Educational Services · Academic Language Therapy
Structured Reading & Writing Tutoring for Dyslexia in Plano
Individualized reading and dyslexia intervention — sometimes called academic language therapy — for students from kindergarten through high school.
If your child guesses at words, avoids reading aloud, is falling behind grade level, or reads fine but doesn’t seem to “get” what they’ve read, you don’t need to guess at what to do next. Every program here is matched to your child’s specific need — from structured reading tutoring, to intensive dyslexia-focused instruction, to comprehension and writing support — and led under direct CALT-QI supervision.
How We Match the Right Kind of Help to Your Child
Not every struggling reader needs the same thing — and “reading help” isn’t one thing. Some kids need to learn how to sound out and spell words in a clear, structured, step-by-step way. A smaller group — kids with dyslexia — need that same kind of instruction, but more of it: more days a week, more one-on-one focus. And some kids can already read the words on the page but don’t hold onto the meaning, or have plenty to say out loud yet can’t get it onto paper. Those are genuinely different needs, so we offer three kinds of help. We start by figuring out which one your child needs — then match the kind of help, the program, and the pace to that answer, not the other way around.
Reading science backs this split: reading comprehension is decoding (sounding out words) working together with language comprehension (understanding them) — a child can be strong in one and still get stuck, so the two need different kinds of instruction.
Pathway 1 — Dyslexia-Focused Reading Instruction
Intensive, one-on-one, multisensory tutoring for children with dyslexia — built on the MTA method (the Multisensory Teaching Approach).
What makes this pathway different
This is the same structured, evidence-based kind of reading instruction as our Structured Reading & Spelling Tutoring pathway below — MTA is structured literacy. What sets this pathway apart isn’t a fancier method; it’s the dose and the focus. Dyslexia-focused instruction runs at higher intensity — 4–5 short sessions a week, one child at a time, with the lessons closely tailored to your child — because that consistency is where a dyslexia-specific program does its work. It’s built for children with a dyslexia diagnosis or a clear dyslexia profile, the same approach specialized dyslexia therapists use, delivered here as one-on-one instruction.
About “multisensory.” MTA teaches through sight, sound, touch, and movement together — a hallmark of its Orton-Gillingham heritage, the tradition born at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas. Multisensory is how the lessons are delivered, and it’s often considered a gold-standard way to teach kids with dyslexia to read. The strength of the results rests on the structured-literacy content underneath — explicit, systematic instruction, which has strong research support — rather than on any claim that engaging more senses is, by itself, a proven cure.
The program inside this pathway
MTA (Multisensory Teaching Approach). A Texas-born, Orton-Gillingham–based structured-literacy curriculum in the Alphabetic Phonics / Texas Scottish Rite tradition. It teaches reading, spelling, and handwriting together through multisensory, mastery-based lessons designed for students with dyslexia, grades 1 through high school.
Signs this may be the right fit
- Sounding out unfamiliar words is a real, ongoing struggle — not just an occasional stumble.
- Your child guesses at words from the first letter or the picture, and leans on memorizing whole words instead.
- Reading aloud gets avoided — sometimes to sidestep the embarrassment of it.
- Reading is slow and effortful, and spelling stays hard even after practice.
- The gap hasn’t closed with regular classroom help or lighter tutoring.
- There’s already a dyslexia evaluation, or a family history and pattern that point clearly that way.
Sessions & fee: 4–5 short one-on-one sessions a week, by design — the frequency the program recommends for fidelity. After-school life is real, though: kids have activities, families have schedules, and you have the final say on what your week can hold. We’ll be straight about what a lighter week means for pace — we won’t promise the same results at reduced intensity, but we’ll work with what your family can sustain. $75 per session.
Pathway 2 — Structured Reading & Spelling Tutoring
Structured Literacy tutoring — explicit, step-by-step instruction that teaches your child how letters and sounds work, so they can sound out and spell words on their own.
What makes this pathway different
This pathway is for the child who is behind on reading and spelling but doesn’t need the full intensity of the dyslexia-focused pathway — a struggling reader with a decoding or spelling gap they can close with targeted, structured tutoring. It’s the same research-based, structured approach, at fewer sessions a week. And it works: structured, explicit phonics instruction is among the best-supported practices in reading science, with substantial evidence that it’s effective for all readers, not only kids with dyslexia.
