Dyslexia Instructional Programs

The Education Service Center Region 20 Dyslexia Therapist Training Program is open to individuals with a college degree who are committed to pursuing training to become a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT).  Applicants who are accepted into this rigorous training program and successfully meet all requirements to graduate may be eligible to sit for The Academic Language Therapy Association (ALTA) Competency Exam for Multisensory Structured Language Education at the therapy level.   

 

Candidates must complete a comprehensive therapy level training in a Multisensory Structured Language Education (MSLE) program that must include: 

Take Flight training requires a two-year commitment by participants who are accepted to the therapist training program, along with their campus and district leadership.  

 

Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia is a two-year curriculum written by the staff of the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children.  Take Flight builds on the success of the three previous dyslexia intervention programs developed by the staff at Scottish Rite:  Alphabetic Phonics, the Dyslexia Training Program, and TSRH Literacy Program.  

 

 

Take Flight includes 132 new learning days and 98 application days for a total of 230 days of direct instruction.  It contains the five components of effective reading instruction supported by the National Reading Panel research meta-analysis:  phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. 

 

With Take Flight, students will learn all 44 sounds of the English language, 96 letter-sound correspondence rules, and 87 affixes.  The student will learn spelling rules for base words and derivatives, and practice opportunities are provided to improve oral reading fluency.  In addition to introducing comprehension and vocabulary strategies, Take Flight also provides explicit instruction in syntax.       

 

Below are the Research Summary for Take Flight and two additional white paper reports.  

Take Flight is designed for small group instruction (two to six students) for a minimum of 45 minutes per day, five days each week.  Alternatively, the lessons can be taught for 60 minutes each day for four days a week.  

• The intended audience includes individuals who will be providing dyslexia intervention in a school setting.  (This curriculum is designed to be implemented in small groups 45 minutes daily, 5 times a week.)  
• Participants must be available for all eight days of training. 
• Training requirements include outside homework assignments and demonstrated mastery of content.
• Registration cost covers 5 days of training. 
  • Only those teachers who attend all 5 days of training and who successfully meet all training requirements will receive program materials necessary to implement the program with 1 small group of students.

Click this link to view the program overview brochure.  

This document (click here) explains each of the components of instruction and methods of delivery outlined the Dyslexia Handbook, 2021 Update.  It details each part of the Reading by Design daily lesson cycle which align with this criteria.

 

Implementation of any dyslexia curriculum with fidelity is critical to student success and is required by the Dyslexia Handbook, 2021 Update. 

 

The Reading by Design Fidelity Statement (click here) provides information about the program design and how it is to be implemented.  These requirements are based on research which is also provided in the document.