BrightStart! Mobile Classrooms
Jacksonville, Florida
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 @ 02:24 PM EDT
by: Odette Struys; Ph: (904) 697-4186; Cell: (904) 728-1062; ostruys@nemours.org
Jacksonville, FL - Nemours BrightStart! Dyslexia Initiative, a local pioneering program that offers screening to identify four-year olds at risk of reading difficulty, will introduce its new mobile classrooms to the Jacksonville community on Tuesday, June 24, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) at Friendship Fountain Park in Jacksonville, Fla. The mobile classrooms will allow Nemours BrightStart! to move the Nemours legacy of medical expertise from the clinic to the community, providing reading readiness, screening, intervention and related educational services in a uniquely designed, fun environment.
“We are excited to bring this new feature to our community. The mobile classrooms will allow us to take our services to almost anywhere,” said Laura Bailet, PhD, Executive Director of Nemours BrightStart! Dyslexia Initiative. “This extension of Nemours BrightStart! will reach into schools, community centers, malls and other places where families gather, making it easier for parents to access information and build skills.”
Nemours BrightStart!, using brain science, offers a groundbreaking program that transforms the way children approach reading. It identifies children at risk of dyslexia and reading difficulties, and teaches them before they have a chance to fail. “It is a life-changing program that takes proven, effective research and translates it to the preschool classroom. In response to changing community needs, we will now have the versatility to offer our services in more locations than ever before,” said Dr. Bailet.
More than 6,000 children have been screened and almost 1,000 children have so far received intervention from Nemours BrightStart! since its inception in 2005. Nationally, approximately 15-20% of the general population has dyslexia, the most common cause of reading failure, while an additional 15-20% of the population struggles with reading difficulties for other reasons.
For more information on this initiative, please contact Kathy Ingram at Nemours BrightStart! at: (904) 858-3118. For media interviews please contact Odette Struys at: (904) 728-1026.
About Nemours BrightStart!Dyslexia Initiative
Nemours BrightStart! Dyslexia Initiative is a project of Nemours, one of the nation’s largest children’s health systems, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Offering free screenings to pre-kindergartners in Duval County, Nemours BrightStart! identifies children at-risk for dyslexia and provides intensive educational intervention, in an effort to prepare them for reading success in kindergarten. For additional information call: (904) 858-3118 or visit www.nemours.org.
modified: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 @ 07:38 AM EDT
created: Monday, June 23, 2008 @ 02:20 PM EDT
About Nemours
Nemours, one of the nation’s largest pediatric health systems, is dedicated to achieving higher standards in children’s health. Nemours offers an integrated spectrum of clinical treatment coupled with research, advocacy, and educational health and prevention services extending to all families in the communities it serves. Starting with Alfred I. duPont’s bequest over seventy years ago, Nemours has grown into a multi-dimensional organization offering personalized clinical and preventive care focused on children.
Nemours owns and operates the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware and major children’s specialty clinics in Delaware (Wilmington), Florida (Jacksonville, Orlando and Pensacola), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr) and New Jersey (Atlantic City and Voorhees). Having recently received preliminary approval from the State of Florida, Nemours will establish a new full-service children’s hospital as part of an integrated pediatric health campus in Orlando. KidsHealth.org, the world’s most visited pediatric health care Web site for parents, kids and teens, is a project of Nemours.
Nemours employs over 4,400 individuals, including 430 pediatric physicians, specialists and surgeons who cared for approximately a quarter of a million children in 2007. The organization’s goal is to align with parents, physicians, community leaders, children’s advocates and elected officials to ensure optimal wellness for every child. Additional information about Nemours can be found at www.nemours.org.
