By Guest Blogger Matt Zigler, Creative Director at Noble Academy
Noble Academy’s mission is to teach students with learning differences in a supportive environment that allows them to reach their highest potential; but we are also engaged in teaching the community about learning differences and the teaching methods we use to help accomplish this mission. This fall we have two great opportunities for the community to become more aware of the different ways that students learn.
For educators: Wilson Reading System Training
Noble Academy has been using the highly effective, Orton-Gillingham based, Wilson Reading System for many years. It is a research based, systematic, multisensory approach to reading in which the students are taught the rules of English for reading and spelling in an organized and structured way. It was specifically designed for students with reading and language-based disorders such as dyslexia.
WRS recognizes that students need to be active participants in their own learning and provides teachers with many materials and methods to incorporate multisensory strategies into the lessons. Jenny Rundle, a teacher in our Lower School says “For me, it solidifies the rules of our English language and provides more of an awareness of the ‘why’ behind what skilled readers do everyday. So many of us automatically respond to unknown words by applying learned skills, but for most of our students these skills need to be explicitly taught. The WRS assists teachers in knowing how best to help our students learn these skills.”
Noble Academy has become a Partner School training site for WRS program and will begin training educators in the Triad and beyond in this system. Many levels of certification are available, and graduate credit is also available for those who complete the programs. Noble Academy is the only WRS Partner within the surrounding multi-state area (NC, SC, TN, VA.) From introductory workshops to intensive certification, teachers interested in learning this system can find more information on the programs we offer at www.nobleknights.org under the Community menu. For more information on the WRS program, please visit their website at www.wilsonlanguage.com.
For educators and the community:
Noble Academy, in conjunction with the Triad Learning Disabilities Association, will be hosting Dr. Tim N. Odegard on October 6th for two presentations; one for educators and one for the general public. Dr. Odegard is a Developmental Cognitive Psychologist with expertise in dyslexia, learning and memory. His research involves the use of neuroimaging to understand cognition across the lifespan, and response of individuals with dyslexia and struggling readers to multisensory instruction. Prior to joining Wilson Language Training as the Director of Research and Evaluation, he was an associate professor of Psychology and program director of the Health Psychology and Neuroscience program at the University of Texas Arlington. Currently, he holds academic appointment as a visiting scholar and adjunct graduate faculty in the Department of Psychology at Middle Tennessee State University.
Dr. Odegard will be presenting on two topics at Noble Academy. At 2:00 pm he will do a presentation for educators titled “An Overview of Developmental Dyslexia and Specific Reading Disability.” The presentation will review the cognitive and neurocognitive basis of dyslexia. It also summarizes specific reading disability and the identification process. Case studies of student profiles are provided, along with recommendations for addressing the instructional needs of students with a specific reading disability. If you are an educator and would like to attend this session, email Aimee Picon (apicon@nobleknights.org) for details.
Dr. Odegard will give a second presentation for the general public titled “Reading and the Brain: An Overview of Dyslexia and Related Reading Disabilities” at 6:30 pm. Topics covered include what is known about the brain regions that support reading and brain differences observed between typical readers and individuals with dyslexia. The presentation will then summarize the different forms of specific reading disabilities to illustrate the different forms a reading deficit can take. We encourage anyone who wants to learn more about dyslexia and other reading disabilities to attend this session. For more information on both sessions click on the Triad LDA link under the Community menu.
At Noble Academy, every student is working hard to overcome some learning difference that makes traditional classroom techniques ineffective, but we know there are many more in the community who do not benefit from our programs and techniques. It is important to us to offer our expertise to every family who could benefit from it.
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