About Everyone Reading Illinois
Everyone Reading Illinois, a non-profit organization, was founded over 40 years ago. Today, Everyone Reading Illinois is one of Illinois’ leading organizations in dyslexia awareness and education, serving the entire state of Illinois and beyond. Everyone Reading Illinois’ board of 18 directors and its 2 staff members passionately dedicate their time and talents to Everyone Reading Illinois’ mission—improving the lives of children and adults with dyslexia!
Why is Everyone Reading Illinois’ mission so important?
Recent NAEP data indicates that only 1 in 3 fourth graders in Illinois is proficient in reading. The negative consequences for students who fail to learn to read are well-documented and profound; they include persistent feelings of frustration and failure, pervasive academic difficulties, higher high school drop-out rates, lack of college success, disproportionate imprisonment rates, self-esteem challenges, emotional problems, lower lifetime earnings, and higher unemployment.
To prevent reading failure for students with dyslexia, Everyone Reading Illinois partners with families, educators, and schools. Through these partnerships, Everyone Reading Illinois strives to increase public awareness about dyslexia, provide high quality professional development for teachers, support families with children with dyslexia, and promote effective instruction for dyslexia. Annually, Everyone Reading Illinois hosts two conferences: a two-day conference in the fall for both teachers and parents entitled “Dynamics of Dyslexia,” and a half-day conference in the spring uniquely for parents and families. Both of these conferences provide the latest information regarding best practices and educational strategies in the field of dyslexia and related learning disabilities. In addition to our conferences, Everyone Reading Illinois provides professional development seminars, training workshops, dyslexia simulations, and panel discussions. We also maintain an extensive referral list of diagnosticians and tutors to assist families in finding professionals to help them.
Everyone Reading Illinois is reaching more members through virtual offerings. Like many other organizations, the recent pandemic forced Everyone Reading Illinois to evaluate different ways to further our mission. As a result, we now offer virtual learning opportunities for our members and those we support. Our goal is to reach even more teachers, educators, parents, and students than we have in the past through offerings on virtual platforms, and we look forward to this new chapter in our organization.
The Board of Everyone Reading Illinois invites you to join in its mission. Through early identification and proper academic support, all individuals with dyslexia can be successful in school, at work, and throughout their lives. With your support, either through membership or donations, we can continue to provide the important services that we do. We ask you to join us in our mission to improve the lives of children and adults with dyslexia!
Sincerely,
The Everyone Reading Illinois Board of Directors
