Episodes

Jordan had a chance to connect with Wes Hamilton, who shared his incredible story of how he’s living his best life after being paralyzed in a shooting. Wes reminds us that within our uniqueness lies our greatness—an inspiring message shared by all of us at the Webb Center. If you have a story worth sharing on this podcast, write to jordan@chartproductions.com. If you’d like to discover ways to support and become involved with the Webb Innovation Center for Dyslexia, please visit our website at ...

Jordan Rich, recently sat down with Laura Vanderberg, Director, and Lori Lubeski, Professor, of Curry College’s PAL Program to hear about how it continues to grow while fulfilling Dr. Webb’s mission of helping students “challenge strengths and strengthen challenges.” If you have a story worth sharing on this podcast, write to jordan@chartproductions.com. If you’d like to discover ways to support and become involved with the Webb Innovation Center for Dyslexia, please visit our website at dyslexi...

Today Jordan meets a remarkable young entrepreneur named Christianna Alexander. She’s the oldest of three children and faced many learning challenges early on in school. Struggles continued into the 2nd grade and she was forced to repeat the year. But, it didn’t take long for Christi to develop more confidence and better grades when she transferred to a school that focused on helping kids with learning disabilities. She not only did well in school, she caught the business bug early and after lot...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and master glass blower Andy Magdanz of Almost Perfect Glass, a hot glass studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Powered by solar energy, the studio is home to a fantastic array of glass artists, sculptors, and jewelers. Because of his dyslexia which resulted in poor reading and writing skills in school, Andy was ridiculed by some and often told he wouldn’t have the stuff to succeed. But like so many featured on these podcasts he gravitated toward his calling an p...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and Dr. Rhoda Bernard, managing director of the Berklee College of Music Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs and Larry Rothstein of No Limits Media. Both guests focus on the impact of art, music, theatre and dance on people of all ages with special needs and learning disabilities. Neuro-diversity is now being recognized understood and promoted with the help of caring educators and advocates like Rhoda and Larry. If you have a story worth sharing on t...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and Sara Renzulli, visiting Assistant Professor, Counselor Education & Counseling Psychology Program with the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. Much of her time is dedicated to helping exceptional kids with learning differences navigate school and social life, helping them grow into confident, capable adults. Sara shares her own story of childhood struggle and what she has learned in achieving balance and success. If you have a story w...

Meet Jonathan Mooney, a dyslexic writer, speaker and self-described do-gooder who is speaking the truth about difference vs. deficiency and people are listening. As a young student battling low expectations and feelings of failure, Jonathan came close to ending his life. He ultimately overcame despair (thanks to meeting up with the right teachers and mentors) and fought his way to becoming a college grad from Brown University. Jonathan earned an honors degree in English lit and wrote his first b...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and Heather Caska, Dyslexia Specialist, Director of Speech-Language and Dyslexia services at the Way to Grow pediatric therapy practice in Arizona. Heather recently joined the team at WTG and she loves the work she is doing to help children. She has experience working with a variety of communication disorders; however her passion lies in working with kids with dyslexia and helping their families. She is totally dedicated to bringing more awareness to the commun...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and Dr. Kathryn Garforth who offers professional expertise in Educational Psychology and a personal understanding of the frustrations children and adults with learning difficulties experience. Her story demands to be shared. As a child, Dr. Garforth struggled with reading and spelling in her primary years. A psychoeducational assessment in grade four helped her understand her strengths and gave her hope that with the right instruction and accommodations she cou...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and Zachary Wingate. Zachary’s mission is to take what he has learned about dyslexia and “pay it forward.” He shares his experiences helping others with dyslexia understand that they are not alone and that there are steps they can take to succeed. Zachary’s is a story of hard work, a vow to never give up and an acknowledgement of the power of humor and love in living a life with dyslexia. If you have a story worth sharing on this podcast , write to jordan@chart...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and accomplished video producer Dan Fickes, owner of Boston based company Ocean One Productions. Dan is an Emmy winning video shooter, director, editor and producer who also has an extensive background in broadcast television news. Growing up with dyslexia made Dan’s school years very difficult. He found help by the time he reached college and shares what he’s done to live with dyslexia and succeed at a very high level. If you’d like to discover ways to support...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and former pro wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer, Diamond Dallas Paige. Dallas is a best-selling author with his latest motivational book entitled, “Positively Unstoppable.” He’s a world-renowned fitness instructor who recently launched his DDP Yoga program internationally. Thousands have been getting into shape with the help of DDP. As tough as he was in the ring, his most challenging competitor just might have been dyslexia. Hear his story of struggle, hard work...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and Dr. Chris Menton, criminal justice professor and former program director at Roger Williams University School of Continuing Studies. Jordan and Chris discuss the impact of dyslexia and other learning disabilities on members of the prison population. It’s an under-reported problem but there are ways to help deal with it. Professor Menton has published a number of research articles and has focused extensively on criminal justice, public safety, corrections and...

