From Double Deficit Dyslexia to Grade-Level Reading: Grace’s Success Story

Grace*, a student from Mendon*, MA, was in 8^th grade when her parents enrolled her at Commonwealth Learning Center in December 2022. They contacted the center because, through private testing, Grace had been recently diagnosed with double deficit dyslexia. This form of dyslexia, also known as mixed dyslexia, is characterized by weak phonological awareness and weak rapid naming and is especially difficult to remediate. Grace had been struggling since 1^st grade, and despite receiving interventions from her school, she was not making effective progress.

Challenges with Phonological Awareness and Reading Development

Phonological awareness is a foundational literacy skill all students need to become proficient readers and spellers, and it must be in place before direct phonics instruction can occur. Since Grace’s school neglected to address her deficit, she was not responding to phonics intervention, and the gap between Grace’s skills and her same-age peers continued to widen.

Dyslexia Intervention with the LiPS® Program

After consulting with Grace’s parents, center director, Beth Dinelli, M.Ed., recommended that Grace receive one-to-one instruction twice a week using the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing® Program to strengthen her ability to manipulate speech sounds. The LiPS® program directly teaches students how to link their mouth movements to letter sounds.  After attending virtual tutoring with Commonwealth Learning Center for a year, Grace’s phonological awareness was remediated. Testing demonstrated that her phonological awareness went from the 4^th percentile (poor) to the 34^th percentile (average).

Transition to Orton-Gillingham Reading Instruction

Next, Grace’s tutoring transitioned to Orton-Gillingham instruction so she could learn the rules that govern the English language. Orton-Gillingham is a structured, phonics-based, multisensory approach to reading instruction. Now Grace was ready to learn syllable types, syllable division, and decoding and spelling rules. Her tutor created an individualized scope and sequence of instruction and implemented a diagnostic and prescriptive approach to her lesson planning to achieve optimal progress.

Personalized Virtual Tutoring and Reading Progress

Grace saw the same teacher each time she attended tutoring, giving them the opportunity to develop a rapport and for her tutor to gain a deep understanding of Grace’s performance and pinpoint areas that needed continual review. After receiving one-to-one O-G virtual tutoring 2-3 times per week over the course of two years, Grace was reading on grade level. Her reading rate increased from the 25^th percentile to the 75^th percentile and her reading fluency increased from the 25^th percentile to the 50^th percentile.

From Dyslexia Remediation to Academic Confidence

These amazing results could not have been achieved without her teacher’s skillful tutelage and Grace’s motivation and determination. Although Grace no longer requires instruction and her confidence is soaring, she requested to continue with her Orton-Gillingham tutoring so she would be able to read the complex academic vocabulary in her school-based assignments. Further, Grace reports she is so confident in her skills that she is interning in a second-grade classroom and using skills she learned from her O-G instruction to help the students with their spelling. Grace will be entering her senior year of high school in September and reports that she would like to major in education in college so she can pursue becoming a special education teacher to help students like herself.

About Commonwealth Learning Center

Commonwealth Learning Center is an independent nonprofit organization that specializes in supporting individuals with language-based learning differences. We have been providing in-person academic support to families in Massachusetts for nearly forty years and now also offer virtual services nationwide. Learning differently, thinking differently, succeeding.

*Name and town have been changed for privacy.

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