Kalamazoo (Michigan) Van Riper lectures address language, literacy connections

[Harold Schiffman]

Van Riper lectures address language, literacy connections
Sept. 10, 2007

KALAMAZOO--The connection between language and literacy will be
explored during the 25th Annual Van Riper Lecture Series Sept. 13-14
at Western Michigan University.

A special presentation for the general public takes place the day
before the lecture series begins, when visiting scholar Dr. Margaret
A. Gallego of San Diego State University delivers a free lecture at 7
p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, in WMU's Fetzer Center. Her presentation
will address multiple literacies used by children from diverse
cultural and linguistic backgrounds, as well as ways that educators
can utilize these various literacies to support learning in the
classroom.

Gallego, a professor in San Diego State's School of Teacher Education,
has focused her research on the socio-cultural influences within
learning environments, including schools and after-school clubs that
support second language learners' English literacy development. She
also has published in the areas of teacher staff development,
heterogeneous classrooms, writing and learning disabilities, multiple
literacies and feminist and action research.

Gallego, along with other featured speakers, will make several
presentations during the lecture series, which runs from 8 a.m. to
4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13 and 8:15 a.m. to noon Friday, Sept. 14.
Additional authorities on literacy and language who will address
attendees include Drs. Alan G. Kamhi and WMU graduate Maureen
Staskowski.

Kamhi is a professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and
Disorders at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. His early
research focused on linguistic and cognitive abilities of children
with specific language impairments and mental handicaps. His later
research explored language-learning disabilities, culminating in a
book co-edited with Hugh Catts on language and reading disabilities.
The second edition of his book was published in 2005.

Kamhi also has two other books that were published last year, one on
phonological disorders, co-edited with Karen Pollock, and one on the
connections between language and reading, co-edited with Catts. He
currently is co-editing a book on clinical decision making in
developmental language disorders with Julie Masterson and Kenn Apel.

Staskowski is a consultant for the speech-language impaired services
at the Macomb Intermediate School District. She obtained bachelor's
and master's degrees in speech-language pathology from WMU as well as
a doctorate from Oakland University. She was a member of the American
Speech-Language-Hearing Association's committee that produced the
policy documents on reading and writing and served as editor for the
2007 Michigan Guidelines for the practice of speech-language pathology
in the schools. She has published chapters and articles on school
policy affecting interfaces between general education and special
education, including response to intervention initiatives.

Titles of presentations they will make during the series include
"Language and Reading: Convergences and Divergences;" "Converging
Policies and Knowledge: Forging New Collaborative Roles for Literacy;"
"Improving Reading: Beautiful Hypotheses and Ugly Facts;" "What
Counts? And How to Count It: Assessment Issues in Literacy
Development;" and "Creating Education Infrastructures to Achieve
Literacy for Every Student."

The Van Riper Lectures are named in honor of the late Dr. Charles G.
Van Riper, who was instrumental in establishing WMU's Department of
Speech Pathology and Audiology, which sponsors the annual event.
Gallego's public presentation is co-sponsored by the College of
Education and an award from the University.

For more information, including attendance fees, or to register for
the lecture series, call Paula Armstrong in the Department of Speech
Pathology and Audiology at (269) 387-8045, fax (269) 387-8044 or
e-mail paula.armstrong at wmich.edu.

http://www.wmich.edu/wmu/news/2007/09/018.html
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