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Levi Soars To Success With Take Flight

Levi Soars To Success With Take Flight

by | Oct 4, 2024 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders

“We thank God for connecting us with Scottish Rite,” says Levi’s dad, Josh. “Levi was unable to recognize his letters when we first arrived, and now he’s reading chapter books.”

Nine-year-old Levi, of Arlington, is a creative spirit with a passion for reading. Each book offers him a chance to immerse himself in new adventures. With support from his family and care team at Scottish Rite, Levi is confidently navigating life with dyslexia.

Levi is the second youngest out of eight children, all homeschooled by their mom, Kelly. When it was time for Levi to start kindergarten, Kelly recognized his struggle with reading from her past experiences.

“Our second oldest daughter, Grace, was in first grade when my wife noticed she was having difficulty reading,” Josh says. “We were still living in Austin at the time, and Grace was diagnosed with dyslexia. We worked closely with a local language therapist to provide Grace with the tools she needed. She just graduated college in 2023!”

At age 5, Levi was evaluated by experts at Scottish Rite for Children’s Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders. After his assessment, Levi was diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

“If parents suspect there might be an issue, we encourage getting your child evaluated as quickly as possible,” Josh says. “Once you know dyslexia is the diagnosis, don’t panic. There is nothing wrong with your child. Your child’s brain just processes things differently. In fact, Kelly and I view dyslexia as a gift.”

According to the American Psychiatric Association, 5 to 15% of children have a learning disability, and approximately 80% of all children diagnosed with a learning disorder have dyslexia. Dyslexia is a condition which causes difficulty with reading and spelling. This results in a child’s trouble to read aloud, express themselves and connect sounds to written words or letters. ADHD is characterized by an inability to focus on one task and excess movement during tasks. Programs, like Scottish Rite’s Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia , are designed as an early intervention to equip children with essential learning strategies and boost their overall school performance.

“We were looking into finding private language therapy for Levi, just like we had done for our daughter,” Josh says. “It turned out there was an opening for Levi to enroll in the Take Flight program at Scottish Rite. We jumped at this chance.”

With help from his instructors and language therapists, Levi discovered what learning looked like for him. His writing, reading and math skills improved over the 2-year curriculum, and he began taking medication for his ADHD to help him focus on different assignments. Now, he has discovered a new passion for learning!

“We have seen a great progress since Levi started this program,” Josh says. “Levi’s language therapists helped him in ways we could only dream of. His confidence has grown exponentially as a result.”

Now in second grade, Levi has officially graduated from Take Flight’s program. His motivation to learn and passion for reading has only grown since then, and it is a gift to us to continue to watch him flourish!

 “At times, it brings tears to our eyes to hear Levi read,” Josh says. “He has come so far in such a short amount of time. We are incredibly thankful for the impact Scottish Rite made in Levi’s life.”

Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia

Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia

by | Oct 3, 2023 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders, General News

