About Us

Sara is the wife of a dyslexic husband and the mother of three dyslexic children. She is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) and practices with the Medical Anesthesia Group (MAG), where she has worked for 14 years.  

Although Sara was aware of dyslexia and knew that those who had dyslexia had difficulty reading, it wasn’t until her first child was diagnosed with dyslexia that her learning and advocacy journey began. 

Sara saw her first child, who was in kindergarten at the time, struggle not only with reading but also with self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. As a mother, it was startling to Sara to see these effects in a child who was so young—seeing the struggles that her daughter faced motivated and challenged Sara to think about the bigger picture—a picture that played and replayed over and over in her mind. That picture was of a child, like her own, who had lost hope in the present and had no hope for the future. Sara envisioned parents and caregivers who, like her were desperate for answers and who were crying out for help for their child, but they didn’t know anything about dyslexia. Or even if they did, they lacked the resources to support their dyslexic learner. The picture Sara envisioned then became a story that felt very personal to her and one she hoped to rewrite. 

In 2021, Sara met Kelvina at Bodine, where their children had started third grade together. Bodine is the only school in the midsouth dedicated to helping children with dyslexia learn to read. Dyslexia brought them together, and they discovered that they shared a passion for advocating for dyslexic learners. 

In August Sara was appointed to the Board of Trustees for the Bodine School as the 2024-2025 Parent Representative.

Sara & Kelvina's passion is to raise awareness about dyslexia and dyslexia remediation so that every dyslexic learner can be afforded the same chance of achieving a bright future. Dyslexia can be remediated, and this remediation should be available to every single dyslexic learner.  

Kelvina is the wife of a dyslexic husband and the mother of dyslexic learners. She earned her U.S. equivalent of the Juris Doctorate in the United Kingdom, where she attended the College of Law (York) and practiced as a criminal defense lawyer before relocating to the USA. Kelvina earned a Master of Arts in Teaching at Christian Brothers University (Memphis) and taught for Memphis City Schools before leaving to homeschool her eldest child.   

Despite her experience and qualifications, Kelvina knew little about dyslexia. In 2021, a conversation with an acquaintance about the struggles her intellectually gifted (CLUE) and academically advanced (Optional) public schooled second grader was having with reading fluency, comprehension, and spelling led to the suggestion that these struggles might be linked to dyslexia. This marked the start of the family's "dyslexia journey".  

After many IEP meetings it became apparent that their learner would not receive an appropriate education in reading, writing and spelling, while enrolled in their local public school district. Kelvina and her husband were left with no choice but to withdraw their learner from a much-loved elementary public school and make a unilateral parental placement at the Bodine School. Having personally navigated a public school system and the IEP process, Kelvina is very aware of the educational inequities experienced by dyslexic learners, particularly those in traditionally underserved communities. 

Now a project manager, certified in the Agile approach, a SMILA* graduate, and an ALTA** Certified Academic Language Practitioner, Kelvina is a dedicated dyslexia practitioner & advocate. She utilizes the TN dyslexia legislation and Department of Education publications, to advocate for all students with dyslexia, or “characteristics of dyslexia”, in Memphis and Shelby County. Kelvina's goal is to ensure that these students receive an appropriate education through the delivery of dyslexia-specific instruction and intervention, with fidelity, so they too can learn how to read, write, and spell competently. 

Kelvina and Sara are committed to raising awareness about dyslexia and establishing pathways to success for learners with dyslexia in Memphis, Shelby County, and beyond. 

*Simultaneous Multisensory Institute of Language Arts

** Academic Language Therapist Association