Audie Alumbaugh, Founder

Audie Alumbaugh began her service in education as a math teacher, but then received her master’s degree in special education and has been an unpaid advocate for Arkansas children for over 10 years. Her passion for supporting children and families with dyslexia began while she was teaching mathematics and recognized that middle school and high school students were unable to perform when “word problems” were presented to them.

It did not take long after that for her to realize there was a reading crisis in Arkansas. 

Audie has advocated for thousands of children and attended thousands of 504 and IEP meetings around the state as well as several outside of Arkansas. Her advocacy has taken her as far as Alaska where she worked with the Decoding Dyslexia Alaska team and the state legislature in effort to deliver literacy change to Alaska.  

In 2015 Audie founded the Arkansas Dyslexia Support Group and funded its activities herself. Audie works tirelessly with the Arkansas legislature. Through her work several laws have been enacted strengthening public schools’ responsibility in identifying children with dyslexia and providing proper science-based intervention. Audie has assisted advocates in other states and worked to strengthen their laws as well. 

Dee Dee Cain, MSE

Dee Dee Cain has 33 years of experience in special education. She began her career as a speech therapist before focusing on special education.  Dee Dee is certified in both special education k-12 and Elementary Education k-6.  As a Senior Clinical Instructor at the University of Central Arkansas, Dee Dee has provided valuable professional development and mentored many new teachers. Helping others navigate the special education process is her passion.

Dee Dee’s work has been recognized by several awards including:  She has the Mayflower Elementary Teacher of the Year, Arkansas Council for Exceptional Children Awards, UCA College of Education Teacher of the Year and the UCA College of Education Service Award. She has served as President, Vice President and Past President of the Arkansas Federation of the Council for Exceptional Children for two terms as well as held the office of Student Council for Exceptional Children, Scholarship Chair and Awards Chair. She has served on the board for Compass Learning Academy since its inception.

Stephanie Covington

Stephanie Covington attended Conway High School and began taking an interest in her family’s roofing, construction, and real estate businesses in by fulfilling office duties as well as landscaping the company properties.  After attending the University of Central Arkansas she managed the Old Gin Special Event Center, for 5 years,  gaining recognition for best event center in Faulkner County.  She then helped establish Covington Classic Cars to showcase and sell antique automobiles offering a unique selection of the finest new and restored vehicles in Arkansas. She was elected to the Board of Directors for the Conway Downtown Partnership in 2014, where she served for 8 years.  In 2015, Stephanie earned her real estate license and formed Covington Real Estate Group to manage properties and third-party sales.   Stephanie serves as Principle Real Estate Broker for the company specializing in commercial investment sales.  She is also an active partner in the 12 businesses that make up Covington Companies.  Stephanie and her wife Ashley have a son, Christian who is 9 years old, who was diagnosed with Dyslexia in 2021 and is currently working his way through the NOW program.

Sarah Jane Overman

Sarah Jane Overman is a native of Conway, Arkansas. She attended Conway Public schools and graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. After working in marketing and public relations, she decided to be a full-time mom and volunteer when her children were born. She and her husband Tyson have two sons.  Her younger son was diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade. After his diagnosis she took an active role in navigating both public and private school systems to ensure he was receiving the best educational resources available.