Berkley Singer is an exemplary special education teacher, currently employed in Colorado. Her work with students has been highly impactful. Berkley shares her own story of coping with dyslexia as a student and reflects on the motivation and inspiration offered by her grandmother Dr. Gertrude Webb, a life long leader in the field who changed the way we think of learning disabilities. If you’d like to discover ways to support and become involved with the Webb Innovation Center for Dyslexia, please...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and Bodhi Bragonier, an 11-year old currently in the 5th grade, whose parents are also dyslexic. Bodhi has dealt with the challenges many children with dyslexia face and he shares perspectives on peer pressure, the impact of tutors, the sensitivity that adults sometimes lack when dealing with dyslexic kids and how he approaches solving problems in innovative ways. Bodhi is also a budding entrepreneur with several established online businesses and many more like...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and Matt Bomes, Founder and Chief Innovation officer for Summit Street Medical, empowering food allergy families to live life to the fullest. The company is currently in the midst of unveiling an exciting new delivery system for epinephrine, certain to help millions with food allergies. Matt talks with us about his early struggles with Dyslexia and his determination to overcome learning roadblocks. Through determination and hard work, Matt has flourished person...

Dean Bragonier is the Founder and ‘Executive Dyslexic’ of NoticeAbility.org. He and his team have pioneered the development of teaching and learning techniques helping dyslexic students succeed in academics and life. Shaped by his own challenges with dyslexia, Dean became a successful college student after struggling through the traditional secondary education system. He soon discovered his true gifts as an entrepreneur opening a very successful restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard. NoticeAbility is ...

Taylor Mali has been writing and performing poetry since 2000. His poems have been described as eminently clear, relatable, humorous and touching. He has performed or taught poetry in over 50 foreign countries and throughout the United States. He is a vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, having taught in one capacity or another since 1990. In that capacity he worked with students with varying learning disabilities, inspiring them to love learning and creativity. Formerly pres...

Kids With Super Powers – Joey and Rick Nurmi – A conversation between Jordan Rich and Joey and his dad Rick Nurmi. Joey is now attending college having successfully overcome the hurdles of Dyslexia. Hear his perspective on how Dyslexia has benefited him in many creative ways. Also, Joey’s dad Rick will share his story of pride and appreciation for what Joey has accomplished. Together this father and son team exemplifies what dedication, focus, hard work and love is all about. And if you’d like t...

A conversation between Jordan Rich and children’s book author Jodi Tattiana-Charles, who talk about how it wasn’t until Jodi was an adult that she learned she is dyslexic and therefore as a child she just thought she wasn’t that smart. Her Haitian immigrant parents placed a huge value on education but they also encouraged Jodi and gave her opportunities to learn in unconventional ways. Watching her parents overcome obstacles and persevere encouraged her to do the same thing. Most recently she wr...

Educator and literacy specialist Deb Mallin is the founder and CEO of Literacy Matters. Deb had a thriving private practice helping students, one at a time, learn to read and write. The more success she had helping her students and student families, the more concerned she became about the vast numbers of those she couldn’t help. With the encouragement and support of her husband and three sons, she leveraged the most innovative technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to replicate her processe...

Alex Maclean- A conversation between Jordan Rich and pilot and photographer, Alex Maclean, who has flown his plane over much of the United States documenting the landscape. Alex is dyslexic, and in this interview he talks about his early diagnosis in the 1950’s and how his mother, recognizing the disparity between his curiosity and intelligence, and his reading ability, read to him so that he could keep up with his schoolwork; in fact he excelled in school, and graduated from Harvard College. He...

Carey and Cliff Cort- A conversation between Jordan Rich and Carey and Cliff Cort, inspired and inspiring dyslexics married to each other, and the parents of two daughters one of whom is dyslexic. Cliff and Carey talk about the joys and difficulties they’ve experienced being dyslexic, and how it has challenged and enhanced their work and family life. To discover ways to support and become involved with us, please visit us at dyslexicswanted.org.

Steve Wilkins- A conversation between Jordan Rich and Steve Wilkins, Head of The Carroll School in Lincoln, Massachusetts, a school with a national reputation that celebrates and supports the unique learning styles of dyslexic students. Steve talks about The Carroll School as an outgrowth of the civil rights movement, a time when outliers began to assert their rights, as well as its current mission to apply state of the art research to teaching students. Steve says dyslexia is hard and he’s not ...