Build
A K-1 Early Reading Intervention
Build for Dyslexia is a 100 lesson educational intervention program designed to support children with dyslexia and other reading challenges. It focuses on strengthening foundational literacy skills through structured, evidence-based instruction.
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What is Dyslexia?
Defined by Mayo Clinic:
Dyslexia is also referred to as a reading disability. Resulting in approximately 80% of all learning disorders, dyslexia is the most common learning disorder in the United States. Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Dyslexia is a result of individual differences in areas of the brain that process language.
Dyslexia is not due to problems with intelligence, hearing or vision. Most children with dyslexia can succeed in school with tutoring or a specialized education program. Emotional support also plays an important role.
What Are The Symptoms of Dyslexia?
Symptoms of dyslexia can be difficult to recognize and can vary based on age.
Before School Age
- Delay in speech and/or language
- Difficulty rhyming words and pronouncing words
- Leaning new words slowly
- Problems remembering or naming letters, numbers and/or colors
- Problems forming words correctly or confusing words that sound alike
School Age (Pre-K to 5th Grade)
- Reading well below age
- Avoiding activities that involve reading
- Difficulty processing and understanding what is heard
- Difficulty finding the right word or forming answers to questions
- Difficulty spelling
- Oral reasoning and oral language are more advanced than reading
- Inability to sound out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word
Teens and Adults
- Difficulty reading and summarizing a story
- Trouble learning a foreign language
- Difficulty solving mathematical work problems
- Has a slow reading rate
- Prefers audiobooks
- Difficulty completing tests within the allowed time limit
- Problems spelling
- Mispronouncing names, words, and/or problems retrieving words
What Causes Dyslexia?
Dyslexia results from individual differences in the parts of the brain that enable reading and it tends to be hereditary. Dyslexia appears to be linked to certain genes that affect how the brain processes reading and language. The root cause is weak phonological (not visual) processing involved with the sounds of language.
Dyslexia is not linked to problems with intelligence, hearing, or vision. In most cases, children can rapidly improve and succeed in school with Take Flight.
How is Dyslexia Diagnosed?
There is no single test that can diagnose dyslexia. Plum Tree evaluations involve a comprehensive process of gathering information to identify what specific factors are contributing to difficulties with reading and writing. The process begins with a review of family, medical, social/emotional, and school records. Information is obtained from parents to understand the child’s developmental progress and approach to learning. Teachers can be helpful in the process, too. Then, special tests and evaluation activities are given by psychologists to help understand the child’s strengths and the ways that they learn best. Measures of the child’s development of important skills related to intellect, language, visual processing, attention, memory, and reasoning are used. The evaluation process also includes specific tests of reading subskills, such as phonological processing, spelling, decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Then, the Plum Tree Diagnostic Team pinpoints the likely source of the problem, eliminates the possibility of other common causes of reading difficulties, and determines if the child’s profile of strengths and challenges meets the criteria for the diagnosis of dyslexia.
What is Build?
Build is a K-1 early reading intervention.
Build meets the needs of the K-1 students who have been identified at risk for dyslexia, the staff of the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children has developed a 100-lesson reading intervention called Build: A K-1 Early Reading Intervention. Build is a small group intervention that addresses five specific components of reading intervention. Each component is taught developmentally using a direct, systematic, cumulative, multisensory method of introduction and practice to meet the specific needs of Kindergarten and first grade students struggling in reading.
Is Build A Cure for Dyslexia?
No.
Build focuses on strengthening foundational literacy skills through structured, evidence-based instruction, and does not constitute a cure for dyslexia. Dyslexia is a neurological condition characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition, poor spelling, and decoding abilities, which stem from a different brain organization and function that is typically inherited and persists throughout life. Although the Build Curriculum can significantly enhance the reading capabilities and academic performance of children by providing specialized strategies and interventions tailored to their unique learning needs, it does not alter the underlying neurological condition. Therefore, while the Build program can be highly effective in mitigating the symptoms and improving literacy skills, it should not be represented or understood as a cure for dyslexia.
How Many Students In Each Class?
Build will have one student per class. Your child will be receive one-on-one individualized personalized instruction. While the curriculum is designed for multiple students, we prefer one 1:1 student teacher ratio.
Individualized Attention: One-on-one teaching allows the lesson plan, pace, and teaching style to match the specific needs and learning preferences of your child. This personalized approach can facilitate better understanding and retention of the material.
Focus On Strengths And Weaknesses: In a one-on-one setting, we can identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses more easily and adjust the instruction accordingly. This targeted approach can help your child improve in areas where they may be struggling while also nurturing their talents and interests.
Increased Engagement: With undivided attention, your child is more likely to stay focused and engaged throughout the lesson. This can lead to deeper learning experiences and a greater sense of accomplishment.
