A student may have difficulty learning to read or reading to learn. We at The Learning Specialists are prepared to deal with either concern.

Learning to Read

Our teachers are trained in the types of reading intervention programs identified by The National Reading Panel findings and through research conducted under the support of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development as being effective at remediating challenges with fundamental reading development. The reading skills involved may include decoding (“sounding out”), sight word reading development, and fluency (speed and accuracy). The service is provided one on one and a specific teacher is assigned to each student.

Reading to Learn

Learning has occurred if and only if the student has understood the material and stored it in memory for later retrieval. Our teachers train students in the skills identified by research as critical to developing both understanding and memory.

Some students have a weakness in basic reading skills which limits access to text. Our teachers train these students in the use of technology (e.g. audiobooks) to bypass the chokepoint created by the weak basic reading skills so that the student’s mental resources are not consumed by the demand to read the words and are more available to think, understand, and remember.

Research states that effective reading intervention requires a multisensory approach and direct, explicit, and systematic instruction. Our approach follows these research guidelines. A child’s need for reading intervention will change over time as the curriculum demands evolve. Our program is designed to meet the student’s reading needs at each level of reading development. 

We use the following programs:

Phonemics and Word Development

• Lindamood –Bell Phoneme Sequencing Program (LiPS)
• Lindamood-Bell Seeing Stars
• The Wilson Reading System

Fluency Development

• Read Naturally
• Great Leaps
• Reading Comprehension Development
• Lindamood-Bell Visualizing and Verbalizing
• Learning Strategies Instruction