Spelling is part of that same picture: English spelling is far more learnable than it feels — roughly half of words follow reliable sound-letter rules, another third-plus are regular except for one sound, and only a small handful are truly irregular. That’s exactly what the “& Spelling” half of this pathway is built to teach.
One toolkit, matched to your child — not three competing programs. We draw on three structured-literacy resources — UFLI Foundations, Friends on the Block, and Guided Phonics + Beyond — as a single toolkit. Which one (or which combination) we reach for depends on your child’s age, profile, and where the screening shows the gap. You don’t choose between them, and there’s no “better” one to hold out for — that’s our job to match. That’s not a workaround: the International Dyslexia Association describes structured literacy itself as an approach, not a single program, with educators integrating whichever programs fit the student.
The programs inside this pathway
UFLI Foundations. An explicit, systematic phonics program created by reading researchers at the University of Florida Literacy Institute, built for both core instruction and intervention. In a peer-reviewed study, students taught with UFLI Foundations gained more than a full standard deviation in early-literacy skills compared with typical instruction.
Friends on the Block. A structured, text-based early-literacy program developed by reading researchers at SMU, built for students who need the most intensive, explicit early-reading support — including students with developmental disabilities. Its design draws on federally funded research at SMU into how struggling and beginning readers learn to read.
I studied and trained under Dr. Jill Allor — an SMU professor and co-developer of the Friends on the Block curriculum — during my master’s coursework at SMU’s Simmons School, delivering required structured-literacy instructional hours and submitting recorded sessions for instructional review.
Guided Phonics + Beyond (Tara West). A Science-of-Reading–aligned phonics curriculum using explicit, systematic routines — phonemic awareness, word mapping, and decodable texts — consistent with structured-literacy best practices. We use it as one of our structured tools for delivering explicit, systematic phonics.
Signs this may be the right fit
- Your child has trouble sounding out words, guesses often, or avoids reading aloud.
- Rhyming, hearing the separate sounds in a word, or blending sounds together is hard.
- Reading takes so much effort that understanding the sentence gets lost.
- Your child is behind on reading and spelling, but there’s no dyslexia diagnosis or clear dyslexia profile — and the gap looks like one targeted, structured tutoring can close.
Sessions & fee: Fewer sessions a week than the dyslexia-focused pathway — set to what your child’s gap calls for, decided together after screening. $60 per session.
Pathway 3 — Comprehension & Writing Support
For the child who can read the words but doesn’t hold onto the meaning — or has plenty to say out loud but can’t get it onto the page. Help with understanding what’s read, and with the handwriting-and-spelling and idea-organizing side of writing.
What makes this pathway different
Sounding out words and understanding them are two different skills. This pathway is for children who can already decode the words on the page but stall on the meaning — or who can tell you a great story out loud yet freeze when it’s time to write. That’s not a phonics gap; it’s the language-comprehension-and-expression side of reading and writing, and it needs its own kind of instruction.
What we work on in this pathway
- Dialogic reading — turning story time into a conversation. A research-backed read-aloud technique where the back-and-forth builds vocabulary and spoken-language skills. We use it to strengthen the comprehension side of reading.
- Vocabulary & background-knowledge building. The more a child already knows about a topic — and the stronger their vocabulary — the easier it is to understand and remember what they read. There’s broad consensus in reading research that background knowledge is essential to comprehension.
- Transcription — the handwriting-and-spelling side of writing. When forming letters and spelling still takes real effort, there’s less mental room left for actually composing — effortful transcription eats into the same limited working memory a child needs for planning, organizing, and composing ideas. Direct, explicit work on handwriting and spelling frees kids up to focus on what they’re trying to say.
- SRSD written expression (Self-Regulated Strategy Development). A writing framework that teaches kids a clear, repeatable process for planning, drafting, and revising — with built-in self-monitoring. It’s one of the most heavily studied writing approaches, with strong effects on writing quality overall, and encouraging early evidence for students with learning disabilities specifically.
Signs this may be the right fit
- Your child reads aloud just fine but can’t recall the details, the order of events, or the main point afterward.
- They struggle to retell a story in a way that makes sense.
- They can tell you a whole idea out loud, but it barely makes it onto the page.
- Starting, organizing, or finishing a piece of writing is where it falls apart.
Sessions & fee: A cadence set to your child’s need, decided together after screening. $65 per session.
