I am a special education teacher of 25 years. I have a bachelors and masters degree in special education from University of North Florida. I have taught as a general education teacher in middle school reading, middle school math, and high school Algebra and Geometry. I have been a special education teacher at the elementary, middle, and high school level as a resource teacher and co-taught elementary and high school English and Math courses.
I am also the mom of two children with multiple categories in the neurodiverse umbrella . The interventions I had been trained to use as an educator were not helpful to my children, so I started searching for something that would help them to become confident readers. When my children were young, I realized they needed help that the local schools wouldn’t be able to provide. I knew many wonderful teachers, but I also knew that the nature of my child’s needs wouldn’t be met in the traditional classroom. In fact, after trying some of the curricula and strategies that were widely used in the elementary reading intervention classes, I saw that those were ineffective for my children’s needs. I needed to create something different; something that would use the strengths of the dyslexic brain to overcome the multi-faceted challenges of reading with dyslexia.
As I started to figure out strategies and memory cues that helped my children find reading success with comprehension, I also looked at my virtual high school students and saw that most of my students with IEPs were not reading on grade level. In fact, most read at the elementary level and many still struggled with comprehension. If they had been identified for services and receiving intervention for most of their educational years, why were they not closing the gap and reading independently with comprehension?
I knew I was on to something that could change the reading struggles for people with dyslexia. It doesn’t erase it. It doesn’t take away dyslexia. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to because each of us are created for a purpose and that includes our struggles; our weaknesses. So I am creating a new reading program, a new approach that incorporates strategies that I have seen work in school reading groups but is mostly about my newly developed strategies and I call the program Reading Warriors.
Aside from being a passionate educator for those who learn differently, I am a wife, mother, pug mom, and follower of Christ. I have been married to my high school sweetheart for 25 years and adore the life we have built together. One child has graduated from high school, and the other is starting middle school. Our pugs bring us laughter and love daily. Most importantly, God is the center of our home and my life. I could not be who I am without Jesus, and the Reading Warriors program wouldn’t exist without His guidance. In addition to these things, Charity enjoys gardening, DIY home projects, many forms or crafting, and baking.