My adolescent is dyslexic and Phonics First Orton-Gillingham method is just what she needs to build self-esteem and study skills. Also, the staff accommodates my athlete’s busy, ever-changing schedule.
– Jan, RLAC Parent, Troy, MI

Professional Development Events & Webinars

RLAC is now offering many of our graduate level courses and workshops as live E-Learning Webinars! Chat and ask questions as you learn from the comfort of your own home.

E-Learning

Unlocking Unfamiliar Words: Syllabication Strategies for Success

Syllabication instruction teaches struggling readers strategies to decode multisyllable words quickly and accurately. Students learn to systematically break a multisyllabic word into into small, manageable syllables, identify the vowel sounds within each syllable and read the word. This workshop provides teachers with an understanding of the syllabication process and in-depth instructions for teaching structured, sequential, and cumulative lessons to students.
When: 1st Offering: February 21 & 28, 2012,  4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.  EST
ADDITIONAL OFFERING February 21 & 28, 2012,  6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.  EST

2nd Offering: November 20th & 27th,  4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.  EST
ADDITIONAL OFFERING November 20th & 27th,  5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.  EST
Where: Anywhere with an internet and phone connection
Materials Included: Phonics First Foundations for Syllabication including: Syllabication Guide, Syllabication Reference Cards, Student Worksheets and Answer Key
Speaker: Phonics First Certified Instructor
Cost: $200
Who should participate? Teachers grades 2-12, Special Education Teachers, Intervention Specialists, Reading Specialists, Curriculum Directors, Tutors and Parents.

This class coupled with the Supporting Struggling Adolescent Readers: Greek and Latin Roots class (see below) provides teachers of struggling middle and high school readers with powerful intervention tools to meet a variety of needs.

Click Here to Register

Phonological Awareness: Preparing Beginning Readers

Research demonstrates a direct correlation between a child developing strong phonological awareness skills and becoming a highly-skilled reader. Teachers learn the background of knowledge for early reading development, the progressing levels of phonological awareness instruction critical in developing successful readers and a range of targeted and purposeful activities to teach these critical reading-readiness skills. Teachers will further learn how to bridge the connection between phonological skills and decoding and encoding development.
When: NEW TIME March 20, 2012, 4 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.  EST
ADDITIONAL OFFERING March 20, 2012, 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.  EST  
Where: Anywhere with an internet and phone connection
Materials Included: Phonemic Awareness in Young Children - A Classroom Guide, Phonemic Awareness and Getting Ready to Read
Speaker: Phonics First Certified Instructor
Cost: $200
Who should participate? Teachers grades Pre-K to 2, Special Education Teachers,  Intervention Specialists, Reading Specialists, Curriculum Directors, Tutors and Parents.

Click Here to Register

Supporting Struggling Adolescent Readers: Greek & Latin Roots

Learn how the study of prefixes, suffixes and Greek and Latin root morphology provides a sophisticated method of teaching decoding and encoding to middle and high school students. Approximately 65% of all reading done at these levels comes from the Greek and Latin layer of language. Learn engaging multisensory strategies to enhance reading, writing, spelling and fluency while expanding vocabulary, spelling, comprehension and preparedness for state standardized tests as well as the ACT and SAT.
When: 1st Offering: May 8 & 10, 2012, 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.  EST  
2nd Offering: September 18 & 20, 2012, 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.  EST
Where: Anywhere with an internet and phone connection  
Materials Included: Word Roots A1 and B1  
Speaker: Phonics First Certified Instructor  
Cost: $200  
Who should participate? Teachers grades 6-12, Special Education Teachers, Intervention Specialists, Reading Specialists, Curriculum Directors, Tutors and Parents.

This class coupled with the Syllabication Strategies class (see above) provides teachers of struggling middle high school readers with powerful intervention tools to meet a variety of needs.

Click Here to Register

Multisensory Spelling

Fluent and accurate spelling not only helps students focus on the message they are trying to convey with fewer interruptions to the writing process, it also reinforces reading fluency. In this workshop, participants will learn multisensory teaching strategies and techniques that can be incorporated into a variety of language arts programs to help students spell phonetic and non-phonetic words with accuracy and recall.
When: September 25 & 27, 2012, 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.  EST  
Where: Anywhere with an internet and phone connection  
Speaker: Phonics First Certified Instructor  
Cost: $200  
Who should participate? Teachers grades K-12, Special Education Teachers,  Intervention Specialists, Reading Specialists, Curriculum Directors, Tutors and Parents.

Click Here to Register

Phonics First Foundations Basic

This on-line version of our traditional introductory course provides teachers with a solid understanding of the basic elements of the Phonics First multisensory reading and spelling approach (based on Orton-Gillingham methodology). Course content includes: alphabet and phonemic awareness strategies; the three-part drill for structured review; tactile/kinesthetic spelling techniques for phonetic and non-phonetic words and beginning syllabication for multisyllabic words.
When: 1st Offering: April 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, & 26, 2012
2nd Offering:October 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, & 25, 2012  
Where: Anywhere with an internet and phone connection  
Time: 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.  EST  
Speaker: Phonics First Certified Instructor  
Cost: $700 (Includes all Phonics First Materials)  
Who should participate? Teachers grades K-4, Special Education Teachers, Reading Intervention Specialists, Curriculum Directors, Administrators and Tutors.

Click Here to Register

Phonics First Foundations Level I*

This is a continuation of the Phonics First Foundations Basic and completes the Level I coursework. This course extends the content of Foundations Basic to include higher-level phonics skills for decoding and encoding, additional spelling rules and higher-level syllabication strategies.
When: November 6, 8, 13 & 15, 2012  
Where: Anywhere with an internet and phone connection  
Time: 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.  EST  
Speaker: Phonics First Certified Instructor  
Cost: $135 (Utilizes materials from Foundations Basic)  
Who should participate? Teachers grades K-5, Special Education Teachers, Reading Intervention Specialists, Curriculum Directors, Administrators and Tutors.

*Pre-requisite: Phonics First Foundations Basic

Click Here to Register

Reading Improvement Showcases

Reading Improvement Showcases give educators an opportunity to hear from their peers regarding relevant issues in education: How do I differentiate my instruction? How do I know it will work with my curriculum? We have begun implementing RtI, now how do we keep it going? Additionally, learn about which programs administrators are using and why. RLAC brings in guest speakers to cover topics that include, but are not limited to, differentiation of instruction, the importance of leaderhsip, approaches for struggling older readers and RtI academic and behavioral best practices.

Check back soon for upcoming dates!

Reading Improvement Webinars

“How Does Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Instruction Benefit Struggling Readers?”

  Orton-Gillingham (OG) Multisensory Structured Language (MSL) instruction is well-suited to school and classroom learning. Learn how OG’s versatile hands-on MSL reading strategies impact instruction for beginning, struggling, at-risk, ELL and learning disabled readers. This evidence-based instruction significantly improves reading skills acquisition and empowers your teachers to reach all students in whole-group and small-group settings. These MSL strategies integrate into existing reading curriculum. Additionally, this type of instruction enables teachers to work at a student’s current operational stage in reading. This has proven to minimize the number of struggling readers by third grade.

Who should participate? K-3 Classroom teachers, K-5 Resource and Special Education Teachers, Intervention Specialists, Speech Pathologists, Administrators and Parents.

This event has already occurred. Please follow this link to hear the recorded session