Dyslexia Therapy

I provide Dyslexia Therapy and utilize a program called Take Flight. I have received formal training in this program and only Academic Language Therapists who have been trained and supervised can provide this therapy program.

Take Flight is designed specifically for individuals who have a language-based learning difference (Dyslexia), the 10 – 15% of the population who may be unable to remember two-dimensional symbols, letters, or words easily. These individuals require intervention that utilizes special methods and materials.

Take Flight is a comprehensive, ungraded, structured, and sequential curriculum that utilizes multisensory techniques for basic instruction in reading, writing, and spelling. Task analysis was used to organize and sequence the following:

Phonic regularities for reading
Rules for syllable division
Spelling
Other basic linguistic concepts

Take Flight is based on the pioneering research of Dr. Samuel T. Orton, a neuropsychiatrist, and the educational and psychological insights of Anna Gillingham. The Orton-Gillingham techniques for teaching children lacking a talent for language became the basis of a pilot from 1965 – 1975 at the Language Laboratory at Scottish Rite for Children in Dallas, Texas. An interdisciplinary team worked to incorporate multisensory techniques, current findings in learning theories, and discovery teaching into the Take Flight curriculum.

WHAT MAKES TAKE FLIGHT AN EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION?


Take Flight addresses the five components of effective reading instruction identified by the National Reading Panel’s research and is a comprehensive Tier III intervention for students with dyslexia.

WHAT ARE THE 5 COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE READING INSTRUCTION?
Phonemic Awareness – Follows established procedures for explicitly teaching the relationships between speech-sound production and spelling-sound patterns.
Phonics – Provides a systematic approach to single word decoding. Students learn 96 grapheme-phoneme correspondences.
Fluency – Uses research-proven directed practice in the repeated reading of words, phrases, and passages to help students read a newly encountered text more fluently.
Vocabulary – Features multiple word learning strategies (definitional, structural, contextual) and explicit teaching techniques with application in the text. Students learn 87 affixes with an emphasis on English morphology. Students learn Latin roots and Greek combining forms.
Reading Comprehension – Students are explicitly taught how to apply and articulate multiple comprehension strategies for narrative and expository text through cooperative learning, story structure, question generation, and answering, summarization, and comprehension monitoring.

WHAT DOES A DAILY TAKE FLIGHT LESSON LOOK LIKE?
Alphabet

Identification of the letters of the alphabet is an important early literacy skill because it is the foundation for developing reading, writing and spelling skills Alphabet study and practice lead to dictionary and thesaurus skill development.

Multisensory Introduction

Letters, letter clusters and concepts are introduced for reading, writing, and spelling through six multisensory linkages.

Phonemic Awareness

Explicit procedures are established to teach the relationship between speech sound production and spelling sound patterns.

Reading Practice

Application of coding strategies are used to develop accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Students learn the most reliable patterns used to decode words. Lessons begin with the most common, high utility letters and move to more complex combinations that aid in the development of accuracy and comprehension.

Reading Decks

Reinforcement to identify and instantly name each grapheme and translate it into a speech sound.

RAP

Students engage in repeated accurate practice of letter names and sounds and uses in words.

Connected Text and Listening

High interest text is read by students and teacher to increase listening and comprehension skills.

Automaticity and Fluency

Fluency practice begins with students reading at the most basic word level, then moves to phrases and sentences, and continues to more complex structures. Rate and prosody are developed by having students follow a repeated reading schedule that introduces word patterns in isolation, phrases and several paragraphs (stories).

Instant Words

Students practice reading the most frequently used words in the English language based on the research of Edward Fry.

Comprehension

The ultimate goal of reading is comprehension. Narrative and expository text are used to teach critical skills such as grammar, vocabulary, story structure, reasoning, critical thinking, inferencing, summarizing, listening and comprehension monitoring.

Spelling Practice of Words, Phrases and Sentences

Students practice application of sound symbol relationships learned through phonemic awareness activities and the instant spelling deck practice.

Instant Spelling Deck

Reinforces the translation of each speech sound instantly into the letter that most often represents that sound.

Handwriting Practice

Cursive handwriting is the cornerstone for reinforcing a multisensory approach to learning to read, write, and spell. Emphasis is placed on learning approach strokes, proportion (size), directionality, and proper grip.

Verbal and Written Expression

Students are engaged in lessons that begin with the development of receptive and expressive oral language skills and progress to written expression.

The History of Language (Etymology)

Understanding the origin of the English language and how it influences reading and spelling rules provide a framework for understanding the layers of the English language. Students learn high utility affixes, Latin roots, and Greek combining forms.

Review

The lesson culminates with an activity reviewing the day’s new learning and previously taught concepts.