My Child Has Been Diagnosed with Dyslexia...Now What?
This can be both a difficult and freeing experience. Now, you know the reason that your child is struggling, but you feel lost and alone and aren't sure what to do next.
There is a two-base approach for helping your child close academic gaps. These two bases come together to support your child's success in the classroom.
The first base is getting appropriate accommodations and/or modifications put into place within the school. If you need help getting appropriate accommodations we are happy to help! Click here to learn more about how we work with families.
The second base is getting your child intervention with evidenced-based reading support.
What does evidenced-based reading support look like?
Evidenced-based reading refers to approaches that have been supported by independent research studies (this means not studied by the company that created the program). The most well-known approach to reading intervention for dyslexic students is called Orton-Gillingham (OG).
There are several programs that follow an OG approach but it is important to make sure that the program your child will be using is truly hitting all components of OG instruction.
It is also important to note that different "OG Programs" are better suited for different age groups or learning profiles. Orton-Gillingham can begin at a pre-K level but of course, the instructional techniques and scope of the program would be quite different. The most important aspects of good OG intervention are:
1. It’s systematic and sequential – It builds on itself from the basic concepts to more complex concepts and follows a logical order frequently revisiting previously taught concepts.
1. It’s explicit – Every concept, sound pattern, and strategy is taught directly through specific procedures and it is not assumed that a child knows or will pick up on these concepts on their own.
1. It’s diagnostic – Every child learns things at a different pace and needs more or less practice than another child to master specific concepts. This instruction meets each child in his or her own place by working with the strengths of the child to overcome the weaknesses. This requires a great deal of data collection in every session.
One of the best things you can do to support your student is to educate yourself on what effective reading therapy looks like. For more information, join us for our FREE online workshop, 7 Steps to Reading Intervention that Works! >>Click Here<< to learn more!