In the News
We hope that you’ll be hearing a lot about WILDD in the news now and into the future. Please check back often as we are continuously updating our site with the latest news about WILDD.
2010
WILDD Approved to be Supplementary Educational Services Provider by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
In June 2010, WILDD was approved by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to be a Supplementary Educational Services (SES) provider. The Department of Public Instruction website (www.dpi.wi.gov) summarizes SES program:
Supplemental Educational Services (SES) are tutoring programs designed to improve the academic performance of students in Title I schools that have not met state targets for increasing student achievement. The SES law was created when the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the major program of federal aid for public schools, was enacted in 2001…. Schools receiving Title I aid that fail to attain the goals three or more consecutive years are required to offer families of low-income students in the identified schools the opportunity to enroll their students in SES tutoring.
The goal of supplemental educational services is to ensure that more students achieve proficiency on the state's academic standards in reading and math. Services may include such assistance as tutoring, remediation, and academic intervention and must take place outside the regular school day. Eligible children are from low-income families, as determined by the school district, for the purpose of allocating funds under Title I. Priority must be given to the lowest-achieving children whenever funds are insufficient to meet the requests of all eligible children and their parents.
WILDD looks forward to working with public schools throughout Wisconsin to increase academic achievement in our state’s students.
WILDD Recieves Grant from Madison Rotary Foundation
The Wisconsin Institute for Learning Disabilities/Dyslexia Inc. gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Madison Rotary Foundation and the Rotary Club of Madison. This March, WILDD was chosen as a grant recipient through the Community Grants Program. The funds will be used to help provide remedial reading services to youth clients by reducing the number of clients on WILDD’s waiting list.
Run WILDD for Dyslexia to be Organization's First Major Fundraising Event
WILDD Recieves Grant from the Randy R. Sluder Fund/Madison Community Foundation
The Wisconsin Institute for Learning Disabilities/Dyslexia Inc. would like to thank the Madison Community Foundation and the Randy R. Sluder Memorial Fund for their gift. The funds, received in March 2010, will be used to support WILDD’s mission of assisting individuals with learning disabilities and dyslexia to improve their reading and spelling skills. WILDD is excited to receive community support in order to continue to teach reading and spelling skills to Madison residents.
WILDD Receives Book Donation from Girl Scout Troop 2561
Junior Girl Scout Troop 2561 of Beaver Dam recently organized a book drive as a part of their efforts to earn the Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest award given to Junior Girl Scouts. The girls chose literacy as the focus of their project because literacy plays such an important role in an individual’s success. Planning and implementing the book drive was a resounding success. The girls, along with their fellow Badgerland Girl Scouts and the community of Beaver Dam, collected over 2,900 books! These books were split among several charities including the Wisconsin Institute for Learning Disabilities/Dyslexia, Jessica Doyle’s charity Read On Wisconsin!, and PAVE. Says troop leader Maureen McGuire, “The girls have learned so much from their experience. Not only did they learn about the importance of literacy, but they gained so much by learning to be leaders and learning the importance of and the joy of helping others.”
WILDD Celebrates Five Years of Success!
Five years after opening its doors, WILDD is celebrating its success. The foundation for WILDD was laid five years ago, when the founders began to plan the organization and applied for nonprofit status from the federal government. WILDD then opened its doors in March 2007 with donated classrooms from the Masonic Center Foundation in Madison, Wisconsin. Since that time, WILDD has expanded to a larger facility, grown to two other cities, and has employed over thirty people. WILDD has experienced incredible demand for services, even throughout the recession.
Erv Carpenter, also states, “It is our goal to open other WILDD Learning Centers in each major city in Wisconsin by 2015 and to corner the global market with our Distance Learning Program.” Targeted cities include Beloit, Appleton, Green Bay, Eau Claire, Wausau, La Crosse, Superior and the World. Headquarters will remain in Madison.
WILDD is a unique tax-exempt, 501(c)3 non-profit organization offering professional reading and written language instruction to children and adults, specializing in individuals with learning disabilities and/or dyslexia. WILDD provides research-based, high-quality, effective, ongoing instructional services for individuals that need remedial reading/language care. Research has proven that reading programs rich in multisensory technique and phonological awareness equip individuals with learning disabilities/dyslexia with the tools needed to remediate language skills and raise reading and spelling abilities to levels that can assist them in achieving competence and success in the work force. WILDD is teaching strategies for success for individuals and their communities.
With all this positive growth, we have a hard time not rejoicing WILDD’s fifth anniversary on February 24, 2010.
Third WILDD Branch Opens its Doors in West Allis, Wisconsin
On January 18, 2010, WILDD celebrated the New Year by opening its third location in West Allis, Wisconsin. The opening came after an October 2009 vote by the Board of Directors to expand services to both Oshkosh and the Greater Milwaukee areas. The West Allis center is fully operational and has exceeded expectations for growth in its first few months of operation. Molly Brown, Director at the West Allis Center, states, “Between the Wisconsin Veterans Administration, Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, school districts, parents, and adults, I will be busy for years to come.” The West Allis center is located at 2448 South 102nd Street, Suite 305, West Allis, WI. Ms. Brown can be contacted at milwaukee@wildd.org or (414) 732-2301. The WILDD staff looks forward to providing the Greater Milwaukee area with remedial reading, spelling, and other academic services.
