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On this READ podcast episode, host Marcus Soutra, Acting Director of The Windward Institute, welcomes Dr. Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), for Dyslexia Awareness Month to discuss her path from special educator and researcher to national advocate, including her daughter’s dyslexia journey and family self-advocacy. Dr. Rodriguez explains NCLD’s mission shift to working with—not on behalf of—people with learning disabilities through a young adult leadership council, a new family leadership council, and expert advisory networks, while convening stakeholders at federal and state levels. She highlights NCLD’s latest State of LD reports, including transition findings showing sense of belonging as the top factor for postsecondary and workforce success, and educator survey data showing reduced general-special education collaboration amid administrative burdens and funding declines. The conversation covers policy efforts, opposing the 21st Century Dyslexia Act for risking harmful overbroad identification and splitting dyslexia from SLD, and advancing the RISE Act nationally and across states (including California) to accept IEPs/504s as disability evidence in higher education. Jackie shares ways to engage via NCLD action alerts, advocacy days, and leadership councils, emphasizing education as “everybody’s issue.”
00:00 Podcast Welcome
00:17 Meet Jacqueline Rodriguez
01:32 Her Path to NCLD
05:23 Family Why and Advocacy
06:48 What NCLD Does
11:00 State of LD Findings
16:56 Collaboration and Funding Gaps
22:19 21st Century Dyslexia Act
24:57 Bill Misses the Mark
26:17 Why Definitions Matter
27:32 Committee Vote Fallout
28:21 Lumping Groups Together
29:25 Juvenile Justice Pipeline
30:38 Pulling Dyslexia From SLD
32:11 Back to the Drawing Board
33:18 Shared Goals for Schools
34:25 RISE Act Momentum
37:17 IEPs Don’t Transfer
39:05 State Wins and Implementation
41:09 How to Support NCLD
44:18 Education Is Everybody’s Issue
46:15 Final Thanks and Wrap
National Center for Learning Disabilities: ncld.org
Produced by The Windward Institute, a division of The Windward School (NY).
www.thewindwardinstitute.org
