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Spring 2014 Academy Conference Keynote Speaker: Barbara Wilson Barbara Wilson was the key- and the ability to analyze text. She is the president note speaker at the Academy and co-founder of Wilson Language Training Cor- conference in Winston-Salem poration which provides professional learning for on March 15, 2014. She spoke educators in school districts throughout the country. about integrating Orton-Gill- Barbara is also a Founding Fellow of the Academy of ingham with common core Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators. She standards and how much the has championed the instructional needs for individu- two align with one another. als with dyslexia for over 30 years since her work at She gave specifi c examples Massachusetts General Hospital Reading Disabilities about how phonics instruc- Clinic. Her presentation was well received, and teach- Keynote Speaker, Barbara Wilson tion and phonemic awareness ers left knowing that their instruction was providing need to be critical components of all student instruc- students with the skills they need to succeed. tion. She also provided statistics on fl uency, prosody, The Ruth Harris Travel Award The purpose of the Award is to help an Academy member, who would otherwise be fi nancially unable to attend, to continue to develop his/her skills as an Orton-Gillingham practitioner by attending an Academy conference. The Award is to assist the qualifying Academy member in defraying costs associate with travel, accommo- dations, and conference fees. This year’s recipients are: Laurie Leason Laurie Leason and Marcia Ramsey. Marcia Ramsey UPCOMING EVENTS 2014 Fellow Webinar 2014 IDA Conference 2015 Annual October 23, 2014 San Diego, CA • Nov. 12-15, 2014 Academy Conference 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. EST Academy Booth: 227 Celebrating 20 years! Location: Online Academy Reception: April 24-25, 2015 November 13, 2014 • 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Check website for updates Hilton San Diego Bay Front White Plains, New York 1 President’s Message In my fi rst letter to you as president of the Academy I would like to acknowledge the passion and dedication of all our members, whether Fellows engaged in training teachers, or those on the front lines working with chil- Academy News is published bi-annually dren in schools, clinics, or private tutoring. Th is was so by the Academy of Orton-Gillingham evident at our spring conference in Winston-Salem, NC Practitioners and Educators. where we were inspired by the speakers and the enthu- siastic performance by the students of Triad Academy AOGPE at Summit School. Sometimes we become a little worn PO Box 234, Amenia, NY 12501-0234 down by our busy lives and the responsibilities of juggling home, family, and work. T | 845.373.8919 Coming together at a conference lets us connect with colleagues and friends and rekin- F | 845.373.8925 dle the passion we have for teaching children with dyslexia and the Orton-Gillingham [email protected] Approach. Th ere is always something to learn, something that we can directly apply www. ortonacademy.org to help our students. The purpose of the Academy is to es- On the day after our conference, I observed a teacher working towards her Associate tablish and maintain the highest pro- fessional standards for practice of the level. As she worked with her student, I saw she was incorporating the concepts for Orton-Gillingham Approach. We certify vocabulary instruction she had learned at a conference session and was excited to see practitioners and accredit practitioner her student’s engagement. What an endorsement of our conference program to see training programs and student instruc- teachers leave with ideas that can be immediately applied to help students. tional programs that use the Approach to address the language-based learning Of particular interest were the presentations about Classroom Educator training in diffi culties associated with dyslexia. public schools. Fellows reported on the enthusiasm of the teachers and the success of The Academy is also active in profession- students in these programs. Th e Academy now has 60 Classroom Educator Members. al development and public awareness. Although some teach Special Education classes, many are teaching in K-2 regular education classes. If only 50 Classroom Educators are teaching in classrooms, approxi- BOARD OF TRUSTEES mately 1000 students are being taught using Orton-Gillingham every year. Th e grant Sheila Costello, President received by the Academy for teacher training described in the Fall 2013 newsletter Marcia Mann, 1st Vice President signifi cantly added to this training option. Susan Santora, 2nd Vice President John Howell, Treasurer No conference can take place without an enormous amount of planning and organi- Rosalie Davis, Secretary zation. Th is falls on the shoulders of the conference committee and those of the host Mary Briggs location. Our thanks go to all of those involved, but especially