Missouri Chapter
In service to our community, we build awareness in the field of dyslexia by providing professional development and community outreach through our expertise and leadership.
Chapter Events
We are dedicated to providing continuing education opportunities that promote the professional growth of our members. Events are worth continuing education hours (CE) to use towards ALTA membership requirements.
Find a Missouri Professional
Our members are made up of individuals with the CALP, CALT, ICALP, or CALT-QI distinction. Find an ALTA-certified professional in your area that represents the highest quality services to those individuals with dyslexia.
Chapter Resources
- The “Reading Success” bills (SB681 and HB1556), sponsored by Senator O’Laughlin and Representative Gregory, update the current-state statutes to include appropriate, scientific evidence-based practices that help students with dyslexia and other reading deficiencies learn to read. It would require schools to use structured literacy and the science of reading for students who are screened positive for dyslexia in public school screenings or who have a diagnosis of dyslexia. You can read the full text for these bills by clicking on the blue links above.
- For more information, visit the Decoding Dyslexia Missouri website HERE.
Leadership
ALTA-Missouri is made up of therapists and practitioners dedicated to providing rigorous evidence-based multisensory structured language education (MSLE) therapy to individuals with dyslexia. Meet the leadership team.
Noel Leif, CALT/ICALP
President
Noel is a passionate educator focused on the educational development of children with dyslexia and learning differences using multi-sensory teaching methods. In 2015, with the help of CoxHealth, she founded the Springfield Center for Dyslexia and Learning, and in 2016, she began serving as part of Missouri’s Legislative Task Force on Dyslexia. The task force makes recommendations to the governor, Joint Committee on Education, and relevant state agencies regarding dyslexia. The task force also makes recommendations for a statewide system for identification, intervention, and delivery of supports for students with dyslexia. Noel has been a Dyslexia tutor specialist for nine years. She is a Certified Academic Language Therapist, and an Accredited Instructor in Teaching Take Flight, a multi-sensory teaching system for dyslexic students. She has completed training in Orton-Gillingham and the Wilson Reading System.
Marla McKan, M. Ed., CALT-QI
Treasurer
Marla began her education career in 2000, teaching early childhood education. Throughout the next 19 years, she taught Kindergarten, First, Second, and Title 1 Reading. She began her dyslexia journey in 2013 with McKinney Christian Academy in McKinney TX learning Take Flight. Currently, at the Springfield Center for Dyslexia and Learning, she is the psychometrician and Instructor of Training. Marla is a CALT and QI for SCDL.
Jennifer Ross, CALT
Secretary
Jennifer is a CALT for the Springfield Center of Dyslexia and Learning. She holds a BSE in Physical Education/Health from Missouri Southern State University and has been in the teaching/coaching realm for 18 years. When she isn’t teaching, she participates in Garage Gym Athlete workouts, runs obstacle races with her family, participates in organized bike rides, and enjoys time with her husband and two dogs.