Do you only work with children who have been diagnosed with dyslexia?
We work with any child who needs reading support. A dyslexia diagnosis is not a requirement. The interventions we provide will help any child strengthen their reading, writing, and spelling abilities.
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexic children and adults struggle to read fluently, spell words correctly and learn a second language, among other challenges. But these difficulties have no connection to their overall intelligence. In fact, dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in reading in an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader. While people with dyslexia are slow readers, they often, paradoxically, are very fast and creative thinkers with strong reasoning abilities.
The answer above was borrowed from the book Overcoming Dyslexia, © Sally Shaywitz, an invaluable scientifically valid and clinically accurate resource for parents and educators.
Dyslexia is a neurological disorder and not the result of poor teaching, instruction, or upbringing. Scientific research has shown differences in brain connectivity between dyslexic and typical reading children, providing a neurological basis for why reading fluently is a struggle for those with dyslexia.
Dyslexia can not be “cured” – it is lifelong. However, with the right support, intervention, and structured multisensory instruction, dyslexic individuals can become highly successful students and adults.
How often will you work with my child?
Ideally, students who receive at least 180 minutes of explicit reading support per week will see the most benefit. Therefore, we highly encourage committing to a schedule of 3 sessions per week at 60 minutes per session, or 4 sessions per week at 45 minutes per session.
What is Academic Language Therapy?
Academic Language Therapy (ALT) is the diagnostic and prescriptive application of multisensory, structured language instruction to alleviate or remediate written-language difficulties, including disorders such as dyslexia.
The answer above was partially borrowed from the International Dyslexia Association.
Teaching begins with the basics and rebuilds the learning continuum step-by-step. Academic language therapy starts from ground zero so that no gaps remain in the student’s understanding of language structure. Students learn systematic strategies for decoding (word identification), encoding (spelling), and letter formation.
Students’ successes and challenges during one lesson inform the planning of subsequent lessons. Academic language therapy is cumulative, systematic, structured instruction that is written and planned for a particular student, or small group of students, and is delivered by an educator with comprehensive training. Following the advice of Margaret Rawson, a pioneer in the field of dyslexia education, academic language therapists guide their students to progress “as fast as they can but as slow as they must.”
What does an Academic Language Therapist do?
An Academic Language Therapist (ALT) provides explicit, structured, sequential and multisensory language instruction to build a high degree of accuracy, knowledge, and independence for students with written-language difficulties, including dyslexia.
What does “Academic Language Therapist in training” mean?
An Academic Language Therapist in training is someone who is in the process of becoming a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT). At Defeating Dyslexia, our educators have completed the coursework through the Academic Language Practitioner level and are in the process of completing the practicum hours and additional coursework to become certified ALTs.