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Dyslexia Training
Where My Interest Began:
As a Montessori teacher, I am aware that the Montessori method is an excellent system for helping children learn to read, write and spell. The majority of children do so well that it is unusual for a child to enter grade 1 without at least reading words with one vowel and several sight words. Some children read at a much higher level. Yet the fact is that about one in every five classroom children, age 5 and 6, cannot identify all the alphabet sounds and letters, or blend a simple word like 'cat' at the end of the kindergarten year. To me this was, and is very discouraging. I needed to know why this is so; why there is such a discrepancy between the reading skills of these non-reading intelligent motivated children and their peers who are reading well. It is not the intelligence or motivation of the children and not the failure of the curriculum or the teachers, so how is the discrepancy possible?
For two years I used every free moment to read language and literacy books, web pages, research reports, journals, magazines and anything else I could find in an effort to discover a way to move these non-reading children through their difficulty. In the end it was the Bright Solutions website, created and operated by Susan Barton, an international dyslexia specialist who introduced me to the research based facts about dyslexia, and the means to provide the help that dyslexic children need to overcome their difficulty with reading, writing and spelling.
Where My Interest Led Me:
Susan Barton's site Bright Solutions and Sally Shaywitz's book "Overcoming Dyslexia" became my two best resources for dyslexia information, and I soon realized that I needed to learn an Orton-Gillingham based program in order to reach dyslexic children and bring them up to grade level in reading, writing and spelling. After researching the best programs available I easily settled on The Barton System, and this is the method I now use in my tutoring program.
In addition to The Barton System I supplement sessions with Montessori based interventions that compliment the tutoring system and add to the multi-sensory base. Skills in behaviour management, behavioural intervention techniques, and empathy training learned from my degree program in Child and Youth Care have given me a positive and professional base for interacting with children who may be depressed, angry, low in self-esteem or refusing help due to failure in a regular system.
How I Can Help:
Through the Barton System I provide the help that dyslexic children need. This help is proven to work and it provides the children with the reading, writing and spelling skills that they need to succeed. The program I use can be bought and learned by parents that can pass a screening test that shows they have phonological awareness.
Homeschooling parents may choose this direction and decide to tutor their dyslexic child themselves.
Many parents, however, do not have the time, skill set or temperament for this type of intense intervention and neither do many children learn well from their parents in this educational setting. I, a professional certified tutor, can be the best choice as well as a valuable advocate for the child and the family.