August 28, 2026
Sprout Labs and Parallel Learning are co-hosting a free 3-part virtual series on language and literacy for SLPs, school psychologists, and special educators.
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Reaching Every Learner: Strengthening Language and Literacy for Students with Learning Difficulties. Three virtual sessions, September through November, free to attend and CE eligible.
We are glad to share that Sprout Labs and Parallel Learning are partnering this fall on a three-part virtual series built for the people who sit with struggling readers every week: SLPs, school psychologists, special education teachers, and school social workers.
The first session is Thursday, September 10. You can join one session or all three.
Parallel Learning connects schools and districts with licensed providers who deliver special education services virtually, including speech-language pathology, psychoeducational assessment, behavior and mental health counseling, and specialized instruction. Their provider network reaches more than 115 school districts across 25 states.
Sprout Labs comes at the same students from the family side. We started in 2020 by developing EarlyBird, an early literacy assessment we developed at Boston Children's Hospital and that is now used by school districts and teachers nationwide. Today we bring that work directly to families, with at-home instruction built specifically for children with dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning differences, shaped by reading specialists, SLPs, and our scientific advisory board.
Both organizations keep running into the same thing. The clinicians and educators closest to these students want practical, evidence-based strategies they can use in the next session, and they rarely get an hour of professional learning that is actually about the students on their caseload. That is what this series is for.
Thursday, September 10: Oral Language and Phonological Awareness
Speakers: Eileen Catizone and Karin Hartunian Koukeyan
Oral language and phonological awareness are foundational to reading success, yet many children with language and speech sound disorders are at increased risk for later reading difficulties. This course examines the relationship between oral language development, phonological deficits, and reading acquisition, with an emphasis on the connections among Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), speech sound disorders, and literacy outcomes. Participants will explore current evidence on early identification and learn practical, evidence-based strategies that speech-language pathologists can use to strengthen phonological and phonemic awareness skills that support reading development.
Session 2 | Thursday, October 8 | 6:00 to 7:00 PM ET Dyslexia: What Does It Mean? Speakers: Eileen Catizone and MaryKate DeSantis
Dyslexia is one of the most common learning differences impacting reading development, yet misconceptions continue to influence identification, assessment, and educational support. This course provides an overview of the characteristics of dyslexia, current diagnostic considerations, and the updated International Dyslexia Association (IDA) definition of dyslexia. Participants will explore how current research informs identification and educational practice while examining common myths and misconceptions to support accurate understanding, effective collaboration, and informed decision-making for students with dyslexia.
Session 3 | Thursday, November 5 | 6:00 to 7:00 PM ET Strategies for Professionals to Help Promote Reading in the Home Environment Speakers: Eileen Catizone and Sydney Bassard
The worlds of language development and literacy are heavily intertwined. One aspect that can be overlooked when working on reading skills is the importance of language. In this webinar, we will explore effective ways to support literacy development by focusing on building language abilities. This informative session is crafted to provide attendees with practical strategies to use in their clinical practice as well as tips to support growth at home.
A note on why we think this third session matters most for older students: learning to read ends in grade 3 and reading to learn starts in grade 4, so past that point the classroom is no longer teaching the foundational phonics a struggling reader may still need, and families become a much bigger part of the answer.
Eileen Catizone, M.Ed. is Head of Literacy at Sprout Labs, a reading specialist, and an Orton-Gillingham and IDA Dyslexia Practitioner. She has taught PreK through grade 8 as both a classroom teacher and a reading specialist, and continues to teach students with dyslexia and consult with schools and families.
Karin Hartunian Koukeyan, MS, CCC-SLP is the founder of SpeechFit, with more than 25 years across healthcare, education, private practice, and telehealth. A telepractice pioneer since 2010, she serves as Secretary-Treasurer on the CSHA Board and as 2026 Co-Chair of the ASHA Telepractice Convention Program Committee.
MaryKate DeSantis, Ed.M, CAS is a doctoral fellow in Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut's Neag School of Education and the founder of Left Side Strong. She has worked as a special educator, reading specialist, and district-wide literacy coach, and her research spans the Speech, Language, and Literacy Lab at the MGH Institute of Health Professions and an ongoing collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Sydney Bassard, MSP, CCC-SLP owns The Listening SLP and specializes in literacy and in working with individuals who are Deaf and hard of hearing. She was named a Distinguished Early Career Professional in 2020 and an Innovator in 2023, and served as a topic co-chair for Literacy Assessment and Intervention at the 2026 ASHA Convention.
Full bios, including required financial and non-financial disclosures, are on the registration page.
Genuine clinical content, not a product pitch. Come for the sessions that are useful to your practice and skip the rest.
If a colleague on your team would find this valuable, please forward it along. The more practitioners in the room, the better the Q&A gets.
Sprout Labs is daily reading practice for children who learn differently. Our team created EarlyBird, the early literacy assessment developed and tested at Boston Children's Hospital and now used by school districts and teachers nationwide. We brought that same science home to families. Children roughly ages 8 to 10 work through 10 to 20 minute sessions that follow an explicit, sequential structured literacy sequence, with voice AI tuned to how kids with dyslexia and ADHD actually decode, and families get a progress report they can share with you. Built with reading specialists and SLPs and guided by our scientific advisory board. More on our For Practitioners page.
