Rachel Terrell, an intervention specialist with Benton-Carroll-Salem Local Schools, works with BCS Schools and students on Dyslexia Training.

Ottawa County Community Foundation (OCCF) is providing full-tuition grants for Ottawa County educators for a unique professional development opportunity. The 30-hour Structured Literacy in the Classroom series is based on the Orton Gillingham method of teaching children with dyslexia and is intended for anyone who works with struggling readers and writers.

According to instructor Kara Lee, participants will gain a deep understanding of the structure of English, learn the science of how the brain learns to read, and have opportunities to practice multisensory, structured, explicit instruction for students who are struggling to read and write. Series topics include: Science of Reading; Dyslexia; Oral Language Development; Phonological Processing; History of English; Decoding/Phonics; Written Syllable types and Syllable Division; Fluency; Basic Morphology; Assessment for intervention.

Lee said the series will begin on Tuesday, Dec. 1 and will be delivered virtually via 15, two-hour sessions on Tuesday evenings. It is designed to accommodate working professionals, including regular and special education teachers, reading interventionists, and speech/language therapists. Online resources, manuals, and instructional materials will be provided with course registration and graduate credit hours from Ashland University are available.

Rachel Terrell, an intervention specialist at RC Waters Elementary School in Oak Harbor, completed the training in August and is already implementing the strategies with her students.

“Orton Gillingham training has made a huge impact on my classroom instruction. My students are immersed in explicit and systematic literacy exercises that have improved their reading skills and also raised their reading confidence,” Terrell said.

Kara Lee is the owner and principal trainer at Horton Educational Services, LLC. She holds a Master of Science and Educational Specialist degrees from Miami University and is an Instructor of Certified Academic Language Practitioners and a Certified Academic Language Therapist. She has worked as a school psychologist, intervention specialist, and Trainer and Supervisor for the Children’s Dyslexia Center in Columbus.

OCCF will provide grants for up to fifteen Ottawa County teachers to cover the full registration fee of $1,250 for the 30-hour Structured Literacy in the Classroom series.  The deadline to register is Friday, Nov. 6. Interested professionals may enroll in the course or submit questions by sending an email to Lee at hortonedserv@gmail.com.

More information regarding the training can be found at the OCCF website ottawaccf.org.

In 2019, the Ottawa County Community Foundation distributed over $483,000 in grants and scholarships. Since its beginning in 1999, OCCF has distributed over $5.4 million. It ended the year with assets of $8.8 million. For more information about grants, scholarships, or updates about OCCF, visit ottawaccf.org.