Adults left to right: Kahla Ableman, Alisha Cannon, Amy Williams, Pat Umphrey, Stacy Kirby, Jessica Lynn, Haley Reyer Children Standing: Emily Ableman, Aubrey Ableman, Seated: Landon Ruble, Tanner Cannon, Mayor Ronnie Marks, Addison Cannon
ATHENS-Athens City Schools has sold 175 Dyslexia Awareness T-shirts. The not for profit T-shirts reflect the system’s goal to support the individual needs and to celebrate unique talents of every student rather than putting a label on differences. The front of the shirt displays the motto of the Athens City Schools Multi-Sensory Commission: Learning to Love Learning and the back of the shirt contains a QR code to a dyslexia resource and a word cloud that reflects the beauty and the struggles of the dyslexic mind.
October is Dyslexia Awareness month. Silver is the color for dyslexia. Everyone who purchased a shirt will wear it on October 20th. On that day, City Schools will have a Twitter campaign: #acsdabsfordyslexia.
City Schools will compile all the images of Athens students and citizens “dabbing for dyslexia” and display them on the Jumbo Tron at the last home football game. We hope to demonstrate our love and support for the wonderful people in our community who struggle because their unique and brilliant mind does not always fit inside the box of traditional education.
Standing: Emily Ableman Seated left to right: Landon Ruble, Tanner Cannon, Mayor Ronnie Marks, Aubrey Ableman
Mayor Marks’ Proclamation:
NATIONAL DYSLEXIA AWARENESS DAY
WHEREAS, dyslexia is a specific learning disability, that is neurobiological in origin and is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities; and
WHEREAS, these difficulties are typically caused by a deficit in the phonological component of language that is unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and to the provision of effective classroom instruction; and
WHEREAS, secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge; and
WHEREAS, according to the National Institutes of Health, dyslexia occurs on a continuum of severity, affecting between 10 and 20 percent of the population; and
WHEREAS, Alabamians can benefit from increased awareness of the nature of dyslexia, the early warning signs of dyslexia and the value of multisensory structured language interventions for students with dyslexia; and
WHEREAS, greater recognition and understanding are necessary to ensure that individuals living with dyslexia in Alabama are accurately identified and provided with appropriate services so that they might lead productive lives:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, William R. Marks, Mayor of Athens, Alabama,
do hereby proclaim October 20th as National Dyslexia Awareness Day and the
month of October as National Dyslexia Awareness Month
in the City of Athens, and encourage all citizens to learn more about dyslexia
and to offer support to parents, educators and individuals affected by dyslexia.
