Mouth-To-Mouth: Young Public Speakers with LD/ADHD Breathing Life Into The Public Discourse on LD/ADHD

Research suggests that attitudes concerning LD/ADHD students are most effectively modified, not by academic lectures or professionals, but by individuals sharing their personal LD/ADHD success stories. The Project Eye-To-Eye Speakers Board and Mouth-To-Mouth give lectures and hold workshops for K -12 schools, colleges and universities, businesses, community centers, and parent and family organizations on subjects such as:

• "Breathing Life into the Public Discourse on Disability"
• "What is right with Dis/Ability?"
• "Special Education - How special is it?"
• "Breaking the Silence: What people with disabilities have been waiting to tell you..."
• "A Special Education Revolution: How Self-esteem and Accommodations Empower Individuals with Learning Disabilities"

Project Eye-To-Eye's Speakers Board features Jonathan Mooney, David Flink, LeDerick Horne, Marcus Soutra, and the Project Eye-To-Eye Youth Speakers. All lectures and workshops are tailored to the needs of the client and audience, and are designed to inspire, educate and nurture hope.

Mouth-To-Mouth: Project Eye-To-Eye Speaking Board Project Eye-To-Eye Leadership

Jonathan Mooney,
President and Co-Founder of Project Eye-To-Eye

Jonathan Mooney is a writer and activist who is dyslexic. He did not learn to read until he was 12 years old. Jonathan is a graduate of Brown University and a holds an honors degree in English Literature. He is the winner of the prestigious Truman Scholarship to pursue graduate studies in creative writing and education and was a national finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship.

With the publication of Learning Outside the Lines when he was 23, now in its eighth printing, a book that is part memoir and part alternative study skills, Jonathan has established himself as one of the foremost leaders in LD/ADHD, disabilities, and alternative education. In the summer of 2007, Jonathan's second book, The Short Bus Story, was published by Henry Holt. For this project, Jonathan drove around the United States for four months exploring the social construct of normalcy in American culture. A work of creative non-fiction, this book is part travelogue and part profiles of sixteen exceptional individuals who have been labeled "abnormal".

Jonathan has lectured at Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Brown University, the University of Wisconsin School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, New York University Medical School's Grand Rounds, Beaumont Pediatric Hospital's Grand Rounds and hundreds of universities, schools, and communities around the world. But to this date, one of his favorite gigs was at an elementary school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the kids gave him hope. Jonathan has been featured and quoted in The New York Times, The Providence Journal, The Boston Globe, USA Today, New York Magazine and numerous other local and regional papers in the cities, states, and countries where Jonathan has traveled. One of his most memorable experiences, however, was being interviewed for the Brazilian cable company El Globo, where his voice was dubbed into Portuguese. The company reported that they haven't received that much mail since their feature on David Hasselhoff.

In each of his 90-minute keynote presentations, he illustrates his ideas with his personal and professional experiences as a dyslexic and ADD student, and as founder and president of Project Eye-To-Eye. Jonathan weaves his experiences and forward-thinking philosophies with his broad academic knowledge of education, psychology, sociology and history of learning and disability.

David Flink
Executive Director and Co-Founder of Project Eye-To-Eye

As a person labeled with dyslexia and ADHD, David Flink walks the audience through his journey of educational and personal change, empowering people to think differently about individuals with LD/ADHD and the concept of learning itself. As someone who has devoted his career to empowering individuals who learn differently, Flink centralizes his lecture around a message of empowerment, academic success and educational revolution for people who think differently. Central to his talk is the philosophy of asset-based community development. Rather than pathologizing a community and conceptualizing disability support work as part of a continuum of services, Mr. Flink will speak about first identifying what is right with the LD/ADHD community and mapping assets, not needs, to be leveraged towards change. His lecture also focuses on practical, accessible, and hands-on tips for academic success providing alternatives to the method of teaching and learning, which assume that everyone learns the same way.

Like many who are eventually diagnosed with dyslexia, David Flink's first exposure to the treatment of this learning difference was on the cold linoleum floor outside his 5th grade classroom. He existed for a year in this reading group of one where his teachers, although often well intentioned, did not teach David fundamental reading skills but instead, shame. Though struggling through much of his pre-college education, David eventually found success in school and once attending Brown University decided he needed to transcend his past experiences and attempt to empower others who might be encountering similar difficulty in school. Hence, he co-founded Project Eye-To-Eye.

In addition to his work in Project Eye-To-Eye, David graduated from Brown University with Honors with a degrees in Education and Psychology and holds a masters degree in Disability Studies from Columbia University Teachers College. The Orton Gillingham Society has recognized his Honors Thesis on the Treatment of Dyslexia through Multisensory Learning. David has lectured at Brown University, Dartmouth College, Vassar College, Columbia University, Reed College, and at numerous conferences for organizations including the International Dyslexia Association. David has served as an Admissions Officer for Brown University, where he evaluated over 4,000 applications, and was the Disability Admissions Liaison at Brown University, reviewing all applications of those who applied to Brown with disabilities.

LeDerick Horne
Co-Board Chair of Project Eye-To-Eye and Director of Horne and Associates

LeDerick Horne spent most of his time in school believing he did not have much of a future. A severe learning disability (LD) combined with low self-esteem led him to doubt he would be able to go to college or pursue a meaningful career. But, in the challenging academic environment at Middlesex County College, and with the support offered for his disability through Project Connections, a Learning Disabilities Resource Program at the College, LeDerick became an outstanding student, compiling a 3.75 grade point average. He transferred to New Jersey City University and graduated with honors from NJCU in 2003.

Since graduation LeDerick has become the head of his own real estate investment company called Horne & Associates, LLC. He was appointed the Board Chair of Project Eye-To-Eye, a national nonprofit that provides mentoring programs for students labeled LD/ADHD. He is also recognized across the country as an advocate for people with disabilities. LeDerick has facilitated workshops, delivered keynote presentations, and spoken to thousands of students, teachers, and service providers about his experiences.

Marcus Soutra
National Program Director for Project Eye-To-Eye

Marcus Soutra was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD at a young age and spent most of his childhood feeling stupid, misunderstood, and ashamed of his learning disability. Over time Marcus grew to understand that his learning disability was in fact not going to determine his fate and after finding success in school chose to devote his life to paving the path for all students to find success in their education.

Marcus holds a degree in Social Science and Secondary Education from Keene State College and has worked extensively in both middle and high school level classrooms. He is also the founder of the first ever Project Eye-To-Eye chapter at Keene State College and is the creator of Keene State Disabilities Advocates (KSDA), a group that works to motivate and educate people on disability issues in the state of New Hampshire.

As National Program Director of Project Eye-To-Eye, Marcus is responsible for managing and cultivating Project Eye-To-Eye chapters nationwide. In addition, he is the co-founder of Project Eye-To-Eye's Camp Vision, the newest addition to the Project Eye-To-Eye programs, Marcus has given lectures at Reed College, Dartmouth College, Hobart and William Smith College, Radford University, Brown University and was the keynote speaker at the New Jersey City University Conference on Transition. All of Marcus' work is done with the goal of ensuring that other students who are labeled with learning disabilities are able to celebrate their differences, and through that celebration, are given the abilities to find their own success.

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