Barbara Wilson
Barbara A. Wilson is the co-founder of Wilson Language Training and a current member of our board of directors. For more than 35 years, she has worked to improve the lives of individuals with dyslexia and to bring structured reading to educators and students across the country.
The inspiration for Wilson began more than three decades ago. After spending several years working as a special educator in public schools in Massachusetts, Barbara completed training in the Orton-Gillingham (O-G) approach to literacy instruction at Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) Language Disorders Unit. She remained at MGH for five years as an O-G fellow, working with adults with dyslexia.
In 1985, informed in part by her experience at MGH, Barbara and her husband Ed founded the Wilson Learning Center. In 1988, she authored Wilson Reading System®. She later went on to author two other multisensory Structured Literacy programs: Fundations for K-3 students and Just Words for students grades 4-12 and adults.
Barbara has gone to lead presentations, keynotes, and workshops at more than 300 conferences worldwide. She has developed and overseen graduate courses and clinical practicums which lead to Wilson Dyslexia Practitioner and Therapist certifications, which are accredited IDA Tier 3 training programs. She was invited to the White House to speak to the President’s Domestic Policy Adviser on Education regarding the issue of literacy in America’s middle and high schools and, in 2015, she testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Science, Space and Technology in support of H.R. 3033, the Research Excellence and Advancements for Dyslexia (READ) Act, which was later signed into law. Barbara has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from two Massachusetts institutions: Becker College and Fitchburg State University.
As a Wilson Board member, Barbara continues to have a hand in developing Wilson products that positively impact young readers.
