Dyslexia Resource Syllabus

Course: Dyslexia Resource
 Grade Levels: Junior High (6, 7, 8)
 Curriculum: Reading by Design (Region 4 Education Service Center)
 Instructor: Cynthia Durham, C-SLDI
 School Year: 2026-2027

Course Description

Dyslexia Resource is a specialized instructional program designed to provide students with explicit, systematic, and multisensory reading instruction. Using the Reading by Design curriculum, students will develop skills in phonological awareness, sound-symbol association, syllabication, morphology, reading fluency, spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and written expression. Instruction is delivered in a structured literacy format aligned with the needs of students identified with dyslexia.

Course Goals

Students will:

• Strengthen phonological awareness skills.
• Develop automatic recognition of sound-symbol relationships.
• Improve decoding and encoding (spelling) skills.
• Increase reading fluency and accuracy.
• Expand vocabulary and morphological knowledge.
• Strengthen reading comprehension strategies.
• Improve written language skills.
• Build confidence and independence as readers and writers.

Instructional Program

The primary instructional resource will be Reading by Design, a comprehensive dyslexia intervention program that includes:

• Multisensory instruction
• Explicit and systematic teaching
• Sequential skill development
• Continuous review and cumulative practice
• Diagnostic and prescriptive teaching methods
• Instruction may include:
• Direct teacher-led lessons
• Guided practice
• Individual reading activities
• Decodable text reading
• Fluency practice
• Written language activities
• Technology-supported learning tools

Units of Study (Reading by Design Scope and Sequence)

Volume 1: Early Literacy Foundations

Focus Skills:

• Phonological and phonemic awareness
• Sound-symbol correspondence
• Letter formation and handwriting
• Consonant and short vowel sounds
• Decoding and encoding simple words
• High-frequency word recognition
• Introduction to reading fluency

Student Outcomes: Students will develop foundational literacy skills necessary for accurate decoding, spelling, and reading simple connected text.

Volume 2: Developing Decoding Skills

Focus Skills:

• Consonant blends and digraphs
• Beginning and ending word patterns
• Long vowel patterns
• Vowel-consonant-e patterns
• Reading and spelling one- and two-syllable words
• Fluency practice with controlled text

Student Outcomes: Students will apply phonics patterns with increased automaticity and improve accuracy when reading and spelling unfamiliar words.

Volume 3: Expanding Word Recognition

Focus Skills:

• Advanced vowel teams and diphthongs
• R-controlled vowels
• Additional syllable types
• Syllable division strategies
• Multisyllabic word reading and spelling
• Vocabulary development
• Reading fluency and expression

Student Outcomes: Students will develop efficient word attack skills and improve reading accuracy, rate, and confidence with increasingly complex texts.

Volume 4: Morphology and Comprehension

Focus Skills:

• Prefixes, suffixes, and root words
• Greek and Latin word elements
• Vocabulary expansion
• Reading comprehension strategies
• Inferencing and critical thinking
• Written language development
• Fluency with grade-level text

Student Outcomes: Students will use morphological knowledge to decode, spell, and understand more sophisticated vocabulary while strengthening comprehension and written expression.

Volume 5: Advanced Literacy Applications

Focus Skills:

• Complex morphology
• Advanced multisyllabic word reading
• Academic vocabulary
• Reading comprehension across genres
• Summarizing and synthesizing information
• Written responses to text
• Independent application of decoding and comprehension strategies
• Student Outcomes: Students will demonstrate independence in reading and writing by applying structured literacy strategies to increasingly complex academic texts and tasks.

Note: Students progress through Reading by Design volumes at an individualized pace based on performance data, mastery checks, and progress monitoring results rather than grade-level expectations alone. Instruction is diagnostic, prescriptive, and tailored to each student's needs.

Classroom Expectations

Students are expected to:

• Participate actively in all lessons.
• Use multisensory materials appropriately.
• Demonstrate perseverance when learning challenging skills.
• Respect classmates and learning environments.
• Bring necessary materials to class each day.

Assessment

Student progress will be monitored through:

Formative Assessments

• Daily lesson participation
• Oral reading checks
• Spelling dictation
• Fluency practice
• Teacher observations

Summative Assessments

• Reading by Design mastery checks
• Progress monitoring measures
• IEP goal progress reports (if applicable)

Communication

Families are encouraged to support reading practice at home by:

• Reading 20 minutes or more daily with their child
• Encouraging the use of learned decoding strategies
• Maintaining communication with the teacher regarding student progress

Supply List

• Headphones (if required)
• School-issued technology device
• Growth mindset

Statement of Success

The goal of Dyslexia Resource is not only to improve reading and writing skills but also to develop confident, resilient learners who understand that success comes through practice, persistence, and the use of effective strategies.