Karen Kehoe, director of the Tennessee Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia at Middle Tennessee State University, shared information about the center’s services on this month’s “Out of the Blue” television magazine program.

Kehoe, who took the helm as director in February, talked about services and resources the center provides families and educators with host Andrew Oppmann, vice president for marketing and communications.

The Dyslexia Center is a service of the College of Education and one of nearly two dozen research centers at MTSU.

“We are one of the university’s translational centers,” Kehoe said. “Our mission is really to promote the understanding of dyslexia and how to remove barriers to reading and writing for children with dyslexia.”

You can view the segment below:

Kehoe said the center has a team-based approach and there are three main focus areas: testing, research and outreach.

“It’s a wrap-around supportive approach,” Kehoe said. “We may do a full battery of testing; we may do a consultation with the family … or we may do something in between. It’s really individualized. Then we all meet as a team to discuss the case and come up with instructional recommendations.”

In addition to dyslexia testing, the center focuses on research for effective literacy interventions as well as educational resources to help educators foster solutions for children with learning difficulties.

“We have a lot of resources for both educators and families,” said Kehoe, who showed off two new publications that provide guidance for identifying dyslexia as well as tips for families to support their children.

“Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 3:30 p.m. Sundays and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings. 

It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3. 

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.  

— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu)