education to each person’s individual needs,
  • Routes to Learning,
  • Challenges with access to quality support dependant on socio-economic background.
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