FAQ
DyslexiaDyslexia is not a disability; it is an umbrella term meaning difficulty with language which may affect listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, comprehension, and may sometimes extend into math, despite average intelligence.
Our dyslexia specialists can recognize underlying, hidden, or undiagnosed causes of dyslexia that may be the result of conditions such as auditory processing disorder, visual processing disorder, weak attention controls (as seen with ADHD) and many other coexisting conditions. After identifying the student’s unique condition, we can cater learning programs to it.
This approach to teaching was created by Samuel T. Orton and Anna Gillingham who combined their ideas together to create what is considered to be the most effective way to teach kids with dyslexia how to read and write. It focuses on teaching kids how to read and spell at the word level engaging multiple senses, namely sight, sound and touch. It also emphasizes the hows and whys behind reading to show them consistent rules and patterns for how words sound and are spelled.
For instance, we can teach a student the letter “F” by having them see the letter, say its name and sounding it out while writing it with their fingers in shaving cream or finger paints. Students will also explore things like why the “S” in space sounds different than it does in plays.
We are experts in this approach to teaching and have found what parts of the approach work well, and what parts could be improved upon. That is why we offer a modified version of the Orton-Gillingham approach which has been extremely successful at teaching kids how to read and write.
There are six main types of dyslexia in all. Each one presents different challenges in children who are learning to read and write:
- Phonological Dyslexia: Trouble with how words sound
- Surface Dyslexia: Trouble seeing and processing whole words
- Visual Dyslexia: Trouble with visual processing of words and not seeing parts of words.
- Primary Dyslexia: Genetically inherited dyslexia which impacts processing sounds, letters and numbers.
- Secondary/Developmental Dyslexia: Caused by brain development issues due to infections or poor nutrition in the womb
- Trauma/Acquired Dyslexia: Caused by a brain injury from trauma or disease which affects language processing.
There are other types of dyslexia which present other challenges, however they are not as common. Our modified Orton-Gillingham approach is able to be customized to work with children with any form of dyslexia.