Portrait of Margaret Taylor Smith

Margaret Taylor Smith graduated from Forney High School in 1949 as class valedictorian after a successful high school career that included basketball, tennis, newspaper staff, newspaper editor, pep squad and junior class favorite. She continued her education at Baylor University where she received her Bachelor’s Degree, Cum Laude, in 1952. It was in that same year that Mrs. Smith returned to Forney ISD to begin her teaching career. She later earned her Master’s Degree at Texas A&M University in Commerce, Texas.

In 1976, Mrs. Smith was invited to join the staff of the Dean Learning Center in Dallas, Texas as the Associate Director of Teacher Training. She remained in that position with the Dean Learning Center until 1982 when she joined with her associate, Edith Hogan, to form EDMAR Educational Associates, Inc.

Margaret Smith began writing her first curriculum, Multisensory Teaching Approach (MTA) for reading and spelling in 1976. The MTA program is currently used in Forney ISD, across the United States, in Canada, Australia and in numerous other countries across the world.

In addition, Mrs. Smith has also developed a reading program designed to prevent reading failure. The program, titled Multisensory Teaching System (MTS) is designed for kindergarten through third grade students in regular classrooms. Similar to the MTA program, MTS is used by numerous public schools across the world and has been designated by the United Kingdom Department of Education as suitable for literacy programs in England and Wales.

She is a founding member of the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council, a founding member of the Academic Language Therapy Association and a founding member and first president of the Academic Language Therapy Association Centers Council.

Margaret Taylor Smith was inducted into the Forney High School Hall of Honor in 1998 and received the Distinguished Alumna Award. She received the Outstanding Educator award from the Dallas Branch of the International Dyslexia and the Aylett Royall Cox Outstanding Educator Award from the Academic Language Therapy Association.

Mrs. Smith has been a leader in the field of education with expertise in the areas of dyslexia, reading and teacher training, training more than 1,000 teachers in dyslexia remediation techniques.

Source:
http://smith.forneyisd.schoolfusion.us/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=209168