Course Description
This 16.5 hour course provides participants with an overview of the Wilson Reading System (WRS) and serves as the prerequisite for the WRS Level I Certification Training. This course examines the intensive intervention reading instruction necessary for students in grade two and above with persistent and significant phonological-coding deficits. Participants learn about dyslexia (indicators, misconceptions, neurobiological aspects, and prevalence), typical versus atypical reading acquisition, appropriate student identification and placement, and key components and principles of instruction, including the factors necessary for high-quality program implementation. How to teach phonology (including phonemic awareness), morphology, and orthography in an integrated, explicit, systematic, and multisensory way is demonstrated and practiced during the course. Participants explore the standard ten-part WRS Lesson Plan and practice planning, delivering, and individualizing a WRS Lesson while receiving modeling and feedback from a Wilson® Credentialed Trainer.
Audience: Special educators, reading specialists, literacy coaches, tutors, and reading interventionists
Mode: Online via Zoom. All sessions are synchronous.
Dates: August 6 - 8, 2024
Time: 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST
Cost: $660
Course number: PRDV6182P CRN: 64079
Registration:
*IMPORTANT*: The CRN and Course Number will be needed when you register so please make sure to write down this information. Follow the directions listed on the registration site.
Registration deadline: July 23, 2024
Please Note:
- Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions on how to pay for your course. The registration may take 24-48 hours to process.
- You are required to pay within 48 hours of receiving your course payment email. Not paying for a course does not constitute a withdrawal from the course. You may withdraw prior to the start of a course. Once a course starts, you are not eligible for a refund.
Additional Information
Participants will receive a hardcopy of the Wilson Reading Systems Introductory Course workshop packet. The Center for Professional Studies will be mailing these materials directly to each participant.
- Define dyslexia and understand its prevalence and impact on the acquisition of reading skills and cognitive processes.
- Explain the process of identifying students with a language-based learning disability, such as dyslexia, or other characteristics that indicate the need for intensive, multisensory instruction with the Wilson Reading System.
- Understand the Response to Intervention (RTI) model and how to implement it.
- Demonstrate understanding of the Key Components of WRS Instruction: alphabetic knowledge, rapid naming skills/word retrieval, sound-symbol relationships, word identification, accuracy, automaticity, phonology, morphology, orthography, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
- Demonstrate understanding of the WRS Principles of Instruction: direct, explicit, structured, sequential, integrated, multisensory, synthetic, analytical, diagnostic, prescriptive, mastery/automaticity, cumulative, metacognitive, and emotionally sound.
- Identify the lesson components and procedures for Lesson Block 1 (word study/foundational reading skills), Lesson Block 2 (spelling/foundational writing skills), and Lesson Block 3 (fluency/comprehension) of the WRS Lesson Plan.
- Practice and prepare a ten-part WRS Lesson Plan.
Debra Hillemeir has been working in the field of education for over 25 years. She received her M.S. in Elementary Education and her 6th Year Certificate as a Reading and Language Arts Consultant from Central Connecticut State University. Debra began her career in education as a second-grade teacher. For 19 years she was a Reading Consultant and Literacy Specialist in a K-6 elementary school where she provided Tier II and Tier III intervention instruction, literacy coaching, and in-district professional development. She has served as Treasurer of the Dyslexia Society of Connecticut and The Reading League Connecticut. She maintains her credentials as a Wilson Credentialed Trainer, a Wilson Dyslexia Therapist; and a CERI/IDA Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist. Debra currently teaches as a Wilson Credentialed Trainer for Wilson Language Training’s Higher Education Academic Partners.
- Additional Training: Upon successful completion, participants are eligible to take the WRS Level 1 Certification Training. Participants should enroll in WRS Level 1 Certification Training within five years of completing the Wilson Reading System Introductory Course.
- Graduate credit: One (1) graduate credit is available upon successful completion of this course for an additional fee. See the registrar’s webpage for more details.