FAQ

Dyslexia is a neurologically based, often familial disorder, which interferes with the acquisition and processing of language. Varying in degree of severity, it is manifested by difficulties in phonological processing, receptive and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, and sometimes in arithmetic. Dyslexia is not a result of lack of motivation, sensory impairment, inadequate instructional or environmental opportunities, or other limiting conditions, but may occur together with these conditions. Although dyslexia is life-long, individuals with dyslexia frequently respond successfully to timely and appropriate intervention. Emotional disturbances and behavioral difficulties are often secondary results. Some of the characteristics that may accompany dyslexia are:

• Lack of phonemic awareness, isolating sounds in words, rhyming and sequencing of sounds in syllables;
• Delayed processing skills or slowed retrieval skills;
• Difficulty decoding words — single work identification;
• Problems with reading comprehension;
• Reversals of letters and/or numbers in words (e.g. e-d, sing-sign, left-felt, soiled-solid, 12-21);
• Difficulty in expressing thoughts verbally.

In creating the Children’s Dyslexia Centers, Inc., it has been our mission to provide professional tutoring free of charge to children with dyslexia/learning disabilities. Services are made available to children on a first-come, first-served basis.

We are also committed to increasing public awareness of dyslexia as well as improving the standards of care through research and education. And, we provide free training to qualified individuals to become Orton-Gillingham tutors.

Since 1994, hundreds of children have received free specialized instruction a the Children’s Dyslexia Centers, one of which is located in Madison.

We work with 7 to 17 year-old children who are experiencing learning difficulties in the areas of reading, spelling, written language and related areas.

We provide a service for students with learning disabilities at no cost. Our professional staff members are certified in specialized techniques and work one-on-one with students. Instruction is individualized to meet each student’s needs, and every student receives two 50-minute sessions per week.

Our centers use the Orton-Gillingham method of reading instruction developed by Dr. Samual T. Orton and educator Anna Gillingham.The Orton-Gillingham method teaches phonics using visual, auditory and kinesthetic modalities. The multi-sensory instruction begins by focusing on the individual sounds represented by letters and explicitly teaches the blending of sounds into words. The core of the method is teaching the saying with the writing of the sounds used in spoken English. The cumulative and sequential Orton-Gillingham program continues to build in complexity but always provides students with immediate feedback, repetition and integration of reading, writing and spelling. The instruction is intensive, one-on-one, emotionally sound, language based and success oriented.