to Triad Academy at Ann Edwards Jean Hayward Summit School and the Summit School, who were such gracious hosts and did an Janet George exceptional job to make the conference run smoothly. Kay Howell Edith “Dee” LaFrance Unfortunately not everyone can attend conferences as teachers’ resources or profes- Amy Lawrence sional development funding is often limited. In response to the suggestions of our Karen Leopold members, the Academy is planning on-line options that will enable members to access Diane Milner Academy presentations through webinars and through video streaming on our web- Theresea Petersen site, starting with our fi rst Fellows webinar in the fall of 2014. Improving communi- cation, transparency of the certifi cation process, and mentoring teachers to become NEWSLETTER STAFF Certifi ed and Fellow members are areas that we continue to work toward. Dawn Nieman, Editor Maryann Chatfi eld, Assistant Editor Finally, I know that I echo all of you when I express thanks to Rosalie for her commit- Rosalie Davis, Advisor ment and leadership over the last six years. Our organization continues to evolve and Alicia Sartori, Administrative Director grow while remaining committed to our mission, and to the integrity of our standards for training in the Orton-Gillingham Approach. Sincerely, Triad Academy at Summit School Sheila Costello President, Board of Trustees 2 Orton-Gillingham in the Public Schools By Christina Kirkwood, M.Ed, Associate/AOGPE My journey I took to teaching Orton-Gillingham in a lesson format fi ve times per week. When the students self-contained classroom for students with a language are not in a tutoring session, they practice skills taught based learning disability started by accident. When I during their tutoring session. This practice of skills is couldn’t fi nd a teacher training program based on Or- mostly independent using a checklist of activities to ton-Gillingham principles, a colleague passed along complete throughout the week. Additionally, the stu- a mailing from the Commonwealth Learning Center. dents also use technology (iPad, Chromebooks, or the I completed the Associate level classroom computer) Lexia, Type course and practicum, which to Learn, and Book Share to en- forever changed my professional gage in literacy independently. life. Since the start of my training in summer 2006, I have been on Instruction in the area of writ- a continuous journey to deepen ing is direct and explicit. This is my knowledge of the Orton-Gill- achieved by having the students ingham Approach. Currently, I fi rst participate in a shared writ- have completed the coursework ing activity, then guided practice and practicum for the Certifi ed of the skill being taught, and fi - level and plan on applying to the nally independent practice of the Academy in the summer. skill. The skills are chosen by fi rst analyzing the student’s indepen- Two years ago, Cambridge, MA, Public Schools bud- dent writing level. The type of writing that my students geted funds to open a substantially separate classroom learn is guided by the district’s writing units of study. with the sole focus of educating grade 2-4 students with language-based learning disabilities. I applied for the I continuously use manipulatives to make abstract math position, and happily, I was selected. I came to this posi- concepts concrete. There is also frequent review of previ- tion with nine years of experience, four of which were ously learned materials. in Cambridge, MA as a Special Education teacher and Orton-Gillingham tutor. As I have also scheduled twenty minutes a day I developed my program, I had to think for read aloud. The read aloud time is used deeply about how I was going to differenti- to expose my students to grade level text as ate my instruction from the general educa- well as grade level vocabulary and content. tion classes and other substantially separate When selecting a text, I focus on a book classrooms. The best approach that I saw with complexity that my students would was to consistently apply the overarching not otherwise be able to access when read- principles of Orton-Gillingham to every ing on their own. I use the read aloud text subject: teaching from concrete to abstract, to instruct my students directly in compre- being direct and explicit in instruction of hension of complex materials. all concept materials, constantly spiraling back, over learning of key concepts, and al- Science and Social Studies are taught ways incorporating multi-sensory instruc- within the general education setting. My tion. Students come to my room after their students enter my room with a great love school based special education team has for those content subject areas. Within my determined that the traditional inclusion classroom, I pre-teach and reteach the key model is not working for them. concepts of the daily lesson so that my stu- dents have the knowledge base to be successful in the Carrying Orton-Gillingham throughout the day with classroom.

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