The goal of reading instruction in the Wardlaw School is to guide students with dyslexia to build an efficient reading brain by creating new neural pathways. How is that accomplished?
- By a careful analysis of each student’s reading and language profile based on current diagnostic measures
- By forming small instructional groupings of students with a similar pattern of strengths and weaknesses
- By designing instructional plans tailored to these individual needs
- By implementing these programs in an explicit, structured, incremental, sequential and multi-sensory manner
Following our Research to Practice model we use evidence-based programs including Wilson, Orton-Gillingham, SPIRE, LiPs . These programs share 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. Students actively engage as they construct these foundational language/reading concepts.
All students receive instruction in phonemic awareness, decoding/encoding (phonics/spelling), vocabulary, comprehension and fluency, the five components identified by the National Reading Panel as critical to reading success.
In this instructional environment, children acquire the tools to unlock the words on a page, to master challenging language concepts, to find pleasure in reading and to use reading as the gateway to learning.