Waymaker Literacy, LLC

If your child's teacher says "Let's just wait and see," I highly advise getting a 2nd opinion.

An important part of what I do with my intervention is intentionally partner with parents! I always ask, if at possible, for parents to sit in on my sessions so that they can learn right alongside their child and then WORK THE PLAN AT HOME!

I have so many amazing, “all in” parents helping their kids overcome Dyslexia! Proud of all of them!

I started intervention with this student in January. At the time, he didn’t know any of his letters and/or sounds and had great difficulty hanging onto any when first introduced.

Now… he is reading and spelling CVC words! Explicit, systematic Orton-Gillingham instruction works!

Waymaker Literacy would like to introduce our newest tutor. Meet Grace Ray.

Over the past year, Grace has been training under me and is ready to begin taking her first students this summer! She currently has 9 students and can take a few more.

As part of her certification process, Grace is entering her practicum year and working toward completing the required 60 tutoring hours for her Orton-Gillingham/Dyslexia intervention certification. Because she is in this training phase, her tutoring rate will be offered at a significantly reduced fee. This creates a wonderful opportunity for families to receive high-quality, Orton-Gillingham-based instruction at a fraction of my standard rate while also helping Grace gain valuable experience as she completes her certification requirements.

I will be personally overseeing Grace’s tutoring and mentoring her along the way. We will work closely together to support each student and collaborate on any challenges that may arise during instruction.

Grace holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Southwest Baptist University, and has spent the past two years working as a professional nanny, where she has gained extensive experience supporting children and families. She is background-checked, highly capable, and especially skilled in working with neurodivergent children. I’m confident she will be a tremendous encouragement and support to the students and families she serves.

For more information, contact me at [email protected].

This is a text from the mom of a 5th grader whom I’ve been meeting with since August. Explicit, systematic Orton-Gillingham based instruction works. Period. 🔥

As a Certified Academic Language Practitioner, I am forever thankful for my amazing training I received from the ALTA organization Payne Education Center in OKC. Gold standard curriculum and gold standard training makes for a gold standard tutor. I love making a difference one kid at a time. -

I'm reading an excellent article this morning on Dyslexia in the the December 29th edition of The New Yorker, and was reminded that...

*A typical learner needs 3-5 repetitions.
*A struggling reader might need 10-20 repetitions.
*And a kid with Dyslexia could potentially need up to 200 repetitions.

So as you can see, overcoming Dyslexia certainly isn't going to happen overnight, or by accident. And it's certainly not going to happen in a whole classroom classroom setting using a mediocre curriculum that isn't even teaching things correctly in the first place. (Abeka, Bob Jones, McGraw-Hill, Houghton-Mifflin, etc.) It's going to take frequent, explicit, systematic instruction using an excellent Orton-Gillingham based curriculum in the classroom, and even better stuff for one-on-one intervention.

And that's all there is to it. :D

For a list of the top 5 OG based whole class phonics curriculums, see the comments below.

Working on reading comprehension? Need help building vocabulary? Keep reading aloud and explain as you go!

If you suspect that your child has Dyslexia, or if you have a child who is struggling with reading (decoding, encoding, fluency, comprehension) I have 3 afternoon openings that will be available starting in January.
I am an ALTA certified CALP (Certified Academic Language [Dyslexia] Practitioner.) I was a homeschooling mom for 16 years, and a 1st grade classroom teacher for 14 years (most recently at Mingo Valley Christian.) I am Orton-Gillingham trained, LETRS certified, Structured Language Basics certified, and have been screening and tutoring students with Dyslexia for the past 13 years. The core of my lessons lean most heavily on Barton, but my OG training definitely causes my sessions to be a hybrid of sorts.

I take approximately 20 students per semester, depending, and currently have 2-3 openings for the spring semester. (See photo of schedule below. Yellow blocks are my current openings.)
I screen all of my incoming students using a compilation of the PSI, the PAST, an ORF, and the Barton Screener. You can sign up for a screening and/or get more info about rates/what I do by emailing me at [email protected].

Pop Quiz Time!

Q. What is the MOST common vowel sound in the English language?
A. The short u sound. ("uhhh") (a.k.a. "schwa")

Q. What is the LEAST common letter used to spell "uhhh"?
A. The letter u!

Q. Why are the above statements true?
A. It's all about syllable division and stress!

For example, look at the word "banana" in the photo of my white board. There are 3 a's in the word "banana," but only 1 of those a's actually says the short a sound. The other 2 a's say "uhhh". Why? Because they are in open, unaccented (quiet) syllables. The only a in this word that actually gets to say the short a sound, is the one in the closed, louder (stressed) syllable. Lots of words use this rule! (ba-NAN-a, ZE-bra, va-NIL-la, gor-IL-la, a-WAY, etc...)

This is just one of several rules when it comes to syllable division, and there are many more that help kids unlock the code! If you're a reading teacher, and you don't understand syllable division, it's time to self educate and figure it out! Syllable division is THE KEY to being able to break down multi-syllabic (longer) words. Your students deserve to know!