Learn more about The International Dyslexia Association at www.idaga.org and REAP at www.strugglingreaders.org.
Twenty-nine public school elementary teachers are about to make a significant difference in the lives of struggling readers in Gwinnett. For eight months, an hour and a half each week — not including travel time, these teachers are receiving highly specialized instruction to improve reading proficiency.
The 29 were selected out of over 70 Gwinnett applicants to participate in training through the 2-year-old grassroots non-profit Reading is Essential for All People program.
REAP, founded by husband and wife team Jen and Jeremy Rhett and Carla Sanford, provides 70 hours of Orton-Gillingham Approach training at no cost to public school teachers.The program would otherwise individually cost $2,000 or more.
REAP began last year by training 12 Decatur public school teachers. This year, through donations and support from organizations such as the International Dyslexia Association – Georgia branch, they have been able to offer training to 74 teachers.
The Orton-Gillingham Approach was developed in the 1930s to help dyslexic children learn to read, write and spell. For a struggling reader, it is often the key to the kingdom. Many teachers have heard of it — few have been trained.
Teachers participating through REAP are selected based on a number of criteria including their willingness and ability to share and mentor what they learn with colleagues and as Jen Rhett puts it, “their ability to know what they don’t know.” These are teachers who strongly desire to fill their own educational gaps to meet needs they are seeing in the classroom.
Norma Jean McHugh, a 20-year veteran educator from The Schenck School and Orton-Gillingham Fellow, leads the program in Gwinnett. She said she’s impressed with her teachers’ commitment and eagerness to learn.
“They aren’t running out the door when class ends at 6:30. They are asking questions and curious about strategies they see working for students — sometimes the first real improvement they’ve seen.”
What’s helping struggling readers is also helping all young readers. Teachers using OG in the regular classroom see all students benefiting from the multisensory, phonetic-based approach
“I can’t believe I have been teaching so long and have not known all these rules and ways to teach reading,” said one educator.
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