The Tribune

The creator of a noted interactive teaching tool visited the Bahamas last month to introduce teachers and administrators at Blairwood Academy to her all-in-one curriculum to assist children with language-based learning disabilities.

A member of the Canadian Dyslexia Society, Evelyn Reiss created the Great Word House to be a multi-sensory curriculum based on the Orton-Gillingham approach.

Mrs Reiss has trained Blairwood teachers for more than 10 years in using the Orton-Gillingham methodologies. 

Orton-Gillingham is an instructional approach intended primarily for use with persons who have difficulty with reading, spelling and writing of the sort associated with dyslexia. It is most properly understood and practiced as an approach, not a method, programme, system or technique.

Mrs Reiss met with administrators on January 27 for instruction. The following day she held a workshop for educators on phonemic awareness, ‘The Spelling Connection’ programme, as well as building literacy and writing foundations. 

The premise of this programme is to catch children at an early age who may be slightly struggling and fix the problem, and also to help pre-schools who want to make sure their youngest children grasp the basics of language and remediation for children in general.

Blairwood Academy is piloting the programme at school and coming soon will be the ‘Great Word House Teacher Training and Reading Institute’.  

For anyone interested in learning more about the programme, contact blairwoodacademy@gmail.com.