This webinar is for member schools only. Learn more about the AMI Recognition Program.

A Return to Self: A New Year and New Commitment

This session will address the importance of personal self-care for guides, staff at all levels, and administrators during the 2025-2026 school year, and beyond.  Being of service and offering intelligent love doesn’t mean that we have to neglect our own physical, emotional, and mental well-being throughout the year.  With Montessori philosophy as her guide, Maati challenges the notion that self-sacrifice is a sign of sound professional practice. She will offer an opportunity for all participants to return to self, explore somatic techniques, and act upon past and renewed commitments that center personal health and wellness. The ultimate goal is that participants will be better prepared to implement the Montessori 

pedagogy that honors and protects humans of all ages. 

About Maati Wafford
Maati Wafford is a spirit-led educator that holds credentials in Montessori Primary, Elementary, and Administrative practices. She is a licensed social worker, equity practitioner, and the former Director of Equity and Engagement for the American Montessori Society(AMS). Currently she serves the Montessori community as an innovative educational entrepreneur, founder, and principal consultant of Radiant Mind Solutions.Her work focuses on integrating models of community care to strengthen schools, elevate teaching and learning, and support the overall well-being and transformation of the adult.Her unique eye integrates social work competencies around mental health and community models of care with inclusive pedagogy and best practice in adult learning and living.

Session 1: The Earlier, the Better: Recognizing Risk and Screening for Dyslexia

As many as 1 in 5 children have dyslexia or a specific learning disability in basic reading. This session provides an overview of dyslexia, including its definition, and covers other specific learning disabilities that affect reading development. It will also cover early signs teachers can look for and introduce common screening tools and practices that support early identification. It will also introduce the Orton-Gillingham approach as a well-respected treatment for dyslexia and offer guidance on how to help parents find intensive support if needed. 

Gina Polly Applegate is a 6-12 AMI-trained guide with over 20 years of experience working in AMI schools as both a lower el guide and upper el guide as well as an administrator. She is a Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist (C-SLDS) through the Center for Effective Reading, an affiliate of the International Dyslexia Association as well as a Fellow-in-Training with The Orton-Gillingham Academy (FIT/OGA). She currently works at Austin Montessori School as the Director of Inclusion and Support and is an elementary consultant for AMI/USA. She became passionate about supporting children with dyslexia in Montessori after her youngest son was diagnosed with dyslexia.

This webinar is for member schools only. Learn more about the AMI Recognition Program.

Session 2: Phonological Awareness and Phonics:

Children with dyslexia often have particular difficulty separating the individual sounds in words. They need consistent and intentional practice with phonological awareness, which is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds in spoken language. Phonics, the skill of connecting those sounds to letters, builds on this foundation. This session will focus on both phonological awareness and phonics, which are essential components of reading development. We will look at how to support extended practice of these skills using the materials and lessons from your albums.

Gina Polly Applegate is a 6-12 AMI-trained guide with over 20 years of experience working in AMI schools as both a lower el guide and upper el guide as well as an administrator. She is a Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist (C-SLDS) through the Center for Effective Reading, an affiliate of the International Dyslexia Association as well as a Fellow-in-Training with The Orton-Gillingham Academy (FIT/OGA). She currently works at Austin Montessori School as the Director of Inclusion and Support and is an elementary consultant for AMI/USA. She became passionate about supporting children with dyslexia in Montessori after her youngest son was diagnosed with dyslexia.

Session 3: Spelling, Writing, Editing

To sound out a word in order to spell it accurately, a child needs to have had practice with phonological awareness and phonics. Additionally, the need to work with PuzzleWords does not end in Children’s House. Elementary children also need much practice with high frequency, non-phonetic words both for reading and spelling. In this session, we will explore ways to support organic and independent spelling practice, guide dyslexic children in sentence expansion and later paragraph expansion, incorporate dictation across the different areas of the classroom, and help students learn to edit their own written work.

Gina Polly Applegate is a 6-12 AMI-trained guide with over 20 years of experience working in AMI schools as both a lower el guide and upper el guide as well as an administrator. She is a Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist (C-SLDS) through the Center for Effective Reading, an affiliate of the International Dyslexia Association as well as a Fellow-in-Training with The Orton-Gillingham Academy (FIT/OGA). She currently works at Austin Montessori School as the Director of Inclusion and Support and is an elementary consultant for AMI/USA. She became passionate about supporting children with dyslexia in Montessori after her youngest son was diagnosed with dyslexia.

Session 4: Morphology and Oral Reading Fluency

With a strong phonics foundation, children can begin to decode longer words. However, multisyllabic words can be more challenging, as it becomes harder to hold all the sounds in memory while making meaning. This session explores the progression toward reading multisyllabic words and how recognizing common prefixes, roots, and suffixes can support vocabulary growth and reading comprehension. It will also address oral reading fluency, including ways to help students build accuracy and expression through repeated reading.

Gina Polly Applegate is a 6-12 AMI-trained guide with over 20 years of experience working in AMI schools as both a lower el guide and upper el guide as well as an administrator. She is a Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist (C-SLDS) through the Center for Effective Reading, an affiliate of the International Dyslexia Association as well as a Fellow-in-Training with The Orton-Gillingham Academy (FIT/OGA). She currently works at Austin Montessori School as the Director of Inclusion and Support and is an elementary consultant for AMI/USA. She became passionate about supporting children with dyslexia in Montessori after her youngest son was diagnosed with dyslexia.