Georgia Vision Educator Conference

Cadie Denbow was a presenter at the GVEST conference in Macon, Georgia with her mother, Barb Denbow, Read Naturally Consultant.  The two presented “Reading for Meaning – Fluently” with the emphasis on the adaptive materials for the blind and visually impaired.  

 In the 90 minute presentation, Cadie and Barb reviewed research on reading fluency and explained how three powerful strategies (teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring) significantly improve overall reading development.  Read Naturally has supported teachers of sighted students for over 20 years offering non-fiction stories ranging from first grade to eighth grade reading level.  As students work through a series of steps with each story, incorporating the research-based strategies, they accelerate their reading development.  Struggling readers across the country have benefitted from these materials. 

Now these high interest stories are available in braille and large print for teachers of the blind and visually impaired.  Participants at the session experienced the power of the strategies first hand with a demonstration using a passage written without vowels.  With Cadie’s Occupational Therapy background, she was able to assist in this specialized presentation by addressing specific questions about contracted and uncontracted braille as well as discussing with the teachers the other health challenges (such as dyslexia, shunt-created papilledema, retinopathy of prematurity and retinal detachment) these students often exhibit along with their reading difficulties.   The presentation was very well received.  

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