Our innovative instructional program is highly individualized, research based, and designed to meet the unique learning needs of students with dyslexia and related language based learning differences.

Often, our students come to us having experienced confusion and failure in a traditional classroom despite having good academic potential. These very students are those whose creative problem solving abilities, artistic talents, and innovative thinking can serve as a springboard to success, if nurtured and appreciated in an environment designed specifically to tap into these strengths. They find that environment at Triad Academy at Summit School.

The cornerstone of our academic program is grounded in the principles of Orton-Gillingham instruction. In all areas of our curriculum, we teach the underlying structure of the English language using an approach which is cognitively based, direct and explicit, diagnostic and prescriptive, cumulative, structured, sequential, and multisensory.

Success Stories

While we are most proud of the strong academic foundation we provide for our students, we never underestimate the profound and positive impact this program has on self-esteem. Since our program’s founding in 1999, hundreds of students have left Triad Academy with a solid educational foundation, an understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses, an arsenal of compensatory learning strategies, and the confidence to be successful, independent learners.

Portrait of a Teacher

The faculty of Summit School commit to these characteristics as defining features of our work in serving the needs of our students, their families, our colleagues and the school.

As an educator striving to develop the full potential of each child, I

• Respect, affirm and protect the dignity and worth of all children
• Understand the important stages in child/adolescent development
• Observe children, giving particular attention to the unique qualities of each child and their life experiences, recognizing their backgrounds and identities 
• Facilitate and guide, fostering discovery, thinking, creativity and the construction of knowledge
• Teach for deep understanding by designing diverse and culturally responsive curricula organized around meaningful problems, projects, and questions
• Encourage students to form habits of mind as mathematician, scientist, historian, reader, writer, and artist
• Cultivate Summit’s core competencies in all students
• Gauge students’ understanding through multiple forms of progress-oriented and authentic assessment
• Honor children as citizens, encouraging them to participate in a democratic society

As a lifelong learner committed to professional growth, I

• Reflect on the art of teaching and study the science of learning, always seeking to apply what I learn
• Engage in ongoing personal and professional growth, embracing its inherent change
• Study the Progressive Education tradition and apply its evolving principles in my practice: both pedagogical & curricular
• Strive for excellence in my planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction and professional responsibilities

As a fully engaged member of the Summit community, I

• Embrace inclusivity, diversity and equity as essential facets of the Summit Community
• Demonstrate an attitude of service and flexibility, and use strengths and talents in a variety of ways to benefit the entire school community
• Actively engage parents in partnerships for the good of the child
• Model and uphold Summit’s Code of Conduct
• Participate positively and with joy in the community life of the school

Our students receive intensive, comprehensive and coordinated remedial instruction in language arts, generally their area of greatest academic weakness. In coordination with our Upper and Lower School teaching faculty, students are exposed to the same concepts and themes. We practice a seamless integration of signature events so students are ready to move into other divisions. Triad Academy enrolls children for an average of 2 to 3 years, then provides transitional support for placement in another division.

Find out more about Curriculum

Dyslexia is characterized by problems with expressive or receptive oral or written language. It is a brain-based processing difference that affects the way a person gets, uses, stores and sends out information. Dyslexics may have trouble with one or more of the following skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking, reasoning and math.

Dyslexics are often gifted in creative, right brain abilities and possess unusual talents in the arts. Dyslexia is not a disease, nor is it the result of low intelligence, low motivation, or emotional, psychological, or behavioral difficulties. If misunderstood, however, learning differences can limit a child’s ability to reach his or her full potential.

Dyslexia and its related language-based learning differences are prevalent, in fact, you probably know someone with a learning difference because they affect 15-20% of the population to some extent, and cut across every segment of society. Many still don’t understand what they are or how to diagnose them.

For children, early detection and intervention is crucial. In fact, research shows that 90% of those who struggle with reading skills in Third Grade continue to read significantly below grade level as they enter high school. The earlier a child with a learning difference is provided quality, research-based remediation, the better the long-term prognosis for reading proficiency.

If your child understands new concepts easily, is curious, has a great imagination, enjoys putting things together such as legos, puzzles and models, and yet does not reach age-appropriate developmental language milestones, he or she may have a language based learning difference.

Characteristics often found in students with language-based learning differences:

LANGUAGE-RELATED DIFFICULTIES

• A history of difficulty learning common nursery rhymes, producing simple rhymes, mispronouncing words, difficulty learning and remembering letter names, distinguishing sounds in words, or understanding that words can be taken apart and broken down into discrete speech sounds
• Limited ability to sound out simple words, like dog and bat
• Reading errors that show limited connection to the sounds of the letters or demonstrate the inappropriate use of a guess strategy: big is read as bread or in multisyllabic words, words which are visually similar are confused, for example medium is read as medical
• Difficulty understanding what has been read
• Limited vocabulary relative to obvious cognitive potential or use of non-specific language–talking around a point
• Difficulty with word retrieval or naming, like miscalling a tornado a volcano
• Written language difficulties
• Problems with spelling

OTHER RELATED DIFFICULTIES

• Inconsistent performance on daily work or tests
• Difficulty following directions, or remembering multi-stepped directions
• A poor concept of time
• Difficulty distinguishing left from right
• Difficulty adjusting to changes in routine or a tendency to become overwhelmed
• Difficulty communicating in groups or understanding social cues

History of Orton-Gillingham

Efficacy for the Orton-Gillingham approach is validated in 30 years of scientifically based neuroscience and literacy research. Named for its founders, Samuel Orton, M.D., a neuropsychiatrist, and Anna Gillingham, an educator and a linguist, the Orton-Gillingham approach has become the gold standard in teaching students with dyslexia.