Immediate Feedback: In a one-on-one setting, feedback can be provided promptly, allowing your child to address misconceptions or mistakes right away. This facilitates faster progress and prevents the reinforcement of incorrect information.
Building Rapport And Trust: Spending dedicated time with your child can foster a strong bond. This trust and rapport can create a supportive learning environment where your child feels comfortable asking questions, making mistakes, and taking risks.
Flexibility In Scheduling And Content: One-on-one teaching allows for flexibility in adapting the content to your child’s interests and abilities. This flexibility can accommodate your child’s unique learning pace and preferences, leading to more effective learning outcomes.
Customized Learning Experiences: In a one-on-one setting, we can incorporate a variety of methods, resources, and activities tailored to your child’s individual needs and learning style. This customization promotes a deeper understanding of the material and fosters a love for learning.
Overall, one-on-one teaching offers a highly personalized and supportive learning experience that can lead to significant improvement for your child.
Is Build Supported by Research?
Because Build is derived from the Take Flight program and Build was created by the same team at Luke Waites Center, it is safe to say that any studies conducted on Take Flight will translate to Build. Read The Full Research Study Here
Why is Build Effective?
Build is effective for early readers with dyslexia because it targets the root causes of reading difficulties using proven instructional strategies. Build is effective because it is early, targeted, structured, and multisensory. It addresses reading problems before they become entrenched, giving young students the tools to become confident readers.
Here’s why:
Build Focuses on Foundational Skills
Build emphasizes the most critical early literacy components:
- Phonological awareness (hearing and manipulating sounds)
- Letter-sound correspondence
- Decoding and encoding (reading and spelling simple words)
Build uses Multisensory Instruction
Build uses visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile methods together—helping students link letters and sounds in multiple ways. This strengthens memory and retention, especially for learners with dyslexia who benefit from more than just verbal or visual instruction.
Build is Explicit and Systematic Teaching
Build follows a clear, step-by-step progression. It teaches one skill at a time in a carefully sequenced order, ensuring students master earlier skills before moving on to more complex ones. This structured approach prevents gaps in understanding.
Build is Frequent Practice and Review
Skills are reviewed and reinforced regularly, which boosts fluency and confidence. Repetition helps dyslexic learners build automaticity in decoding and spelling.
Build is Tier 3
Build is delivered in one-on-one (Tier 3), which means instruction is tailored to each student’s pace and needs. That close attention is key for struggling readers.
Build is a Research-Based Design
It’s grounded in the Science of Reading, a body of research that identifies how children learn to read and what types of instruction are most effective for students with reading difficulties—including dyslexia.
What Are The Five Components of Build for Dyslexia?
- Alphabet: the identification of letters, sequencing skills and alphabetizing.
- Letter/sound knowledge: the direct instruction of individual letters and sounds, leading to the practice of reading words and sentences.
- Phonological awareness: the explicit introduction of the relationships between speech-sound production, from rhyme to spelling.
- Vocabulary: the direct teaching of strategies using context clues to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words.
- Comprehension: the explicit teaching of specific learning strategies used to identify the basic components of a story.
Why is Orton-Gillingham Relevant to Build?
The Orton-Gillingham approach has long been the gold standard for teaching students with dyslexia. The Orton-Gillingham approach empowers educators to develop an individualized, structured, multisensory plan to teach reading and vocabulary skills. Orton-Gillingham is a step-by-step learning process involving letters and sounds that encourages students to advance upon each smaller manageable skill learned throughout the process. It was the first approach to use explicit, direct, sequential, systematic, multi-sensory instruction to teach reading, which is effective for all students and essential for teaching students with dyslexia.
The main components of the Orton-Gillingham approach;
- Multi-Sensory – The teaching of new concepts incorporates visual, auditory, and kinesthetic pathways. With this approach, students learn language by ear (listening), mouth (speaking), eyes (seeing), and hand (writing).
- Structured, Sequential, and Cumulative – Through direct, explicit instruction, it progresses logically at the primary level and progresses to more advanced concepts that build upon the previous skill learned, with practice and review.
- Flexible – Through assessment, differentiation, and grouping, teachers can instruct students based on their needs.
- Language-based – Directly teaches the fundamental structure of language, starting with sound/symbol relationships and progressing to more complex concepts such as higher-level spelling rules and Greek and Latin bases.
How Do You Teach Structured Literacy?
Build employs structured literacy.
Structured Literacy is a highly explicit and systematic teaching of all important components of literacy. Explicit teaching means that information is clearly explained and key skills are modeled. Systematic teaching involves a sequential and organized model of instruction with the most important skills taught before more advanced skills that focuses on phonological awareness, phonics and decoding, spelling, vocabulary development, comprehension skills, and written expression. Structured Literacy also emphasizes phonological awareness, comprehension skills, spelling, vocabulary, sensitivity to speech sounds and the ability to manipulate those sounds.
