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Dyslexic children CAN learn to read, and DO learn to read when the style of teaching matches the way they learn!
The approaches used here vary according to the needs of the child. Some of the approaches which we have received training in and we draw from or use are:
Slingerland
Orton Gillingham
Lindamood Bell
Wilson Reading System
Success for All
Each of the above approaches has things about it that would make it appropriate for different children and different settings. What we use with an individual child depends upon what will work best with that particular child.
Sappho is fascinated by recent research (an example) and strives to incorporate the findings into our teaching methods. Some of the recent medical advances have allowed us to see how brains function while they are undertaking reading tasks.
This brain slide, taken from the NICHD website, shows some of the d ifferences in the brain of a “normal reader” (top) and the brain of a child with “reading difficulties” (bottom).
NICHD researchers speak regularly at the IDA conference, if you are interested in hearing about their work.
For more information about reading, you might find this pamphlet interesting: Teaching Reading IS Rocket Science, a Report from the American Federation of Teachers by Louisa C. Moats (one of the NICHD researchers), which you can download for free.
If you take a look at Sappho’s resume, you’ll get an idea of the richness of knowledge and experience you or your child will benefit from.
Our students are taught in one-to-one tutoring sessions designed to give them skills they need to become independent readers, writers and spellers (though with some severely challenged students, they become much better spellers, but spelling remains a life-long challenge). Drawing on her extensive knowledge and experience, Sappho carefully crafts a sequential, multisensory program for each child she works with, taking into account their strengths and weaknesses and structured so that they experience success.
Given the volume of knowledge and experience Sappho brings to designing a program that would work for you or your child (see resume), and how very very different the learning needs of each individual are, it would be very difficult to even begin to describe an appropriate program on a web page. If you live in the Walnut Creek area, and are considering bringing your child here to get help, we encourage you to contact us about your own unique child.
It has been our experience that a minimum of two sessions a week is necessary for students, parents and teachers to be able to see progress. We will not take students unless they can commit to a minimum of two sessions per week because we do not want to set them up for yet another failure experience.
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