Episode 157 Pam Barker - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

All around our community, people are recognizing places where we have gaps and bringing new businesses, programs and services to meet those needs. A great example of this is Louisiana Key Academy in Shreveport. You can find my full discussion with Pam Barker, Principal of Louisiana Key Academy in Shreveport, here.

 

Here are the questions I asked:

 

0:34 1. Pam, you are the Principal of Louisiana Key Academy in Shreveport, a tuition free, charter school for dyslexia. In preparing for today’s discussion, I came across two incredible statistics – that 1 in 5 kids suffer from dyslexia but that only about 2% of kids with dyslexia are identified in Louisiana.

 

Let’s start here today just with some foundational information. What is dyslexia?

 

3:52 2. For parents listening today, what are some early indicators that a child may suffer from dyslexia?

 

6:45 3. Once a parent feels that one of their kids might be dyslexic, what are the next steps they should take to ensure THAT is a proper assessment and to consider entering their child into the Louisiana Key Academy?

 

17:55 4. It’s clear that we do not identify dyslexia enough in our kids and that if we do we often identify it far later than we should. What are some consequences of not identifying dyslexia early?

 

22:24 5. Talk to me about both some similarities and differences between Louisiana Key Academy and “regular” schools?