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reading / dyslexia

At Villa Maria School, we believe that every child can become a successful reader with the right instruction and support. While our students have diagnoses such as dyslexia, ASD, ADHD, specific learning disabilities, and receptive and expressive language disorders, we look beyond the labels to create a specific program based on their individual strengths and weaknesses.

Confident, Skilled Readers

Our reading program is built on a structured literacy approach that is research-based, multi-sensory, and intentionally designed to meet the needs of diverse learners. Our reading curriculum is skills-based and focuses on the Five Pillars of Reading, the essential components proven to support strong literacy development.

Multi-Sensory, Structured Literacy Instruction

Villa Maria’s reading instruction is grounded in P.A.F. (Preventing Academic Failure), a multi-sensory, Orton-Gillingham–based approach. As part of a structured literacy framework, instruction is explicit, systematic and sequential, helping students build strong decoding skills and confidence in reading.

Through P.A.F., students learn to:
• Clearly identify and produce speech sounds
• Connect sounds to letters and letter patterns
• Read and spell with increasing accuracy
• Build fluency and automaticity over time

This approach engages visual, auditory, and kinesthetic pathways to strengthen neural connections and support attention, recall, and deeper learning, making reading instruction more effective, engaging, and accessible for all students.

Five Pillars of Reading

  • Phonemic Awareness

    An auditory skill that focuses on hearing sounds rather than looking at letters. It is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words, an important precursor to Phonics.

  • Phonics and Decoding

    The instruction method that teaches the relationship between letters and sounds. When we decode, we use that knowledge to sound out and read written words.

  • Fluency

    How smoothly and naturally a child reads. A fluent reader can read words correctly, at a comfortable pace, and with expression.

  • Vocabulary

    Helps readers understand what they’re reading, figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words, and connect ideas in the text.

  • Reading Comprehension

    The ability to understand what is read: being able to explain it, talk about it, and connect it to ideas or experiences.

Small Group Instruction for Individualized Support

Reading instruction is delivered in small groups, allowing teachers to target instruction based on each student’s needs. This format provides opportunities for immediate feedback, guided practice, and meaningful progress at an appropriate pace.

School-Wide Consistency and Expertise

One of the greatest strengths of Villa Maria’s reading program is that all teachers are trained in P.A.F. As a result, students receive consistent, reinforced reading instruction throughout the entire school day, not just during a designated reading block. Teachers across all subject areas use the same language, strategies, and expectations, helping students generalize skills and build confidence.

Supporting Lifelong Readers

At Villa Maria School, our goal is not just to teach students how to read, but to help them:

• Gain independence as readers
• Develop confidence and self-advocacy
• Experience success and joy in literacy

Our comprehensive, structured reading program empowers students with the skills they need to thrive academically and beyond.

villa maria school is…

  • supportive
  • transformative
  • courageous
  • connected
  • inclusive
  • intentional
  • fun
  • nurturing
  • rooted in kindness
  • safe
  • collaborative
  • purposeful
  • empowering
  • authentic