Preparing bright children with dyslexia for the traditional classroom and beyond
One of the nation’s leading schools for children with dyslexia, the Wardlaw School builds the complex language, literacy and social skills children need to master deep reading and, ultimately, decide their own future and make the most difference in the lives of others.
While Wardlaw focuses on children with language-based learning differences, research confirms that ALL children can learn to read with structured literacy. As a result, the Atlanta Speech School’s Rollins Center for Language & Literacy and ITS online Cox Campus democratize the sciences of language and literacy so that every educator has access to the structured literacy practices we successfully use in the Wardlaw School.
The Wardlaw School is among 27 schools in the country for children with dyslexia recommended by preeminent researcher Dr. Sally Shaywitz in her book Overcoming Dyslexia.
THE WARDLAW DIFFERENCE
“Now they are fearless! All the academic success they are having comes from a belief that they can achieve and be leaders in their classes. We will forever be grateful for this amazing gift they could not have received anywhere else!”
Wardlaw Prepares Students for Life Beyond SchooL
The Wardlaw School is designed to be relatively short-term, typically allowing students to move to mainstream educational settings after 3 years. Our students leave us academically prepared and ready to embrace challenging experiences in school and in life.
Open the Door to Your Child’s Future
Wardlaw develops independent, confident learners and deep readers who are prepared for the rigors of a mainstream environment, fully equipped to meet academic demands as they advance through school and beyond. Our Wardlaw professionals create an educational ecosystem designed to help each child reach their full potential in school and in life.
Language-Based Curriculum
Informed by the latest research, the Wardlaw School provides a full-day learning experience rooted deeply in language and literacy. Masters level professionals use multi-sensory approaches, data-driven instruction and a unique Integrated Intervention Model© to provide a comprehensive program that fully addresses each child’s learning needs. Following our Research to Practice model we use evidence-based programs including Wilson, Orton-Gillingham, SPIRE, LiPs. These programs all apply the principles of structured literacy (structured, systematic, explicit, cumulative, intensive, diagnostic). Teachers skillfully implement these specialized techniques using the program that best meets the needs of each student.
Team Of Experts
Even children who share similar diagnoses have distinct learning profiles. Rather than forcing children to fit a single curriculum, we design the program around each child. After years of research, we developed our Integrated Intervention Model with a team of multi-disciplinary professionals who ensure that every child excels in future academic and professional settings.
Students Ready to Excel
Most Wardlaw students leave the school within three years, ready for the rigors of accelerated academic environments as confident, capable learners. By focusing on depth of understanding, critical thinking, executive functioning and other higher-order language abilities, rather than simply overcoming the barriers to decoding language, Wardlaw equips its graduates with the cognitive development necessary to reach their full potential.
Atlanta Speech School programs all have access to individual remediation specialists, speech-language pathologists, reading specialists, occupational therapists and learning specialists and school psychologists. Programs are not designed for children on the autism spectrum, those who have social-pragmatic language disorders, or significant attention/behavioral regulation weaknesses that may prevent the child from accessing the curriculum.
Invest in Wardlaw Students
Every day, the faculty and staff of the Wardlaw School empower our children to take new steps toward mastering language and literacy for a lifetime. We invite you to join us in our mission as we bring the power and joy of reading to each child in our care and every child in Georgia.