Who Can Administer Build?
Build can only be administered by a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT).
What is A Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT)?
A CALT is a professional credential to describe an individual who has the expertise to provide services to individuals who have difficulty acquiring the basic language skills necessary to read, write and spell. CALTs have a deep knowledge of the structure of the English language and the experience to apply these skills in creating an individualized plan for the remediation of dyslexia and related learning differences.
A CALT is not a tutor. They are specially trained to work with students with dyslexia and related language-based learning differences.
Being a CALT ensures that an individual has completed a Comprehensive Therapist Level Multisensory Structured Language Training course that is Orton-Gillingham based and accredited by the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC).
What Credentialing is Required to Become a CALT?
The following is required to become a Certified Academic Language Therapist.
• 200 + Academic hours of dyslexia and related learning disability studies
• 700 Clinical teaching hours providing dyslexia therapy using Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia
• Passing the ALTA Competency Exam
• Review and acceptance into the Academic Language Therapy Association or ALTA
• Certified Academic Language Therapists are highly qualified in multisensory structured literacy, specifically for students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD
What is The Time Commitment?
Build Curriculum is three days per week for one year. Most schools will provide support and collaboration for your child’s participation in Build. This support and collaboration may involve coordinating schedules and resources to ensure students receive the necessary support.
Why three days per week?
Students with dyslexia benefit from intensive intervention, offering ample opportunities for practice and repetition with new concepts learned. Research (Beringer 2000) found that dyslexic students needed 20 times the practice than a student without dyslexia to learn letter sequences. Good readers can rapidly spell a word with 20 repetitions, however, poor readers will be challenged to reach automaticity with 400 repetitions or 20 times the amount of practice good readers require. Allowing students sufficient time to practice and solidify knowledge of letter names, shapes, and sounds is time consuming but imperative.
What Are The Expectations at Home?
Students with dyslexia need more repetition, practice, and opportunities to consistently apply their newly learned skills. Therefore, your child will have minimum homework requirements that includes a reward system when homework is returned and signed by a parent.
Who Gets Accepted Into Build?
Build is a major commitment and we want to be sure your child is a good fit. Upon registration, an initial diagnostic consultation will be scheduled to evaluate if your child is the right fit for Build. After acceptance into Build, your child will be further evaluated for the next forty five days to help determine if you child is capable of completing Build.
It is important to note that the criteria for implementing the Build curriculum may vary depending on the specific needs and circumstances of your child, and decisions will be made as a collaboration.
What if My Child Has ADHD, Anxiety, and Coexisting Conditions?
Dyslexia and ADHD are highly comorbid. ADHD has been found in 18% to 42% of children with dyslexia; rates of dyslexia among children with ADHD have been reported to be within a similar range. Dyslexia is also associated with oppositional defiant disorder, speech and language problems, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and even depression. (Sheryl M. Handler, MD, author of Dyslexia: What you need to know)
Our academic language therapist offering the Build curriculum has experience in working with students with other learning differences. It must be noted that severe learning differences that greatly impact teaching and learning may result in Build not being a good fit for a child. Behavior and a good control of behavior during lessons is imperative for teaching and learning.
What if The Therapist is Not A Good Fit?
Students enrolled in the Build program will be attending sessions three times weekly for a one year. This is a time commitment that parents must take with great consideration. The bond built between student and teacher is something truly special. It is imperative for both participating parties to deem the relationship a good fit. In the event, it is not, we can re-evaluate your options at that time.
When and Where?
Build is conducted at the Plum Tree Bloom Office.
What About Cost?
The cost of our private one-on-one Build Curriculum is worth the investment.
Because Build is academic, it is not covered by insurance.
What do you get and why is it worth it?
- Personalized Attention: Build provides individualized attention tailored specifically to the student’s needs with a student teach ratio of 1:1. Unlike in a classroom setting where the teacher must cater to the needs of multiple students, a one-on-one experience allows for a personalized approach that targets the student’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Customized Learning Experience: The Build Curriculum can adapt and pace to suit the student’s learning style, preferences, and abilities. This customization ensures that the student receives instruction that is effective and engaging, maximizing their learning potential.
- Targeted Remediation: For students who are struggling with specific subjects or concepts, the Build Curriculum offers targeted remediation. The Build Curriculum can identify areas of weakness and provide focused instruction and practice to help the student overcome challenges and improve their understanding.
- Confidence Building: Individualized attention and support from within the Build Curriculum can boost a student’s confidence and self-esteem as they make progress and achieve success with the guidance.
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