Educational Program

Educational Model

Orton Academy serves 2nd-8th grade students with dyslexia and other reading difficulties. Each enrolled student is provided with daily Dyslexia / Academic Language Therapy delivered by highly trained and nationally accredited Certified Academic Language Therapists and Therapists-in-Training.

Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia, the primary intervention utilized by Orton’s therapists, is an Orton-Gillingham based, comprehensive, structured, and sequential curriculum incorporating multisensory techniques to addresses the five components of reading indicated by the National Reading Panel research meta-analysis as well as writing and spelling. Dyslexia therapy classes are kept small, between 4 and 6 students dependent upon individualized need.

Within the core classrooms, Orton Academy universally implements a high level of dyslexia appropriate accommodations to support the needs of all learners in all subject areas.

Core Programming

ELA

The Colorado Academic Standards for English Language Arts are delivered through Great Minds’ Wit & Wisdom comprehensive core reading and writing curriculum. Wit & Wisdom, is designed so that students encounter a rich and rigorous experience with literature, history, art and science, helping students interact with complex texts and ideas.

Math

The Colorado Academic Standards for Mathematics will be delivered through Eureka Math core math curriculum. Eureka Math is a rigorous, coherent approach to math which focuses on understanding the why behind mathematics rather than relying on memorization. Coupled with multisensory instructional techniques, this approach to mathematics takes students from concrete models to representational drawings in order to develop the understanding of the concepts before asking students to solve algorithms to put the concepts into practice. Online platforms, including ST Math (Spatial-Temporal Math), Freckle, and Zearn provide additional opportunities for practice at each student’s independent level. .

Science

The Colorado Academic Standards for Science for grades 2 through 5 will be delivered through Core Knowledge Science, a comprehensive curriculum resource which provides a wide variety of hands-on learning experiences. The adoption process for a new science curriculum is scheduled for implementation in the 2022-2023 school year for grades 6 through 8.

Social Studies

The Colorado Academic Standards for Social Studies is heavily integrated into our ELA curriculum. Additional curricular programming from Core Knowledge History and Government, the Colorado Department of Education’s Primary Source Sets. The adoption process for a new social studies curriculum is scheduled for implementation in the 2022-2023 school year.

Literacy Interventions

  • Certified Academic Language Therapists deliver Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia to all students struggling in reading.

  • Multisensory Structured Language Literacy Interventions


Certified Academic Language Therapists

Supporting Students Who Fit a Profile for Dyslexia

Academic Language Therapy Association (ALTA) Certified Academic Language Therapists provide diagnostic, explicit, systematic multisensory structured language intervention which builds a high degree of accuracy, knowledge, and independence for students with written-language disorders, including dyslexia.

Clinically Diagnostic and Prescriptive

Certified Academic Language Therapists (CALT) review comprehensive evaluation reports and academic samples, then administer academic skills assessments for baseline documentation. Throughout Multisensory Structured Language therapy sessions, student performance informs diagnostic and prescriptive intervention to create a high level of accuracy, fluency, and understanding for independence in written language skills.

Skilled in Multisensory Structured Language

Certified Academic Language Therapists integrate visual, auditory, and motor processing with explicit understanding of the structure of the English language, which provides a solid foundation in written language skills.

Intensive

Certified Academic Language Therapists provide expert, skilled one-to-one or small-group intervention, with high frequency over a sustained period of time, which links explicit understanding, repeated practice and performance to develop accurate and fluent reading with comprehension.

Results Driven

Certified Academic Language Therapists enable explicit understanding and application of the structure of the English language (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and orthography), to create the foundation for age-appropriate oral and written language, including reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension, spelling, and written expression.

Supplemental Programming

Discovery Class Time

There will be a discovery time for each student. This class will integrate art, music, and physical education standards into one time period to ensure we are nurturing the valuable gifts our students possess outside the core academic realm