Academic Program

DURANGO MOUNTAIN CAMP uses an *Orton-Gillingham approach to tutoring, the most scientifically validated approach to teaching dyslexic children. Each student receives the following instruction daily:

• one hour of one-on-one, intensive tutoring in reading, spelling, writing and composition

• one hour of small-group study hall working on individualized assignments structured by the language therapist to reinforce concepts presented in tutoring

• one hour of composition

• one-half hour of one-on-one oral reading to increase fluency

• one-half hour of keyboarding for older campers and one-half hour of literature circle for younger campers

• additionally, one hour of either art or science

ACADEMIC EVALUATION

We administer three diagnostic tests at the beginning and end of camp. These diagnostic tests are not grade leveled. They simply guide us in making a specific plan for each individual for the five-week camp period. These three tests are untimed, so the child has unlimited time to use his/her decoding and encoding skills without the prompting of an adult. Most of the kids make nice gains in these untimed tests because we target their weak areas for our summer remediation. The end-of-camp scores on these assessments are indicative of the type of progress a child could continue to make with appropriate language remediation. Although we join in celebrating the accomplishments the kids make here at camp, it is important to note that without continued intensive remediation, many of these scores will not remain at those levels. At the end of camp, we also administer two nationally normed tests to evaluate reading accuracy, rate, fluency, and comprehension. In addition to the evaluations, parents receive an extensive written report encompassing test results, observations, and individualized academic recommendations.