| Decoding - the process of
sequentially segmenting sounds represented by letters and blending
those sounds into
words or syllables. |
| Digraph - two adjacent letters representing
on speech sound. It can be two consonants (th, sh, ng) or two
vowels (ea, ay, ei). |
| Dysgraphia - difficulty
with handwriting, placement and/or size of letters. Writing requires
more time, energy and stamina. |
| Dyslexia - a specific learning disability
that is neurologically based often runs in families and is represented
in unexpected difficulties in reading, writing and spelling. |
| Dyslexia Therapist - certified
specialist (Dyslexia Therapist, Educational Therapist, Certified
Academic
Language Therapist) who is specially trained to work with severely
dyslexic students and has completed a multisensory training accredited
program. |
| Dyslexia Tutor - a person who is trained
to offer support services to students in reading, writing and
spelling
through instruction in areas of curriculum. |
| Encoding - the process of segmenting the
sounds of a word into corresponding letters (spelling), sound
symbol
relationships and spelling rules. |
| Direct Instruction - explicit instruction
in a language which literally teaches the structure of the language
in a step by step process from simple to complex and concrete
to abstract. |
| Fluency - the rapid, smooth flow which characterizes
how a skilled student reads, writes and spells. |
| Modification/Accommodations - legal adaptations
to a student’s educational plan to promote success in school
or adaptations in the workplace. |
| Multisensory - The simultaneous use of the
visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile pathways in the brain
to enhance memory and learning. |
| Orton-Gillingham - the words used to describe
the work of Dr. Samuel Orton, Anna Gillingham, and Bessie Stillman
whom developed the theory and methods for managing written language
disorders such as dyslexia. |
| Phonics - letter/sound correspondence. |
| Phonemic Awareness - the ability to understand
the internal linguistic structure of words. The talent of perceiving
syllables and the order of individual sounds within a syllable,
being able to map sounds to their corresponding letters. |
| Syllable - a word part that is pronounced
together in one beat. Every syllable must contain a vowel. |
