October is Dyslexia Month! Our team of Educational Specialists are celebrating by sharing their expertise.

Marie Arrington MAT is an educational diagnostician at Child and Family Development- Pineville.  She shares:

So far, we have discussed the importance of determining if your child has dyslexia as well as the accommodations your child will benefit from based on their diagnosis. Now that you have the diagnosis and accommodations in place, it is essential to intervene with a program or curriculum that is specifically targeted towards addressing the delays that children with dyslexia commonly exhibit.

This involves finding a tutor who specializes in working with children with dyslexia. Our educators have training in the Orton-Gillingham (OG) instructional approach. Tutors trained in this approach have the expertise to target the specific areas of weakness that is causing your child to struggle with reading and writing. OG is a multisensory approach that teaches children the foundational skills of reading. It was initially developed to only support children with language-based learning disorders, such as dyslexia. However, over the years, early education teachers have adopted this approach for any student because it encompasses research-based, effective strategies.  Multisensory learning occurs when learning taps into sight (visual), sound (auditory) and touch (kinesthetic). This approach is critical because people process information differently; therefore, information needs to be presented in a variety of ways.

The Orton-Gillingham approach has been used for decades, with much research supporting its efficacy as one of the best ways to teach children how to read. Orton-Gillingham is based on improving phonemic awareness and phonological skills so your child can become a fluent reader. The research gathered by the National Reading Panel in 2000 indicates there are five essential components that must be incorporated in reading instruction.

Read more about Marie here.

Read more about Orton-Gillingham services here. 

Read more about our educational services here.

Read more about dyslexia on the National Institute of Learning Development website here.