What is Take Flight? Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia is a curriculum written by the staff of the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children. Take Flight builds on the success of the three previous dyslexia intervention programs developed by the institution: Alphabetic Phonics, the Dyslexia Training Program and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children Literacy Program. The curriculum was designed for use by dyslexia therapists with children ages 7 years and older who have developmental dyslexia. The purpose was to enable students with dyslexia to achieve and maintain better word recognition, reading fluency, reading comprehension and aid in the transition from a therapy setting to ‘real world’ learning. How is Take Flight Implemented? Take Flight is designed for small group instruction (two to six students) for a minimum of 45 minutes per day, five days each week. Alternatively, the lessons can be taught for 60 minutes each day for four days a week. Take Flight includes 132 new learning days and 98 application days for a total of 230 days of direct instruction. What is included in the Take Flight Program for Students? Take Flight contains the five components of effective reading instruction supported by the National Reading Panel research meta-analysis and mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and reading comprehension. With Take Flight, students will learn all 44 sounds of the English language, 96 letter – sound correspondence rules and 87 affixes. The student will also learn spelling rules for base words and derivatives. Practice opportunities are also provided that are designed to improve oral reading fluency. Finally, Take Flight introduces comprehension and vocabulary building strategies for both narrative and expository text in the context of oral reading exercises to prepare students for successful, independent reading. Key research findings on Take Flight include:
  • 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.
  • Take Flight is effective when used in schools by therapists with advanced training in remediation of students with dyslexia.
  • Students with the lowest reading skills acquire the strongest gains from Take Flight instruction.
There are 109 instructors that teach Take Flight to other dyslexia therapists representing 24 training courses. Because of this work with instructors and therapists, Take Flight is servicing children in 46 states and nine countries. Our team is now reaching more than 20,000 new students with dyslexia each year. Scottish Rite for Children also offers other supplemental programs:
  • Rite Flight: A Classroom Reading Rate Program was designed for use by classroom teachers, reading specialists and special education teachers with first through eighth grade students to help students increase their reading rate and fluency. It can be used as supplemental or intervention instruction for individuals, small groups or the whole classroom.
  • Rite Flight: A Classroom Comprehension Program may be integrated into a core reading program as a supplement to address reading comprehension more completely. It is designed 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.
  • Build: A K-1 Early Reading Intervention is a 100-lesson reading intervention.  Build is a small group intervention that addresses the 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.
  • Bridges: A Dyslexia Intervention Connecting Teacher, Avatar & Student is a two-year curriculum that can be taught by a certified teacher. The avatar, Ms. Hallie, co-teaches by delivering the more complex aspects of the structured dyslexia intervention. Those familiar with Take Flight know that it was designed for use by academic language therapists. Developing that expertise is a two-year process, and at times, that can become a discrepancy between the number of students identified with dyslexia and the number of trained therapists available to provide services. Bridges is the carefully considered response to the complication.
  • Jet: A Fast-Paced Reading Intervention is a one-year curriculum that builds on the success of the four previous dyslexia intervention programs developed by the staff of Scottish Rite for Children. It was developed for individuals with dyslexia fourteen years and older.
Learn more about the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders.
Take Flight Approved as Dyslexia Intervention Program in the State of Alabama

Take Flight Approved as Dyslexia Intervention Program in the State of Alabama

by | Nov 20, 2020 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders

At Scottish Rite for Children, our team of experts strive for excellence – making sure that every child receives the best care. As pioneers and innovators, staff from the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders to share their curriculum for dyslexia with those around the country, with a goal of helping children who struggle with reading.

Recently, another state has approved Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia as a recommended dyslexia intervention for use in public schools. Along with Arkansas and parts of Colorado, Alabama is the latest state where the program has been approved.

This is an important distinction because many products are available for literacy education that do not address the specific needs of students with dyslexia. State approval affords school administrators, educators, trustees and especially parents the confidence needed to allow their students to receive this specific assistance. This approval also satisfies a legislative mandate.

Decades of scientific evidence regarding how the brain learns to read and, consequently, how to effectively teach reading, have traditionally not been incorporated systematically in the education system, particularly in the legislation surrounding instructional practices. Several states (and many more in the pipeline) have recently passed initiatives concerning the importance of the “Science of Reading” (SOR) and have mandated that public schools must use a curriculum based in the SOR for both reading instruction and intervention. This is a critical change because although many education systems mandate dyslexia identification and intervention policies, very few of them outline precisely what methods to use.

A key feature of this recent legislation is the thorough vetting of curricula before they are recommended for approval at the state level. Departments of education call for and review very extensive applications from publishers regarding curriculum content and structure, as well as scientific theory and empirical evidence supporting their program’s effectiveness. Members from our Center for Dyslexia completed the required applications and were notified that we were one of only four intervention programs were recommended by Alabama’s Literacy Task Force as meeting requirements of the Alabama Literacy Act – and Take Flight received the highest score of all intervention programs reviewed by the state. Our team will continue to seek state-level approval for Take Flight as legislature is passed in other states and the opportunity arises.

State approval of Take Flight is a reflection of the powerful efficacy of the curriculum and of the commitment to educational excellence by the State of Alabama.