A note on overlap: kids don’t always fit one clean box. A child might start in one pathway and add another as they progress — for example, closing a decoding gap first, then shifting to comprehension and writing. The screening-and-records conversation sorts this out; we won’t force your child into a single category to make the page tidy.
How We Find the Right Fit
How we figure out which pathway — and where to start. You tell us what you’re seeing at home, at school, in report cards or teacher notes, and share any records or testing data you already have. From there, Michael checks foundational reading skills using established, published screening tools (things like The PAST — the Phonological Awareness Screening Test — along with DIBELS or Acadience Reading), not a guess from conversation alone. Those results, read alongside your records, are what point to the right pathway and the right starting place.
How we decide what’s next. Where your child starts, and how we adjust from there, is driven by those screening results together with the built-in progress checks inside each program itself — not a single number or a one-time test. We match instruction to what the screening and your records show; a child may sit across more than one pathway, and that’s fine.
What we don’t do. We don’t provide a formal eligibility determination (for example, a dyslexia identification for school purposes) in-house — we screen and match instruction, we don’t diagnose. When a family needs that formal label, we point them to one of a small number of outside assessors we have a trusted, established relationship with — and we’re glad to help you get there.
How It Works
Four plain steps
1
You reach out. Call, email, or use the education contact form — whichever feels easiest.
2
We talk. A short conversation about what you’re seeing at home or hearing from school.
3
We assess. A short foundational-skills check using established screening tools (The PAST, DIBELS, or Acadience Reading) to see where your child actually is, not a guess from conversation alone.
4
We match a program and start. Based on what we find, we recommend a program and pace — matched to your child, not a one-size curriculum.
Where & How We Work
Where: In-person at our Plano office, 7150 Preston Road, Suite 300, Plano, Texas 75024.
Who we serve: Families across North DFW — Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, Prosper, and Celina to the north; Richardson, Addison, and North Dallas to the south.
Format: In-person sessions at our Plano office are the primary way we work with students. Virtual sessions are available by arrangement for families for whom that’s a better fit — but if you’re able to come in, in-person is how we recommend starting. In select cases — and with the school’s approval — sessions can be arranged on a student’s school campus.
Fees
| Program | Fee |
|---|---|
| MTA / Dyslexia Tutoring | $75 per session |
| Structured Reading & Spelling Tutoring | $60 per session |
| Comprehension & Writing Support | $65 per session |
Session lengths: educational sessions run 50–60 minutes inside a 60-minute scheduled period — the extra time is built in for transition and wrap-up, not lost time.
Who’s Teaching Your Child
- Currently completing supervised clinical training toward full Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) certification through the Academic Language Therapy Association (ALTA), working under the direct supervision of a CALT-Qualified Instructor.
- Pursuing a Master of Education at Southern Methodist University with a graduate specialization in Learning Therapy.
- 10 years teaching kindergarten and special education in a local school district before specializing in literacy intervention.
ALTA certification requires 200+ instructional hours, 700+ supervised practicum hours, and demonstration teaching — the most rigorous dyslexia-therapy credential in the field. Every session is delivered under that supervision and standard.
Want the full picture of what CALT training means? See Michael’s credentials.
Frequently Asked Questions
Take Flight & MTA — how they relate
My child’s school uses Take Flight — how does MTA relate?
They’re sibling programs. Both MTA and Take Flight grew out of the Alphabetic Phonics work developed at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, so your child’s school-based Take Flight instruction and Michael’s MTA tutoring share the same Orton-Gillingham foundation, sequence logic, and research base. You don’t need Take Flight specifically — you need instruction from that same evidence base, delivered one-on-one or in a small group, at a pace matched to your child. MTA is that instruction. (Michael delivers MTA; he does not deliver Take Flight and is not Take Flight-trained — the two programs are related, not interchangeable, and this page describes how they relate, not a claim to provide both.)
How is private MTA tutoring different from what my child gets at school?
School-based Take Flight instruction typically runs in a small group on a fixed school schedule. Private MTA tutoring is one-on-one (or small-group by arrangement), scheduled around your family, and paced to mastery rather than a class calendar — many families use both together rather than choosing one over the other.
Ready to talk?
Start with a free 15-minute phone call — quick questions, whether this is the right fit, no obligation.
When you’re ready: consultation, $40 (45–60 minutes) — applied toward your child’s first session when you continue.
Curious what CALT training actually means? See Michael’s credentials.