Read Ballarat
Heidi Gregory 27.100.2022
October is Dyslexia Awareness month and on Thursday 27th October we were very fortunate to have Heidi Gregory answer our questions at our Read Ballarat Q&A event.
Heidi Gregory is an advocate for social justice and evidence-based literacy instruction and intervention for children with dyslexia. She is the founder of Dyslexia Victoria Support. In 2018 Dyslexia Victoria Support was awarded the Victorian Premier’s Volunteer Champions Award for Teamwork.
Described as the ‘heart and soul’ of Victoria’s Dyslexia Community, the DVS Administration Team work around the clock to give online support and advice to thousands of people on screening, assessments, assistive technologies, and targeted interventions. The team displays initiative, courage and open mindedness, and have developed essential resources, fostered local support groups, convened events and advocated for people with dyslexia.
Heidi has extensive experience with advocacy work including;
• Founded a Victorian parent support group that provides evidence-based information, support, networking, and friendship to other families of children with dyslexia – Dyslexia
• Volunteer parent advocate for kids with reading and spelling difficulties
• Assists parents to seek and find quality evidence-based intervention and accommodations for children
• Advocates with politicians, local/state & federal and engages with educational groups, policy makers and allied health professionals
• Community champion for dyslexia awareness and strong proponent of evidence-aligned interventions in schools
• Ability to coordinate volunteer contributions for social media platforms, websites, petitions, events, workshops, venues, social media groups, tutoring
• Coordinated successful marketing campaigns and established media relationships
• Working briefly, as a library staff member in 3 schools, Bairnsdale Technical School; Mildura Tafe and Ivanhoe Grammar School. She also volunteered at her local school library when her children were little
Most recently Heidi has been instrumental in the push for the mandated Phonics Screening Test.