Huntsville - February 18, 2003 Greengate School in Huntsville to host a one week dyslexia program training session June 9-13th.

Orton-Gillingham trainer, Cathy Rommel will offer for Dyslexia training for teacher and home school parents. The training will take place June 9 -13, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. That constitutes 30 hours of training - the fundamental elements of Orton-Gillingham multi-sensory language instruction. It will provide the framework to allow participants to tutor students individually (their own children or others), or to use Orton concepts in small groups.

Cathy Rommel is the Director of Jemicy School's Community Outreach Program and the President of the  Maryland Branch of The International Dyslexia Association. In addition to the initial training Ms. Rommell will make 2 follow up visits to Huntsville during the year to check progress, answer questions and to discuss problems participants have encountered.

Marcia Ramsey, organizer and head of Greengate School states "This training will provide Huntsville with a greater pool of qualified dyslexia tutors, and help parents who home school their children or would prefer to work personally with their children instead of a tutor."

The cost of the training will be $450, which would include materials and the two follow up visits from Ms. Rommel during the year.

For information about this special one week Orton Gillingham training course and costs, please contact Marcia Ramsey at Greengate School. You can call Marcia at (256) 337-1889 or send email to: marcia@greengateschool.org

About Dyslexia

Reading differences, also known as dyslexia, affects approximately 10 percent of the general population. It is estimated that approximately 4000 school-age children in the Huntsville/Madison area struggle with some form of reading difference. Although dyslexic learners typically have average to above average intelligence, they process information differently than non-dyslexic learners. Common symptoms include; an inability to associate letters and sounds, difficulty rhyming words; poor sequencing of numbers (12 for 21) and words (was for saw); letter and number reversal (b/d, p/q). Individuals with dyslexia often spell poorly; avoid writing tasks and reading aloud, and exhibit left/right confusion. Dyslexic students may experience difficulty organizing ideas to speak or write, may be slow to memorize alphabet and math facts, may have poor reading comprehension and trouble following oral instructions. Once identified however, dyslexic children can learn to cope with and even overcome these barriers to learning with early and intensive training using multi-sensory instruction.

Greengate School

Greengate was formed to address the issues of children with dyslexia. Head of School Marcia Ramsey stated "As I began to research the issues that confronted my own child I found an enormous need to for this kind of program. Many children struggle with dyslexia. Unfortunately in their struggle to read they can also fall behind in other academic areas like math, science and social studies. Worse still, undiagnosed children often are regarded as slow or unmotivated, destroying a child's sprit and self-esteem. I wanted to create a school where these students could meet success in school and show their talents."

Founded in 2001, Greengate School is a non-profit 501c3 organization.