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Academic Language Therapist Certification

This is a two-year master’s level training course which qualifies an individual to sit for a national certification exam to become a Certified Academic Language Therapist through Academic Language Therapy Association. Qualified candidates must complete the following:

  • 200+ Hours of Direct Instruction from a Qualified Instructor over a 2-year period

  • 700+ Clinical Teaching Hours with dyslexic students

  • 10 Lesson Demonstrations with a student

  • 35 hours of practicum

  • Demonstrate Competency

  • Complete coursework and assignments

  • Attend two professional conferences approved by ALTA

  • Attend Dyslexia Identification Basics training course and Advanced Dyslexia Identification course

 

This training course uses Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia (Take Flight) developed by Scottish Rite of Dallas. It is a comprehensive intervention that includes instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling and written expression. Key findings from a seven-year research study include the following:

  • Students who complete Take Flight instruction show significant growth in all areas of reading skill.

  • Follow-up research with children who completed treatment indicates that students maintain the benefits of instruction on word reading skills and continue to improve in reading comprehension after one year.

  • Take Flight is effective when used in schools by teachers with advanced training in treating learning disorders.

  • Students with the lowest reading skills acquire the strongest gains from Take Flight instruction.

                                                                          -retrieved from Texas Scottish Rite Hospital web site on 3/10/20

 

The course offers training in the following:

  • Educational identification of dyslexia

  • Characteristics of dyslexia

  • Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia, a multisensory, structured approach to teaching:

    • alphabet/dictionary skills

    • phonemic awareness

    • phonic skills

    • vocabulary

    • fluency

    • comprehension skills

    • spelling

    • handwriting

    • written expression

  • Classroom strategies and techniques used for students with dyslexia

  • Conducting parent and teacher information seminars

  • Ethical standards of the profession

  • 504 and IDEA laws

  • Dysgraphia remediation

  • The Role of Executive Function

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