Nikolai vitti biography for kids youtube

Nikolai Vitti, the school superintendent, is used to facing pressure. But Nikolai Vitti, the child struggling with reading? Among the worst moments of elementary school came when his teachers would pick a child, one by one, to read a passage from a book. They would laugh because Vitti, now the Harvard-educated superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, has dyslexia — a condition he didn't know he had until much later, when he was in college.

It caused him to struggle with basic reading, math and writing — and made certain words difficult to read or pronounce. It's an experience Vitti, 40, is becoming more and more comfortable sharing — because he wants to ensure that children with similar struggles get the help they need to be successful. And he wants to make sure teachers have the training and resources to meet the needs of kids who struggle.

But it's even more personal for Vitti and his wife, Rachel Vitti, who themselves have had to fight to ensure their own children — two of whom also have dyslexia — receive the right special education services. The two are featured speakers for an Aug. He will talk about what he has done in other districts, including the Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Fla.

The two envision creating a similar program in Detroit. Meanwhile, Rachel Vitti will speak from the perspective of a parent who has spent years advocating for her children on a wider spectrum. Schools overall spend too much time focused on compliance with special education rules, and not enough on innovation, Nikolai Vitti said. In Detroit, "we have a lot of work to do," he said of the programs in the district.

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Rachel Vitti — who, like her husband, is a former teacher — began her advocacy as she watched her oldest son, Lorenzo, struggle in school. It was particularly profound, she said, during his third-grade year. About one in five children in the nation has learning and attention issues, including dyslexia, according to Understood , a partnership of 15 nonprofit organizations that provides resources for parents and teachers.