Special Compass creator and founder Shakira Rouse sits down with different professionals and learns how their work helps students with learning disabilities achieve success in and outside the classroom. This episode Shakira sits down and talks with Camesha Cox and her work with creating The Reading Partnership.

Shakira Rose

Shakira Rouse is the creator and founder of Special Compass, keynote speaker, facilitator and yoga instructor. She has an incredible passion at connecting people to understand that learning disabilities shouldn't deter one from accomplishing their goals. Merging her personal experience and education, Shakira Rouse created Special Compass in 2015. Special Compass is an organization dedicated at helping students with learning disabilities achieve success in and outside the classroom. Her work has led to speaking engagements, interviews at various events in North America. Such as the Ontario National Alliance of Black Students Educators annual conference, the Learning Disability Association of Canada Speak Up 4 Ability conference and presenting at the National Alliance of Black Student Educators 2019 annual conference in Dallas, Texas. In 2016 she received the Black Role model award for her work and recently, has been nominated for the 2021 Women of Influence Award.

Guest Camesha Cox

Camesha Cox is an Ontario-certified teacher with a Master’s degree from the University of Toronto. She’s been a resident of the KGO community for over 25 years, and she’s deeply connected to both its vibrant diversity and its educational challenges. In 2010, she successfully ran a school-wide literacy intervention program for high school students in London, UK who were still reading at a primary level. This experience taught her that educational programs are much more effective when they reach beyond the classroom and are integrated into all facets of a student’s life, supported through the efforts of parents and caregivers at home. When she returned to Canada, she knew that her own community could benefit from a similar approach. Having spent years working in youth employment programs in the KGO, she had witnessed firsthand the devastating long-term effects of low literacy rates amongst her peers, and she knew that EQAO test scores were chronically low. Camesha founded the TRP to address these challenges and make learning exciting for both kids and their families.