Welcome to NEALS’ 20th Anniversary Celebration!

Foremost, we celebrate you, our members, because you are the greatest value offered by NEALS. With our online discussions, at our regional meetings, and at this conference you bring your wisdom, your creativity, and your support to hundreds of fellow learning specialists. That support in turn brings innovative professionalism, refreshed teaching, and cutting edge services to thousands of students with learning challenges: a sustainable gift to the world. 

To such lofty goals, please make the most of this year’s two day opportunity to enjoy camaraderie, networking, learning, retreat activities, and great food!  We are so excited to hear from our keynote speakers, Dr. George McCloskey and Nanci Shepardson, on some of our most compelling issues in their talks on Improving Executive Capacities at Multiple Levels and Assistive Technology: What the Research Says About Which Technologies Support Skill Acquisition, respectively. In addition, Sharon Plante has so generously offered to speak to us on both days, as she has on our online discussions, about the latest technologies available to make our students as literate, creatively effective and educationally included as possible. 

Be sure to join us Thursday evening, with Phil Wilson, internationally renowned jazz performer, who also has dyslexia, in celebrating our milestone and the work that you do every day.  We will be debuting Reservation with You, a special film we have created, that I am sure you will receive as a poignant and lasting gift in return for all the sacrifices you make for students in need. 

I recently spoke with Rick Lavoie, author of the groundbreaking film How Difficult Can This Be? and book The Motivation Breakthrough, who congratulates us on NEALS’ 20th, noting how remarkable it has been for our nonprofit to thrive over the last 20 years.  NEALS has survived the recession, grown at a time when so many nonprofits have crumbled, and added value to your members each year. We’re excited about the 20th, but most excited about the added value that NEALS has come to offer.  We are eager for your ideas to expand the benefits of membership further. We hope that NEALS’ 30th celebration will look back with pride at how far we’ve come from here!

Congratulations!

Susan