Help for Resistant Readers

The East Hampton Library is sponsoring free reading tests on Saturday, Dec. 3, for children in kindergarten through third grade who have difficulties reading.

Aimed at giving parents the tools to help their children improve their skills, the program will also include a presentation on library resources and adaptive technology for kids who are reluctant readers, book giveaways and refreshments, and information for teachers who are interested in receiving training to help such students.

It will begin at 10 a.m. with individual 15-minute sessions with a specialist who will identify children’s weaknesses with reading. Refreshments will be provided from 11:30 a.m. to noon, followed by an informational session covering dyslexia and other reading-related difficulties, with a question-and-answer period.

A separate session aimed at teachers and school psychologists, from 12:30 to 1 p.m., will introduce the Orton-Gillingham method and teaching reading using “multi-sensory approaches,” a term that refers to using a variety of strategies in the classroom to help children learn in alternative ways.

The presenter will be Evelyn Gross Whitebay, a teacher in Ulster County and an expert on dyslexia, who has partnered with the group Dyslexia on Long Island. Registration is required and can be accomplished by calling the East Hampton Library at 631-324-0222, extension 2.