We are pleased to share that The Charles H. Dater Foundation has recently awarded Mayerson Academy a grant of $25,000 to support its Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Reading Program. Since 2010,
the Dater Foundation has generously funded grants which make possible the tutoring portion of a practicum in Orton-Gillingham multisensory teaching methods for teachers from the Greater Cincinnati Area.
Mayerson Academy’s Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Reading Program has achieved prestigious accreditation from both the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC). Courses are offered face-to-face in June, July, and January. During the course, participants provide one-to-one reading instruction to children who are struggling readers, will receive one-to-one direct reading instruction. The grant helps defray the cost of the certified Orton-Gillingham Coaches who directly supervise the tutoring, ensuring the teacher-participant learns the methodology and the students get the maximum benefit of instruction.
Sara Goldstein, a participant in the June 2017 course and 1st-grade teacher at Roberts Academy said,
I experienced the effectiveness of the Orton method as early as the first week of tutoring during the summer practicum, and the successes continued from there. The student I was working with once could not remember how to correctly read a sight word. As the Orton method directs, I provided the flashcard for the student to trace, and it only took the tracing of the first two letters until the student exclaimed ‘Oh! and read the word accurately.
Up to 90 teachers from Cincinnati urban districts participate in courses each year, learning the best, scientifically proven, methods for teaching struggling readers how to read, write and spell. The classroom students of the teachers who successfully complete the course benefit from their teachers’ increased knowledge of the structure of the English language and preferred methods of language instruction, ultimately affecting the reading achievement of thousands of students. As Ellen McGrath, a 3rd-grade teacher at St. Francis Avila, said: “The structure of the OG lesson allows for student success because it builds on skills already known and adds new skills in a research-based sequence. As a teacher, this is a method that gives me the tools to individualize instruction and use methods that work.”
We extend our gratitude to the Dater Foundation for supporting our OG program–one that equips teachers to dramatically increase students’ capacities to become successful readers and writers.
