The Center for Dyslexia offers the Dyslexia Therapist Training Program for certified Texas public school teachers. This two-year comprehensive training is designed for teachers of students with dyslexia using proven intervention techniques and is accredited by the International Multisensory Structured Language Educational Council.
Please Note: Applications are due in February of each year, and class size is limited to 15 people.
The program offers training in:
- Educational identification of dyslexia
- Characteristics of dyslexia
- Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia, a multisensory, structured approach to teaching developed at Scottish Rite for Children
- Classroom strategies and techniques used for students with dyslexia
- How to conduct parent and teacher information seminars
Candidates for the training must be employed by a Texas public school, hold a valid Texas teaching certificate and have written support of their school district.
Graduates of the Dyslexia Therapist Training Program are eligible to sit for a national therapy certification exam at the therapy level. Twelve hours of graduate-level credit are offered through Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas.
Academic Instruction
- Identification and placement seminar held in April before Introductory Course
- Introductory Course includes 16 days of class in the summer. Monday – Thursday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
- Introductory Seminars include four full-day seminars and one approved professional conference during the school year
Clinical Training
- Clinical practicum of 35 hours at Scottish Rite for Children
Clinical Teaching
- Five demonstration lessons with a local remedial class
Supervised Teaching
- OPTION 1: Implement and maintain remedial classes of dyslexia therapy using Take Flight with at least three groups (minimum of 45 minutes per group) during each school day.
- OPTION 2: Implement and maintain remedial classes of dyslexia therapy using Take Flight with at least three groups (minimum of 60 minutes per group) four days per week.
Academic Instruction
- Advanced Course includes five days in the summer. Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
- Advanced Seminars include five full-day seminars and one approved professional conference during the school year.
Clinical Training
- Clinical practicum of 35 hours at Scottish Rite for Children
Clinical Teaching
- Five demonstration lessons with a local remedial class
Supervised Teaching
- OPTION 1: Implement and maintain small remedial classes of dyslexia therapy using Take Flight with at least three groups (minimum of 45 minutes per group) during each school day.
- OPTION 2: Implement and maintain remedial classes of dyslexia therapy using Take Flight with at least three groups (minimum of 60 minutes per group) four days a week.
Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia is a two-year curriculum written by the staff of the Center for Dyslexia at Scottish Rite for Children.
Take Flight builds on the success of the three previous dyslexia intervention programs developed by the staff of Scottish Rite: Alphabetic Phonics, Dyslexia Training Program and TSRH Literacy Program.
Take Flight was designed for use by Certified Academic Language Therapists for children with dyslexia ages 7 and older. The two-year program is designed to be taught four days per week (60 minutes per day) or five days per week (45 minutes per day). It is intended for one-on-one or small group instruction with no more than six students per class.
Take Flight is taught daily in the Center for Dyslexia’s lab school where students from the surrounding Dallas-Fort Worth area identified in our diagnostic center attend classes daily. The lab school gives the Scottish Rite staff the opportunity to learn from students with dyslexia and improve
Take Flight strategies.
Take Flight Support
If you are a user in
Take Flight,
view our support portal for additional information. If you are having trouble connecting to this page, please call you training center for username and password
- Students who complete Take Flight instruction show significant growth in all areas of reading skill.
- Follow-up research with children who completed treatment indicates that students maintain the benefits of instruction on word reading skills and continue to improve in reading comprehension after one year.
- Take Flight is effective when used in schools by teachers with advanced training in treating learning disorders.
- Students with the lowest reading skills acquire the strongest gains from Take Flight instruction.