WILDD Launches Distance Learning Program
As of February 11, 2010, WILDD has expanded services of their Distance Learning Program. Through this program, clients at a great distance from a WILDD center will be able to receive services not otherwise available. The Distance Learning Program utilizes the latest technology available to provide simultaneous multisensory instructional sessions, allowing the instructor and client to be miles apart and still conduct effective sessions. As long as the client has cable or a high-speed internet connection, services can be provided. Erv Carpenter, Executive Director, states, “We are very excited about this program. Our first distance learning client is a dyslexic college student in Rome, Italy. We are very excited about being able to deliver services that will improve her language skills while attending a University of her choice.”
WILDD Oshkosh Hosts Workshop Series about Dyslexia
Karen Schmidt, Director of WILDD Oshkosh, and Dr. William Kitz, Board Member, will host a series of free educational workshops about dyslexia. The sessions will take place February 24, March 24, April 28, and May 26 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Ability Resource Center in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. For more information, click here or call WILDD Oshkosh at 920-230-9453.
The ability to read normally develops in a steady and continuous manner. The early stages are called "learning to read" where the child learns to break the code of reading. Later stages are called "reading to learn" where the child uses reading as a tool to learn new things from print. The focus of the February 24 workshop is to discuss the "learning to read" stage, including techniques parents can use to foster growth in this area and benchmarks for determining if a child is on track for future reading success. The workshop will also look at decoding difficulties in older children and adults who have found it hard to decode words from print and consequently read slowly and inaccurately. All workshops are held at the Ability Resource Center, 115 Washington Ave., Oshkosh, 6:30-7:30 p.m. They are free, but we ask that you pre-register at 230-WILD(9453) or kschmidt@wildd.org.
2009
WILDD Opens Second Branch in Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Article From the Oshkosh Northwestern:
WILDD hosts grand opening during Gallery Walk
KAREN SCHMIDT • READER SUBMITTED • NOVEMBER 4, 2009
Come join us as WILDD, the Wisconsin Institute for Learning Disabilities and Dyslexia, opens its doors to the Fox Valley. WILDD is located at 115 Washington Avenue in Oshkosh. The Grand Opening will be held in conjunction with the Gallery Walk this Saturday from 6:00-9:00pm. The Art Off Main gallery is located in the same building and will be displaying the artwork created by people who are gifted and dyslexic.
WILDD is a unique, non-profit organization founded by Ervin Carpenter, Kim Carpenter, and Sara Pace in Madison on November 1, 2004. WILDD uses the highly effective, research-based Orton-Gillingham method along with techniques developed over years of experience by expert staff to remediate clients' reading and spelling deficits. The program has multiple levels of instruction that raise reading and spelling levels by four to five years on average when completed.
Dyslexia is a learning disability that disrupts the “reading toolbox” that most people take for granted. An estimated 10 to 20 percent of the U.S. population is afflicted with dyslexia, which causes difficulties in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting and sometimes in arithmetic. According to the International Dyslexia Association, most people with dyslexia have been found to have problems with identifying the separate speech sounds within a word and/or learning how letters represent those sounds.
The majority of the population is equipped with a fully functioning “reading toolbox” and these children easily progress through the education system. By third grade most students are reading to learn and are no longer learning how to read. Typically, there is very little remedial instruction needed after third grade. But if 10 to 20 percent of the population, or those with dyslexia, have not received the type of instruction they needed to obtain fluency in reading, they are left without the basic tools needed to succeed in school and in life.
Join us as we celebrate the opening of the new WILDD Center, learn more about dyslexia and enjoy the work of many gifted artists. More information about remedial services can be obtained by calling the Karen Schmidt, Director of WILDD-Oshkosh, at 920-230-WILD or by emailing oshkosh@wildd.org.
Erv Carpenter, Executive Director, Wins Crystal Apple Award
On April 21, 2009, Erv Carpenter, Executive Director of WILDD, was awarded WMTV NBC15's Crystal Apple Award. Each year, NBC15 honors teachers through nominations by students, parents and fellow educators for making an impact on their students' lives, a teacher who goes out of his or her way to make the learning experience richer. Only five awards are given each year out of all the nominations received.
Mr. Carpenter was nominated by a student who had been attending WILDD for two years. Both Erv and the student were interviewed by NBC15 news anchor Leigh Mills. The ceremony was filmed and aired during that evening's news cast. To read the nomination letter, click here.
2008
Dyslexics Get More Help by Andy Hall, Wisconsin State Journal. July 25, 2008
Neal Strang labors five hours a day to defeat dyslexia, a brain disorder that makes it difficult for him to read and spell. At age 49, Strang, a retired Navy veteran, is among a small but growing number of adults and children receiving help from the first Dane County group to focus exclusively on aiding dyslexics....
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