ABOUT US

STEVEN M. GRIFFIN, M.A. CCC/SLP

My name is Steve Griffin, author, owner and creator of ReadingResource.net. As far as credentials go, I am a board certified Speech and Language Pathologist receiving my masters degree from The Ohio State University. Currently, I serve as the Literacy Intervention Coach for a large school district located on the east side of Columbus, Ohio. I also serve as an adjunct instructor in the Speech-Language and Hearing Science Department at The Ohio State University.  

I have dedicated my career to helping children learn to read and have worked with and designed research based literacy interventions for at-risk and struggling readers for over 15 years. I believe one of, if not the most important goals of the public schools is to create literate individuals. This is one of the many reasons I have devoted my career to the early identification and remediation of language and literacy deficits in school-aged children. The real reason for my chosen career path however, is the joy I experience in a child's face when they finally overcome their learning struggles and learn to read. It changes their life and it adds to mine. I published an article about one student in particular who changed my life and career path, Read It Here!Over the course of my career, I have presented to and consulted with numerous school districts, speech-language pathologists, educators and parents to help us better achieve the never changing goal to teach our children and teach them well. The creation of ReadingResource.net is simply an extension of my on-going efforts to assist as many people as possible in defeating literacy problems and learning disabilities.Steve is the recipient of the 2009 Ruth Beckey Irwin Best Clinical Practices Award, awarded by The Ohio State University Dept. of Speech and Hearing Science.

katie l. appel

My name is Katie Appel and I currently teach on the east side of Columbus, Ohio. Throughout the past eleven years combined experience functioning as a reading intervention teacher, RTI coordinator, first grade, second grade, and kindergarten teacher, I’ve collaborated with him and other colleagues to help create a positive risk-taking environment for children and parents. My interest in education started when I was in high school and developed further through a variety of experiences during college. I have had extensive opportunities working with preschool, kindergarten, second, and fourth grade students to identify and remediate reading difficulties. My partnership with a literacy collaborative school in Athens, Ohio convinced me to pursue a career in education with a focus on early literacy development in young children. 

In 2004, I received my B.S. in Early Childhood Education while obtaining my Reading Endorsement K-12 at Ohio University and completed my M.A. in Educational Leadership in 2008 from The University of Dayton.  

I am excited to be working closely with Steve on ReadingResource.net and I hope that the challenging obstacles and achievements that take place in my classroom can be shared with other educators and families who have an interest in creating life-long readers!