What makes Orton-Gillingham different from other programs?

Unlike packaged programs that follow a step by step process, the Orton-Gillingham approach is diagnostic and prescriptive, which means that it allows teachers the flexibility to plan the next day’s lesson based on what a student needs to work on from the previous day. Each lesson follows a specific scope and sequence which provides the building blocks for learning the structure of the English language.

Why is the Orton-Gillingham approach effective for our students?

The Orton-Gillingham approach enables our teachers to address the individual learning profiles of each child. Whether it’s needing more time to process material or working on fluency or automaticity, having the ability to spiral back and review previously learned skills before moving on to something new promotes a sturdy confidence in our students.

What is multisensory instruction?

The Triad Academy curriculum has been designed around the concept of multisensory instruction. Students with dyslexia often do not readily intuit new information and often struggle with traditional teaching methods which emphasize pencil and paper learning. For these students to successfully master new material, the auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning channels must be stimulated simultaneously. Thus our students “see it, say it, and do it” as they learn. New material is broken down into its smallest meaningful units, or sub-steps, and is repeatedly reviewed and taught to a level of mastery. Thus learning happens incrementally and on a firm foundation of prior knowledge.

Our Faculty

Several members of Triad Academy's teaching faculty hold certification in specific learning disabilities, other exceptionalities, reading, or the content area in which they teach. Each faculty member, at a minimum, has completed coursework at the associate level of training as prescribed by the Orton-Gillingham Academy. To download a complete listing of our faculty, please click here.

Children with dyslexia learn differently.

As a nationally accredited Orton-Gillingham program, we're committed to helping students overcome the challenges of print-based reading and written language difficulties. We are one of two schools in North Carolina, and one of only 13 in the U.S. to receive this designation.

WEB SITES

The International Dyslexia Association

Learning Disabilities Association of America

The Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators

Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity

Multisensory Math

BOOKS

Overcoming Dyslexia, by Sally Shaywitz, MD

Smart Kids with School Problems: Things to Know and Ways to Help, by Priscilla Vail

Straight Talk About Reading, by Louisa C. Moats and Susan L. Hall

Parenting a Struggling Reader, by Susan L. Hall and Louisa C. Moats

The Motivation Breakthrough: 6 Secrets to Turning On the Tuned-Out Child, by Richard Lavoie

The Power of the Arts: Creative Strategies for Teaching Exceptional Learners, by Sally L. Smith

Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, by Peter W. D. Wright and Pamela Darr Wright

Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read, An Evidenced Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction (NIH 00-4769), by the National Reading Panel

The Essentials of Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher Makes the Difference, by D. Ray Reutzel and Robert B. Cooter

The Voice of Evidence in Reading Research, by Peggy McCardle and Vinita Chhabra

Dyslexia Over the Lifespan: A Fifty-Five Year Longitudinal Study, by M. Rawson

The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan: A Blueprint for Renewing Your Child's Confidence and Love of Learning by Ben Foss

Looking for Heroes, One Boy, One Year, 100 Letters by Aidan Colvin

Teacher Training

At Triad Academy, we are committed to staying abreast of the latest research-based techniques for teaching children with learning differences. We also are committed to sharing our knowledge with the community. From time to time we will offer learning opportunities to teachers, parents, students and the general public.

 O-G to Grow

Triad Academy at Summit School’s Camp O-G to Grow is a unique educational and recreational summer program for students in rising 1st - 5th grades who have difficulty with reading and writing. 

Interested in being a teacher for O-G to Grow? For more information about becoming a tutor for O-G to Grow, please contact jennifer.caldwell@summitmail.org.

Questions to ask a potential tutor:

• Have you been trained in a multisensory, direct, explicit and structured teaching approach? If so, in which approach or approaches were you trained?
• When were you trained and who was the supervising instructor?
• What was your trainer’s training background and experience in conducting trainings?
• What approach or method(s) do you currently employ in your tutoring?
• Are you a member of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators? If so, which level of membership (Subscriber, Associate, Certified or Fellow) have you attained?
• Approximately how many individuals have you tutored and what is the age range?
• How much experience have you had in reading pyschoeducational reports?
• Are you employed by an agency/clinic/school or are you self-employed?
• What are your fees? Are your fees in line with other tutors in your area? Do you have a sliding scale for special situations?
• Would you please provide me with a copy of your CV and a reference?
• May I contact your trainer about you and/or your training? Please give me your trainer’s and your reference contact information.

Questions to ask about potential training programs:

• What is the purpose/mission of this training?
• What will I be equipped to do upon successful completion of the training?
• Will I be “certified”? If so, by whom?
• What kind and how much training and experience has the supervising instructor had in the field of dyslexia?
• Is the supervising instructor a Fellow in the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators (AOGPE)? If not, what other level of membership (Subscriber, Associate, or Certified)has he or she attained?
• Besides or in addition to AOGPE,in what other multisensory teaching methods has the supervising instructor been trained? (IMSLEC? Wilson? Project Read? Language?, etc.)
• What is the cost of the training and at what point is it non-refundable?
• Do the curriculum and materials used in the training meet all requirements of the AOGPE?
• Is the training site accredited by the AOGPE? IMSLEC?
• Is there practice teaching included in the training period? If not, is provision made for it at a later time and what, if any additional cost?
• Will this training each me the theories and practices of using a multi-sensory, direct, explicit, and structured teaching approach for individuals and/or groups with specific learning differences?

Sponsored by the North Carolina Branch of the International Dyslexia Association