Dedham Library Innovation Team to Host Dyslexia Film Screening

The Dedham Library Innovation Team (DLIT) is preparing to host a free screening of the award-winning film "The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia", the DLIT announced this week. 

The film is meant to dispel the myths and stigma around dyslexia, a condition impacting one in five people in the United States. The group will show the film at the Dedham Community Theater in Dedham Square on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 9:30 a.m., followed by an expert panel who will answer questions from the audience. 

DLIT member Emily Gibbons, who spearheaded the effort to bring the film to Dedham, is a long-time educator with a specialization in literacy, dyslexia & the Orton Gillingham instructional approach, as well as author of the blog The Reading Tutor/OG. 

“DLIT members are passionate about providing literacy to every learner – that’s why I’m excited to share this film, which highlights the research-based breakthroughs around our understanding of dyslexia and how, with the right support, no child need limit their potential," she said in a statement.

The panel of experts will discuss dyslexia, parenting and literacy, and will feature Lisa Nelson from Decoding Dyslexia-Massachusetts  (DD-MA), a grass roots organization dedicated to raising awareness of the researched-based interventions that are effective in overcoming dyslexia and opening the doors to academic success. 

Also on the panel will be Jennifer Dougherty of Learning Ally, a national nonprofit with a defined approach to help support students with learning disabilities and their families, and Gibbons, a 14-year classroom educator with expertise in the Orton-Gillingham approach, which offers research-based reading instruction strategies designed to help children with dyslexia. 

The free use of the Dedham Community Theater for the screening was provided by the theater’s owner State Rep. Paul McMurtry (D-Dedham), who has been supporting libraries in the Commonwealth through his work on the legislature’s Library Caucus, including support and launch of the Digital Commonwealth, a new, free statewide digital repository and web portal of material from libraries, schools, historical societies, and museums, including digital copies of John Adams personal library and manuscripts from Boston’s anti-slavery movement.  

"Providing the most innovative literacy resources is key to building a vibrant, functioning democracy – but we need to make sure we give every young person access to that critical on-ramp to knowledge and personal achievement, which is why I think this film is so important," McMurtry said in a statement.