Teacher: Michael Wright

School: Itinerant Teacher, Weld 8 School District

Website: www.weld8.org

Address: 200 S. Fulton Ave. Ft. Lupton, CO 80621

Grade Level: PreK - Post Secondary (Vision)

Region: Northeast

Project Title: Reading Intervention Support

Category: Literacy

Funding Amount Requested: $2,000

Project Description:
I work as the Teacher of the Visually Impaired in Ft. Lupton, Dacono, Hudson, and Keenesburg in northern Colorado. We have a diverse population of students, with very few who have a visual impairment. Since July 2023, TVIs have been provided an opportunity to serve students who don't have a typical "visual impairment" but instead might still be impacted by a visual condition. One such condition has been identified by a team of researchers, showing that those who do not have a dominant eye are likely to develop reading challenges. There is possibly a way to identify these students, using techniques that are approved by the Colorado Department of Education for nurses to use during their traditional vision screening. This grant would help fund the statistical analysis of the results we are gathering.

Photos:
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Impact:
When students are screened by the school nurse using a photoscreener, a portion of the assessment results can be used to potentially identify students who will likely flip letters, such as b and d, p and q, or E and 3. Rather than participating in traditional vision therapy, reading intervention strategies could be used to help train the brain and the eyes to read in the proper direction. Early results with students who have completed this program have been very promising. There is potential to use this technique with more students, but it would require a study. This grant would provide the funds necessary to complete the statistical analysis of the results gathered by local nurses.

Use of Funds:
The cost to complete the statistical analysis would range from $1,000 to $2,000. I have made inquiries at the local teaching college and hope to have a definite price by the time the grant would be provided.