Dyslexia

What is Dyslexia?

A neurologically-based specific learning disorder that impacts word recognition, spelling, and decoding abilities. Children with dyslexia may have typical or high intelligence levels. Deficits are related to challenges with the phonological component of language. Reading comprehension weakness and delayed development of strong vocabulary may be present as a result of these deficits.

 

Can a speech therapist help my child if we think he/she has Dyslexia?

Absolutely! Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are highly trained in areas of literacy and many specialize in Dyslexia. SLPs can perform assessments to diagnose Dyslexia, as well as provide treatment to improve the skills identified as weaknesses.

 

What services are offered at TheraCare?

All assessments include a free 15-20 minute consultation prior to scheduling, evaluation as indicated below, and a 30-45 minute follow up meeting with the evaluating therapist to discuss results.

 

Comprehensive Language and Literacy Assessment:

This assessment takes 6-8 hours and should be broken up into 2-3 days of testing.
Testing includes language skills, phonological processing, reading and reading comprehension, spelling, story retell, and auditory processing screening.

 

Literacy Assessment:

This assessment takes 3-4 hours and should be broken up into 1-2 days of testing.
Prior testing of language skills is required for this testing choice. Testing includes phonological processing, reading and reading comprehension, spelling, and auditory processing screening.

 

Treatment Planning

Our approach varies from “traditional” dyslexia treatment, as we look at auditory processing, phonemic/phonological awareness, orthographic, and literacy skills, therefore encompassing all skills required for successful reading and spelling.

 

Our therapists provide a multi-modality approach through use of various sensory input and motor activities. We use systematic instruction to teach the basics of literacy components and then advance to more complex concepts as the child demonstrates mastery of skills. Levels of the literacy system include phonetics, speech perception, orthographic knowledge, morphological knowledge, understanding of semantic relationships, and mental graphemic representation.

 

Each session, the child will receive one on one treatment from a therapist in order to learn and then practice and apply new literacy concepts. The child may advance to small group settings of 2-3 other children to continue to apply advanced concepts later in treatment. Following each session, family will be provided with a tailored home exercise program to work on newly acquired skills in order to generalize them to a more natural environment.