The International Dyslexia Association Defines Dyslexia as a neurologically based, often found in families, interfering with the acquisition and processing of language. Dyslexia has varying degrees of severity manifested by difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, and sometimes in math. The National Institutes of Health of Dyslexia defines Dyslexia as a specific learning disability that is neurological, and characterized by difficulties with accurate or fluent word recognition, poor spelling and decoding abilities. These problems result from a deficit in the phonological component of language often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities despite effective classroom instruction. Consequences include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

Info from the International Dyslexia Association 

• The most difficult problem for students with dyslexia is learning to read. Unfortunately, popularly employed reading approaches, such as Guided Reading or Balanced Literacy, are not effective for dyslexic readers. These approaches are especially ineffective for students with dyslexia as they do not focus on the decoding skills these students need to succeed in reading. What works is called Structured Literacy, an approach preparing students to systematically decode words. This approach not only helps students with dyslexia, but there is substantial evidence that it is more effective for all readers.

Structured Literacy includes:

• Phonology, the study of sound structure of spoken words is a critical element of Structured Language instruction. Phonological awareness includes rhyming, counting words in spoken sentence, and clapping syllables in spoken words. An important aspect of phonological awareness is phonemic awareness or segmenting words into their component sounds (phonemes). A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in language that can be recognized as being distinct from other sounds. For example, the word cap has three phonemes (/k/, /ă/, /p/). 
• Sound-Symbol Association. Once students develop awareness of phonemes of spoken language, they must learn how to map phonemes to symbols or letters. Sound-symbol association must be taught and mastered in two directions: visual to auditory (reading) and auditory to visual (spelling). Students must also master blending of sounds and letters into words as well as segmenting whole words into individual sounds. The instruction of sound-symbol associations is referred to as phonics. 

• Syllable Instruction. Syllables are units of oral or written language with one vowel sound. Instruction includes teaching of the six basic syllable types in the English language: closed, vowel-consonant-e, open, consonant-le, r-controlled, and vowel pair. Knowledge of syllable types is an important organizing idea. By knowing syllable type, readers determine sounds of vowels in the syllable. Syllable division rules allow a reader to be aware of where a long, unfamiliar word is divided for accuracy in reading the word.
• Morphology. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in the language. The Structured Literacy curriculum includes studying base words, roots, prefixes, and suffixes. The word instructor, for example, contains the root struct, which means to build, the prefix in, means in or into, and the suffix or, which means one who. An instructor is someone who builds knowledge in students.
• Syntax. Syntax is the set of principles that dictate the sequence and function of words in a sentence in order to convey meaning. This includes grammar, sentence variation, and the mechanics of language.
• Semantics. Semantics is that aspect of language concerned with meaning. The curriculum (from the beginning) must include instruction in the comprehension of written language.

Structured Literacy is unique in guiding principles how critical elements are taught:

• Systematic & Cumulative. Structured Literacy instruction is systematic and cumulative. Systematic means that the organization of material follows the logical order of the language. The sequence must begin with the easiest and most basic concepts and elements and progress methodically to more difficult concepts and elements. Cumulative means each step is based on previously learned concepts.
• Explicit Instruction. Structured Literacy instruction requires the deliberate teaching of all concepts with continuous student-teacher interaction. It is not assumed that students will naturally deduce these concepts on their own.
• Diagnostic Teaching. The teacher must be adept at individualized instruction. That is instruction that meets a student’s needs. The instruction is based on careful and continuous assessment, both informally (for example, observation) and formally (for example, with standardized measures. The content presented must be mastered to the degree of automaticity. Automaticity is critical to freeing all the student’s attention and cognitive resources for comprehension and expression.
• For more information about dyslexia treatment, visit http://dyslexiaida.org/ 

New Patient Inquiry Form – We assess all aspects of dyslexia and reading issues