Dyslexia Therapy

I provide Reading Intervention and Dyslexia Therapy services. I utilize the Take Flight Curriculum for Dyslexia therapy services. Take Flight is an Orton-Gillingham based Tier III intervention, written by the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, a pioneer in dyslexia research. It is a structured, multi-sensory, systematic and cumulative intervention, and addresses the five components of effective reading instruction identified by the National Reading Panel's research: Instruction in Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension. Take Flight can only be administered by a trained Dyslexia therapist. Take Flight is intended for children ages 7 and older. For children younger than age 7 I teach BUILD: A K-1 Early Reading Intervention which was also created at the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

How is structured literacy taught?

Structured literacy is explicit, systematic teaching that focuses on phonological awareness, phonics and decoding, spelling, vocabulary development, comprehension skills, and written expression. Take Flight = Structured Literacy.

Simultaneous and Multimodal – In order to enhance learning and memory, all learning pathways in the brain (visual – auditory – kinesthetic – tactile) are engaged simultaneously.
Systematic and Cumulative – Organization of the material follows the logical order of the English language. Instruction begins with the most simple elements and progresses to the most difficult concepts. Each lesson is built on the previous concept learned and content is regularly reviewed to enhance retention.
Direct and Explicit Instruction – Language instruction includes the direct teaching of all concepts. The academic therapist does not assume students have mastered previous language skills.
Diagnostic Teaching– The instructional plan for every student is based on continuous assessment of individual needs with the goal of students reaching a degree of automaticity.
Synthetic and Analytic Instruction – Synthetic instruction presents the parts of the language and how they work together to form a whole. Analytic instruction presents the whole of language and demonstrates how it can be broken down into parts.

Who can implement Take Flight?

Take Flight is designed for use by a Certified Academic Language Therapist for individuals with dyslexia ages 7 and older. For individuals younger than 7 years of age, BUILD: A K-1 Early Reading Intervention can be used.

What is a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT)?

Certified Academic Language Therapists (CALTs) are not tutors. They are specially trained to work with students with dyslexia and related language-based learning differences. They have completed extensive training in a structured language education program at a training center or university that offers courses accredited by the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC). Course content reflects the International Dyslexia Association’s (IDA) Knowledge of Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading and the Academic Language Therapy Association’s eight standards of knowledge and skills in Multisensory (Mulitmodal) Structured Language Education. Teachers of Take Flight must have 700 hours of supervised practicum teaching the curriculum and 200 hours of coursework.