Literacy Academy
Our Literacy Academy reading intervention program is designed for students with dyslexia or other specific learning disabilities, as well as students who do not have diagnosed disability but who do demonstrate reading deficits. Prior to enrolling a student in the Literacy Academy reading intervention program, a reading skills assessment is conducted to identify the student’s reading skills deficits.
Questions?
Understandably, parents have a lot of questions. I've outlined the most common questions below. Please read through these first; if you still have questions, get in touch.
Literacy Academy FAQs
What skills are measured in the Reading Skills Assessment?
Decoding/Word Recognition
Morphological Awareness
Oral Fluency
Encoding/Spelling
Vocabulary
Comprehension
What does the assessment include and what is the cost?
The cost for the reading skills assessment is $150 and includes an in-person student session with 10-12 research-based assessment tools, as well as a parent follow-up conference to review the results and determine next steps. A detailed written report can be provided for an additional $50 fee.
What assessments are used?
San Diego Quick Assessment of Reading Ability
WordID 20/20 Screener
WordID 360 Diagnostic Exam
Dibels 8 Maze Comprehension
CORE Reading Maze Comprehension
WordID Maze Comprehension
Dibels 8 Oral Reading Fluency
MASI-R Oral Reading Fluency
EasyCBM Oral Reading Fluency
IMSE Orton-Gilingham Encoding Assessment
CORE Vocabulary Screening Test
EasyCBM Basic Vocabulary
EasyCBM Basic Reading Measure
EasyCBM Proficient Reading Measure
CommonLit Reading Assessment (Aligned with CCSS)
Are you qualified to conduct an evaluation for dyslexia or other specific learning disabilities in reading?
No, I am not qualified to evaluate or “diagnose” disabilities. However, as a reading specialist and Licensed Dyslexia Therapist, I am qualified to assess skill deficits, recognize characteristics of dyslexia and other reading learning disabilities, and make referrals to the appropriate professionals who can complete those evaluations. Additionally, I am highly qualified to plan and implement reading interventions and dyslexia therapy for students who need those services.
Please see the Meet the Team section of the website for more details about our team members' qualifications and experience.
What is reading intervention?
It is important for parents to understand that there is a difference between tutoring and academic intervention. Tutoring usually involves tasks like homework help and assistance with the types of assignments being given at school. True reading intervention is about addressing the individual skill deficits that may be causing academic difficulties. It is strategically designed for each child's particular needs, is research-based, and is structured and sequenced with specific end goals in mind.
What reading intervention program do you use with emergent and developing early readers?
In our Literacy Academy program, we believe that effective reading intervention is built on strong instructional principles—not a one-size-fits-all program.
Our team includes licensed reading specialists, dyslexia therapists, and experienced interventionists with more than 130 combined years of teaching experience. We hold advanced degrees, certifications, and specialized training grounded in the body of research commonly known as the Science of Reading.
But we also recognize that reading is more than phonics.
Strong readers don't simply learn to decode words. They learn how words work.
That's why our instruction intentionally integrates the many interconnected components of literacy, including:
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Phonics and decoding
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Phonemic awareness
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Orthographic mapping
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Morphology
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Vocabulary
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Syntax
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Comprehension
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Written language
Rather than following a scripted curriculum, our educators draw from a carefully curated collection of high-quality instructional resources and research-based practices. This allows us to tailor instruction to each student's strengths, needs, and rate of progress while maintaining a structured, explicit, and systematic approach.
As students develop beyond foundational decoding, many transition into our Word Detectives™ approach—a word inquiry model that teaches students to investigate how words are built through morphology, etymology, orthography, and vocabulary. Instead of simply “sounding out” words, students learn to analyze them, make meaningful connections, and apply that understanding to increasingly complex reading and writing.
Our goal has never been to teach students one reading program.
Our goal is to help students become confident, curious readers who understand the remarkable structure of the English language.
What reading program do you use with older readers?
As students grow, the demands of reading change dramatically.
In the early grades, students are learning how to read. Instruction understandably emphasizes foundational skills such as phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding.
By upper elementary school and middle school, however, students must also learn how words work.
Academic success increasingly depends on understanding the structure, history, and meaning of the sophisticated vocabulary found in textbooks, literature, science, history, and college-preparatory coursework.
This is where my Word Detectives™ approach begins.
Word Detectives™ is a word inquiry approach to literacy that teaches students to investigate words rather than simply memorize them.
Students learn to ask questions such as:
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How was this word built?
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What does the base mean?
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Which prefixes and suffixes contribute meaning?
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Where did this word come from?
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How does its history explain its spelling?
To answer these questions, students explore the interconnected systems that make English such a rich and logical language, including:
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Morphology (structure through meaningful word parts)
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Etymology (word origins and history)
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Orthography (spelling patterns)
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Phonology (speech sounds)
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Vocabulary (meaning and usage)
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Syntax (sentence structure)
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Fluency (rate, accuracy, and prosody)
Instead of seeing a word like misinterpretation as one long, intimidating string of letters, students learn to analyze it as: mis + inter+ pret + ate/ + ion
Suddenly, the word becomes understandable—not only in its pronunciation, but also in its meaning.
This investigative approach strengthens far more than vocabulary. Research has shown that morphological awareness supports word recognition, spelling, reading fluency, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension—all of which become increasingly important as students encounter more complex academic texts.
In our Literacy Academy program, we believe that words are the building blocks of language.
When students understand how words are built, they gain the confidence and strategies to unlock thousands of unfamiliar words independently.
That is the ultimate goal of Word Detectives—not simply to teach today's words, but to equip students to investigate tomorrow's.
What is the cost of the Literacy Academy reading intervention program?
The cost of the program varies based upon the needs of the individual student; for example, factors such as the frequency and duration of intervention sessions play a role in the overall cost. Options will be discussed with parents following the completion of the reading skills assessment.