Mississippi College Receives $250,000 Dyslexia Education Grant

MC Dean of Education Don Locke

A $250,000 federal grant will boost Mississippi College’s dyslexia education and training programs.

The funds will come from the U.S. Department of Education and be used to help increase the number of dyslexia therapists in North Mississippi.

“The support of our congressional delegation in securing the funds is appreciated and we look forward to the challenge of training this group of students,” said MC Dean of Education Don Locke.

Twenty candidates will be selected during the fall with orientation and training to take place between the spring of 2011 and the spring of 2013.

Candidates will participate in four classroom courses and four supervisory courses and complete a total of 820 direct contact hours with dyslexic students. Led by MC educators, the classroom instruction will occur on the Blue Mountain College campus in North Mississippi.

The training will duplicate the International Multisensory Structured Language Education program accredited at Mississippi College in Clinton.  The program will be directed by Locke with support from Shirley Tipton of the MC School of Education.

MC’s dyslexia therapy graduate program in the School of Education has attracted more than 112 graduate students from Mississippi and four other states. The program has produced 45 graduates over the years.

Dyslexia is a neurologically-based disorder that impairs one’s ability to read, write and spell.

North Mississippi should see a 100 percent to 200 percent increase in the number of dyslexia therapists once the new program is completed, Locke says.

The project is fully funded by the U.S. Department of Education grant.