Educational Services · Reading & Dyslexia Support

Reading & Spelling Instruction

Your child gets explicit, step-by-step lessons in phonics and spelling, built around exactly which sounds and patterns still feel shaky. Session pace and frequency are matched to how big the gap is, not a fixed class schedule, and progress gets checked before we move on to the next skill.

Here is the thinking behind how we build that instruction, in plain terms.

Think of reading science like building a house. The Five Pillars of reading and Scarborough’s Reading Rope are the architectural blueprints: decades of research agreeing on what every reader has to build. Any legitimate structured literacy program is a different construction crew working from those same blueprints. One crew might use different tools or move at a different pace, but they are all building the same house. And if a program skips phonics or vocabulary, that is not a different style of house. That is a house missing its foundation or its roof.

That is why we describe this work by what gets built, not by brand names. What matters for your child is not which program’s name is on the box. It is whether the instruction is explicit, systematic, and aimed at the specific areas where your child needs the most support.

The Features This Instruction Is Built On

Explicit, step-by-step phonics and decoding

This instruction is for the child who is behind on reading and spelling but doesn’t need the full intensity of recommended MTA programming: 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, and studies show it helps all readers, not just kids with dyslexia.

Finding exactly where the gap is

Before any lesson starts, we find out exactly which sounds and patterns are the actual trouble spots, not lessons in general, but the specific ones your child needs.

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.

Spelling, taught directly, not left to memorization

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 instruction is built to teach.

Checking mastery before moving on

Structured literacy calls this being diagnostic: checking that a skill has actually stuck before building the next one on top of it, rather than assuming a lesson taught once means a lesson learned. Built-in mastery checks inside each lesson show us when your child is ready to move forward, and when a skill needs more practice first. Nothing advances on the calendar alone.

Pace and frequency matched to the gap

How many sessions a week, and for how long, is set by the size of the gap, not a fixed weekly minimum. Some children need a short, focused block to catch up; others need a longer runway. We settle on a cadence together, once screening shows where your child actually stands, and can adjust it as the gap closes.

The Programs We Draw On

These are examples of crews building to the same blueprint, not a menu for you to choose from yourself.

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 2025 peer-reviewed study published in Reading Research Quarterly (Lane et al.), kindergarten and first-grade students taught with UFLI Foundations gained more than a full standard deviation in early-literacy skills compared with peers who received 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: More flexibility and fewer sessions a week compared to recommended MTA programming, set to what your child’s gap calls for, decided together after screening. $60 per session.

Ready to talk?

Start with a free 15-minute phone consultation: quick questions, whether this is the right fit, no obligation.

Book a Consultation

Optional: an extended consultation, $40 (45–60 minutes) to go through school records and paperwork in depth, applied toward your child’s first session when you continue.

See the full range of programs and fees on the Dyslexia & Reading Tutoring landing page.