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 Phonics First Professional Development

What is Phonics First? RLAC’s nationally accredited Phonics First® is a dynamic and interactive professional development course gives teachers the depth of knowledge and expertise to teach reading to beginning and struggling readers K-12. Based on Orton-Gillingham methodology, it is immediately applicable to a variety of learners in both classroom and small-group learning environments.

Listen to the Phonics First® co-creator and Master Instructor Laurie Wagner as she shares information about our internationally=accredited multisensory structured language (MSL) program.

Phonics First® course participants learn the lesson elements necessary for delivering quality, multisensory, code-emphasis reading lessons for critical decoding and encoding skill development.

Phonics First Includes the Critical Literacy Components of:

  • Phonemic awareness
  • Decoding and spelling
  • Fluency
  • Vocabulary
  • Comprehension

 Phonics First Uses Differentiated Instruction Techniques that are:

  • Prescriptive
  • Multisensory
  • Phonics-based
  • Systematic, structured and sequential

 Phonics First Participants Learn:

  • Current reading research
  • Rationale for multisensory instruction
  • Stages of reading development
  • Reading readiness
  • Phonology
  • Five-Part lesson components
  • Three-Part Drill
  • Multisensory spelling for phonetic and non-phonetic words
  • Syllabication
  • Oral Reading Strategies and comprehension integration
  • Lesson Planning

 

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Kind Words

"Since coming to Brainspring, the hope that my son can learn has now become a reality. I now have tears and emotional feelings of joy, because at the age of seventeen, my son is finally reading." - Brainspring Parent

"You know you're on the right track when teachers are enthusiastically implementing what they have learned in the workshop and reporting terrific results! Firsthand training that includes skillful presentation, feedback and follow-up makes the difference." – Lynda Theiler, District Liaison for Special Education, Lakota Schools, OH

"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, Brainspring Parent, Troy, MI

"Our students showed remarkable progress and our MEAP state reading scores jumped from 56.2 to 82.5 after only 3 months of Phonics First® Academic Advantage On-site Tutoring. I would highly recommend it to any [urban] school wishing to make significant gains in student reading ability. No school should be without it!." - Steve Christian, Assistant Principal, Fleming Elementary, Detroit, MI

"Brainspring provides innovative, up to date learning techniques, I recommend them for ALL of your tutoring needs." - Brainspring Parent

"... Mitchell has fallen in love with books. He loves going to the bookstore, or even to the magazine section of the grocery store, and simply thumbing through books that he finds interesting. All of this is made possible because he has learned to read at Brainspring, and is getting better and better at reading all of the time." – Miles, Brainspring Parent

"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, Brainspring Parent, Troy, MI

"Since coming to Brainspring, my child can read." - Theresa, Brainspring Parent

"Since coming to Brainspring, the hope that my son can learn has now become a reality. I now have tears and emotional feelings of joy, because at the age of seventeen, my son is finally reading." - Brainspring Parent

"Brainspring provides innovative, up to date learning techniques, I recommend them for ALL of your tutoring needs." - Brainspring Parent

"My children attended another tutoring center for five years straight. My daughter is ADD and dyslexic. The other tutoring center was not working for us and my daughter now attends Brainspring, what a dramatic difference! She loves to attend without a fight. I strongly recommend this center." - Brainspring Mom

"I again want to thank you for teaching me the Orton-Gillingham method of teaching reading. It has been the best and most useful class I had in grad school!" - Donna Dunn, Teacher

"Our students showed remarkable progress and our MEAP state reading scores jumped from 56.2 to 82.5 after only 3 months of Phonics First® Academic Advantage On-site Tutoring. I would highly recommend it to any [urban] school wishing to make significant gains in student reading ability. No school should be without it!." - Steve Christian, Assistant Principal, Fleming Elementary, Detroit, MI

"You know you're on the right track when teachers are enthusiastically implementing what they have learned in the workshop and reporting terrific results! Firsthand training that includes skillful presentation, feedback and follow-up makes the difference." – Lynda Theiler, District Liaison for Special Education, Lakota Schools, OH

"All it takes is courage and commitment to achieve our goal that all children can read; Phonics First® is the key that is helping us achieve our goal." - Marian Horowitz, Curriculum & School Improvement Director, Tecumseh Schools, MI

"The Monday I returned from the CEC Convention I immediately started doing core words, which cannot be decoded using "spelling on the arm". I was totally amazed! ... I will stay in touch and keep you apprised of the successes we have!" – Kris Kenna, Academic Support Teacher, Central Manor Elementary

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