About this live event

Learning Objectives

• Identify at least three evidence-based best practices for supporting students with dyslexia in the general education classroom.
• Distinguish between common misconceptions and research-based facts regarding the evaluation of dyslexia in a school setting.
• Outline the specific legal and professional responsibilities of the school psychologist within the dyslexia evaluation and intervention process.

Learning Levels

• All Levels

Target Audience

Agenda

Live event Instructor(s)

• 

  Kelly Caci, MA

  NYASP Legislative Chairperson

  Kelly Caci, MA, is a school psychologist in the Newburgh Enlarged City School District in a K-5 elementary school. She has worked for 28 years in the field at the elementary and middle school levels. Ms. Caci is the NYASP Legislative Chair, and has served on the NYASP board since 1998, previously in the capacity of NYASP president and newsletter editor. Ms.Caci has implemented a comprehensive PBIS program, peer mediation program, as well as other preventive social-emotional programs in her current work at the elementary level. She has presented and written on numerous topics, including trauma, dyslexia, diagnosis, and retention. She was also the workgroup leader on NYASP's guidance documents on Evaluating for Dyslexia in the Schools and School Re-Entry and Recovery in Response to the COVID-19 Health Crisis. She also serves on the NYSUT Collective Care Team. Ms. Caci can be reached at kelly.caci@nyasp.org.

• 

  Emma Leah Hettrich, Psy.D., ABSNP

  NYASP Membership Co-Chair

  Dr. Emma Leah Hettrich is a New York State licensed Psychologist and certified School Psychologist. She works in an elementary school on Long Island and is on the executive board for the New York Association of School Psychologists (NYASP). Her main areas of interest include assessment and intervention for students with Dyslexia as well as Autism Spectrum Disorders. In addition to her work as a school psychologist, Dr. Hettrich served as an adjunct professor at St. John’s University for ten years, where she supervised graduate students completing psychoeducational evaluations for learning disabilities and behavioral disorders at the St. John's Center for Psychological Services. Dr. Hettrich has presented on various topics related to assessment, intervention, and consultation at local, state, national, and international conferences.

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  Michael Paff, EdD, NCSP

  NYASP President-Elect

  Michael Paff, EdD, LP, NCSP is a NYS certified school psychologist, NYS licensed psychologist, former CSE/504 chairperson, and former graduate trainer. He is the president-elect of NYASP. Following an 18 year career in public schools, he recently took on a position as a licensed psychologist working with the Office for Children and Family Services, Division of Juvenile Justice and Opportunities for Youth. He works with adjudicated and incarcerated adolescents and young adults in four different downstate facilities. In these facilities, he does psychological and neuropsychological evaluations, provides consultation with educational, clinical, and aftercare teams, helps oversee treatment for incarcerated youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities and for youth convicted of mass violence-related acts, and provides clinical supervision for other psychologists. Dr. Paff was a member of the NYS Dyslexia/Dysgraphia Task Force and is a current member of the NYS Suicide Prevention Council. He also has a private practice in Ulster County. He is passionate about school psychology, working with justice-involved youth, creating safe schools and communities for LGBTQ+ youth, the science of reading, and suicide prevention.

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  Michelle Storie, PhD

  Associate Professor, SUNY Oswego School Psychology Program

  Michelle S. Storie, Ph.D., is a New York State licensed psychologist and permanently certified school psychologist. She is an Associate Professor in the Counseling and Psychological Services Department at the State University of New York at Oswego and is Coordinator of the School Psychology Program. Dr. Storie has also served as Director and Coordinator of the Syracuse University Psychoeducational Teaching Laboratory since 2000. She has eighteen years of experience as a school psychologist, and has worked in urban, suburban, and rural school districts. Dr. Storie is Conference Chairperson of The Reading League and is one of its founding board members. She is a member of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities and is on the Professional Advisory Board of the Learning Disabilities Association of America. Dr. Storie also serves as Secretary for the Trainers of School Psychology New York chapter. Dr. Storie runs a part-time private practice, where she specializes in assessment of dyslexia, anxiety, and ADHD in children, adolescents, and college students. Dr. Storie also conducts professional development for school districts on dyslexia and the Science of Reading. She earned her Ph.D. in School Psychology from Syracuse University in 2001 and has continued to adjunct at Syracuse University since that time. Dr. Storie’s research interests include dyslexia screenings, evidence-based practices for assessment and intervention of reading deficits, educator knowledge of effective reading practices, and impact of professional development aligned with Science of Reading on student outcomes.

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  Lynne Thies, Ph.D., NCSP

  Visiting Assistant Professor and School Psychology Supervisor of Field Placements, Fordham University

  Lynne Thies, Ph.D., NCSP is a visiting assistant professor and the coordinator of field experiences for the school psychology graduate program at Fordham University. Thies is a New York State certified school psychologist, New York State licensed psychologist, and Nationally Certified School Psychologist with more than 30 years of direct service experience in the Long Island, NY public schools.

  During her time in Long Island, Thies also worked as an adjunct professor in several of the region’s graduate programs in school psychology, teaching courses in the areas of school consultation, psychoeducational and neuropsychological assessment, and professional practice issues.

  She has been active on the boards and committees of both the New York Association of School Psychologists (NYASP) (as a former president) and the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) (as the former New York State delegate). Currently, Thies serves on the NASP graduate educators’ workgroup subcommittee on innovations in practica and Internship, plus on the equity and social justice subcommittee. She is also a member of the board of directors for the Children’s Fund of School Psychology, Inc., a nationwide charitable organization that provides grants to practicing school psychologists so that they may purchase materials to provide mental health care for school-aged children.