Important Notice: Our new branch in Dubuque, IA has its own website. Please click here for information specific to that location.

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Dyslexia Testing Des Moines

We’re Here to Help

Is your child bright and intelligent, but struggles with reading, writing and spelling?  Do they guess at short words, stumble through long words, and tire easily when reading? Have they had help in school for reading, but still struggle? 80% of students who struggle with reading have undiagnosed dyslexia, and they need a very specific method to master reading. We help students master reading every day, and we don’t give up on them.

We help students from kindergarten through high school. Most students simply need the Orton-Gilligham method to learn to master reading and excel at school. We get to the heart of your child’s reading, writing and spelling challenges by pinpointing what is causing their weaknesses, and then we tailor every lesson to their specific needs. That is why we use the Orton-Gillingham method. It’s philosophy is to teach children to be able to break the reading code based upon their skill set, and build from the simple to the complex, at their pace. Every lesson is taught one-on-one with the same tutor every time.

We provide a home-like atmosphere and services where children feel comfortable and excel! Our tutors are mothers and adults whose specialty is working with children who struggle. All of our tutors are trained in the Wilson Reading System, an Orton-Gillingham method.

Aspire Academy provides:

What is Dyslexia?

“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading.  comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”

Adopted by the IDA Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002. This Definition is also used by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Many state education codes, including New Jersey, Ohio and Utah, have adopted this definition.

Dyslexia is a heritable condition that is believed to be linked to three genes.  It is neurobiological, and it is believed to be a different brain organization. It has been proven that people with dyslexia use areas on the right side of the brain to read, instead of the more efficient left-side.

School Kids Reading Book Together

What is Orton-Gillingham?

Orton-Gillingham (OG) is a direct, multisensory, structured, and diagnostic way to teach the connections between sounds and letters. It allows struggling readers to master the reading code.

The OG approach offers clear, straightforward instruction on the sound each alphabet letter makes and how those letters are combined to represent words.

This method is not new or a fad but has been widely used and validated in classrooms, private tutoring and research for over 80 years. There are many publishers of Orton-Gillingham methods. At Aspire Academy, we use the Wilson Reading System created by Barbara Wilson. It takes the Orton-Gillingham method and teaches it using the five building blocks of reading in every lesson. It has robust vocabulary, plenty of decodable text for practice of skills, and prescribed ways to teach prefixes, suffixes, sight words, latin roots and base words. It provides training, published materials and a robust web site as resources to schools, teachers, tutoring.

What Our Clients Are Saying

Aspire Academy's New Location

We're excited to announce our new sister branch in Dubuque, Iowa!

Disclaimer:
Our new branch in Dubuque has its own website.
Please visit Dubuque.AspireIowa.com for information specific to that location.
Make sure to double-check the website you’re on to avoid any confusion!