- Colorado Literacy and Learning Center (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
- Cradle to Career Literacy Center (Emporia, Kansas)
- Dyslexia Center of Austin (Austin, Texas)
- Dyslexia Training and Evaluation Center of Waco
- Frisco ISD (Frisco, Texas)
- Fundamental Learning Center (Wichita, Kansas)
- JPW Learning Center (San Angelo, Texas)
- McKinney Christian Academy (McKinney, Texas)
- Payne Educational Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
- Plano ISD (Plano, Texas)
- Region VIII (Pittsburg, Texas)
- Scottish Rite Learning Center of South Texas (San Antonio, Texas)
- Scottish Rite Learning Center of West Texas (Lubbock, Texas)
- Scottish Rite Learning Center of West Texas (Amarillo, Texas)
- Scottish Rite Masonic Children’s Learning Center (Las Cruces, New Mexico)
- Shelton School (Dallas, Texas)
- Springfield Center for Dyselxia and Learning (Springfield, Missouri)
- The Written Word Center for Dyslexia and Learning (Wheaton, Illinois)
Rite Flight: A Classroom Reading Rate Program is a curriculum written by the staff of the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia & Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children. Rite Flight: Rate equips teachers and reading specialists to help students increase their reading rate and fluency.
Rite Flight: Rate was designed to be a Tier II intervention for use by classroom teachers, reading specialists and special education teachers with first through eighth grade students. It can be used as supplemental or intervention instruction for individuals, small groups or the whole classroom.
When used as a supplement, Rite Flight: Rate should be integrated into a core reading program to adequately address fluency. As a fluency component of primary grade reading remediation and instruction, Rite Flight: Rate should be introduced early in the course of instruction in letter-sound recognition and should not be delayed until after phonics has been taught.
The program can be used in conjunction with a variety of core reading curricula that employ evidence-based components in phonemic awareness and phonics. Rite Flight: Rate may be used for more intensive instruction within the framework of a Response-to-Intervention (RTI) model.
Rite Flight: Rate differs from standard reading fluency instruction by using a method of instruction designed to promote the recognition of letter clusters within words. Students follow a repeated reading schedule that introduces the same words in isolation, in phrases and finally in stories.
Rite Flight: Rate is not intended to be used in place of a comprehensive intervention for students identified with dyslexia, as it addresses only one component of reading.
Rite Flight: A Classroom Comprehension Program is a curriculum written by the staff of the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia & Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children. Rite Flight: Comprehension equips teachers and reading specialists to more effectively teach reading comprehension.
Rite Flight: Comprehension may be integrated into a core reading program as a supplement to more completely address reading comprehension. It is designed to be a Tier II intervention for use by classroom teachers, reading specialists or special education teachers with first through eighth grade students as a tool for intensified comprehension intervention for struggling readers. Rite Flight: Comprehension may be used with individual students, small groups or the whole classroom.
The instructional strategies of Rite Flight: Comprehension may serve as a component of intensified reading instruction within the framework of a Response-to-Intervention (RTI) model. The decision to use the curriculum as an intervention for struggling readers should be guided by an evaluation of possible causes of reading comprehension problems.
Rite Flight: Comprehension is not intended to be used in place of a comprehensive intervention for students identified with dyslexia, as it addresses only one component of reading.
Take Time to Read, a partnership between Scottish Rite for Children and the Grand Lodge of Texas, is a public awareness program that educates adults about the importance of reading to young children. The program began in 1999 and has helped Masons spread the word throughout Texas about the benefits of reading to children.
Take Time to Read gives Masons the opportunity to demonstrate their care for the future of Texas children. Since the program’s inception, the hospital and the Grand Lodge have worked together to develop and distribute Take Time to Read materials to lodges at no charge. Masons use the materials, such as posters, brochures, bookmarks and a handbook about how to implement Take Time to Read activities, to educate their communities about Scottish Rite for Children.
Reading experts agree that reading aloud to children may be one of the most important activities adults can do to prepare children for success in school. Reading aloud for as little as 10-20 minutes each day can provide tremendous benefits in helping children develop a better understanding and appreciation of language.
Benefits of reading to children include:
- Encouraging children’s imagination and inspiring creativity.
- Helping children develop good listening skills and expand their attention span.
- Preparing children for success in school.
- Helping children develop critical thinking skills.
- Creating a bond between adult and child.
Tips for reading to children:
- Take time to read to your child every day for at least 10 minutes.
- Establish a regular reading time.
- Make sure your special reading time isn’t interrupted. Your undivided attention is important to your child.
- Guide your child’s reading selection by choosing a variety of books you find appropriate. Allow your child to choose from this group.
- Talk about what you’re reading. Discuss the story to make sure your child understands the story and the words in the book.
