Dyslexia is more than just letter reversals. Its characteristics vary in different people and affect a child’s academics, often to the point of failure. Characteristics appear differently at different stages of academic development. Symptoms include:

• Reading: Difficulty reading aloud, reading slowly, and skipping words
• Spelling: Poor spelling and confusing similar words
• Writing: Poorly organized writing, difficulty taking notes, and difficulty planning essays
• Memory: Difficulty remembering names, numbers, or important dates
• Organization: Difficulty with time management, prioritizing tasks, and personal organization
• Attention: Difficulty focusing, listening, or concentrating
• Vision: Difficulty with serif fonts, or confusion with left and right
• Language: Mispronouncing words, or difficulty retrieving words
• Other: Avoiding reading and writing, difficulty copying, and poor self-esteem.

Multi-sensory learning requires the student to engage the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile (motor) regions of the brain’s left hemisphere to enhance the processing of both print (visual) and spoken (auditory) language. The left hemisphere of the brain is where language memory is stored and retrieved. Language processing breaks down because these regions do not communicate efficiently. A multi-sensory lesson stimulates these regions of the left hemisphere simultaneously, thus enhancing the application and comprehension of written and spoken language.

Collaboration Resource is a relationship between the student’s home-based school and Longleaf Academy. The home-base school agrees to partner with Longleaf Academy on behalf of a student who would benefit from an Orton-Gillingham Approach and academic remediation.

Longleaf Academy implements remedial instruction for up to 2 1/2 hours daily. Students are instructed in reading, writing, and math in a 4:1 student teacher ratio. Partner schools and parents are provided with quarterly goals. Longleaf Academy is responsible for progress monitoring and student grades are based  upon the present level of academic performance in these areas.

When the student begins to struggle academically in a regular setting, parents may choose to move them to a private school, hoping that the smaller classroom size will have a noticeable effect. Often, this does not alleviate their academic difficulties. Students with dyslexia and other learning differences require instruction to accommodate their learning strengths. When students participate in Longleaf Academy’s exclusive Collaborative Resource Programs, they are entitled to the best of both worlds: intensive remedial instruction grounded in evidence-based research and a small, private school that differentiates to ensure student success. About Longleaf Academy