Our Story: Getting to Know Us & Our Mission

Our Story-How a special education teacher and a student with dyslexia developed an unexpected friendship that led to the creation of a podcast.

In this Introductory Episode, Jeremiah discusses the shame and confusion he felt as a student receiving special education services in a public school. Using humor to highlight the marginalization he experienced, he recalls being instructed in an out of order boys locker room, the cafeteria, the hallways and the school’s library. He explains how he was able to become “outplaced” at a therapeutic day program after his parents hired a child advocate who helped his planning and placement team understand how his educational needs were not being met.

Andrea recalls how she was hired to start a pilot program for a student with autism at the same therapeutic day program where Jeremiah was outplaced. Two years later, by a twist of fate, Andrea was transferred to the school’s middle school where she and Jeremiah met. Longing to express their creativity, the two self-described “misfits” created a media club which, in the words of another teacher, “wasn’t going to go anywhere.”

Following graduation, Jeremiah earned a certificate in video production from Public Access Television. The COVID pandemic brought his creative plans to a screeching halt. Not one to be deterred, he and Andrea created and launched a podcast with the goal of entertaining, informing and empowering others.

For full show notes, transcripts, and links to resources mentioned in this episode please visit: https://www.chatswith2dyslexics.com/episode01

Connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chatswith2dyslexics/

Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Chatsw2dyslexic)

Timestamps:

 4:00-5:00 Special Education Classrooms in Public Schools, then and now (1970’s and 80’s)

3:30 Child Advocates

3:20 Outplacements

5:18 Feelings associated with learning differently and being labeled as a special education student 

7:00 Lexia and Whack A Mole

9:00 Inadequate Teacher Training for recognizing and remediating dyslexia

10:09 Orton-Gillingham methodology

10:44 Children’s Dyslexia Center in Waterbury, CT 

12:03 Reading programs such as the Wilson Reading Program©, Fundations©, Visualize and Verbalize©

14:58 Teachers who don’t believe dyslexia is real

19:00 Instructional limitations inherent in public schools

16:18 The “D” word was like the “F” word.

21:44 How to Write Skits Course at Ansonia Public Library

22: 36 Having a blast with our film club’s dark humor-the bad chicken joke

25:30 The Southport School CoLAB 

27:02 Video Production Course at Public Access Television

30:00 Our Podcast Creation

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Ansonia Public Library: Free Media Production Course

How to Start a Podcast: A Complete Step-By-Step Tutorial by Ross Winn, the founder of Podcast Insights, the industry-leading podcast education site. He has helped thousands of people start and grow a podcast and loves to test out new gear and software

Podcast Launch Accelerator Course by Melissa Guller CEO and Founder of Wit and Wire

Podcast Management and Podcast website design by Arnetia Renee:

https://yourpodcastmanager.com/

Connecticut Children's Dyslexia Center​ Cheryl Sharkis. Director. Waterbury@cdcinc.org. (203) 465-0830. 529 Highland Avenue, Waterbury, CT 06708 

Scottish Rite Freemasonry of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction For more than 25 years, the Scottish Rite has partnered with local communities to assist children in regaining confidence and their self-esteem through proven methods of reading instruction, tutoring, and dyslexia remediation. The Scottish Rite dyslexia reading programs help children with dyslexia for free at over 170 locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Haskins Laboratory www.haskinslabs.org  Haskins Laboratories is an independent, international, multidisciplinary community of researchers conducting basic research on spoken and written language.

Literacy How www.literacyhow.org Literacy How is a nonprofit that empowers teachers, administrators, and parents with the best evidence-based methods to teach reading

Sally E. Shaywitz The Connecticut Longitudinal Study in the Fourth Decade https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-HD057655-02

The Southport School https://www.southportcolab.org/  The Southport CoLAB provides the highest quality programs in training professionals, educators, and families using a collaborative, partnership-based approach with like-minded organizations and experts in the field. Their mission is to integrate research, practice, and advocacy to effect positive outcomes for people with learning and attention issues.

Public Access Television  www.communitymediastudios.com/seymour Contact them to find out more about their individual and group training that runs throughout the year! Train to be a studio volunteer or produce your own show.  They provide training on in-studio Broadcast Pix Switcher, Sony Robotic Cameras, Audio Console and Virtual Sets. Talk Show Skype Calling is coming soon! For shooting on location, they provide portable cameras and equipment. And they have the full Adobe suite for editing. 

Tel. (475) 777-5501, Fax. (203) 734-3425, Email: Melissa_Leonard@comcast.com

Episode Transcript: Created by Otter.ai

Calls-to-action: Follow us on Instagram and tell your friends and family about us so we can grow our audience