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Health news and issues in the Ozarks.

CoxHealth Opens Center for Dyslexia and Learning

Steve Edwards
/
CoxHealth Twitter

The Springfield Center for Dyslexia and Learning is now open on the CoxHealth campus. Located in the Turner Center, the new facility will aid local students with affliction. People with dyslexia have trouble learning in conventional ways which make typical school programs ineffective. This center will work to change the techniques used to teach reading in the hopes of helping students move forward.

Noel Leis, the center’s administrative director, says that although the speed of learning may be different for each student, all are welcome to seek help there.

“We tutor specifically for dyslexics ranging in age from 7 to 99. It’s the same process.”

Specialized help from the center will include reading in a small group setting and one-on-one instruction from trained professionals. The teachers involved in the program received ‘Take Flight’ training, a researched technique developed by the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas.

“Our kids that are dyslexic usually need different modalities for learning, not just auditory which is how teachers typically teach, so we use a visual, auditory, and kinesthetic approach for each letter in alphabet. We repeat everything that we’ve learned and we add in one new thing each time we meet,” Leis says.  

Leis says that for dyslexics to use newly learned skills accurately they must be reinforced more than 500 times. In typical classrooms, this magnitude of repetitive learning isn’t common; making it a challenge for these students to learn and retain knowledge.

Just like any other skill, comments Leis, if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. The center encourages its students to come three to four times a week to make sure the skills are maintained.

All those interesting in taking lessons from the Center for Dyslexia and Learning can register by calling 417-269-0259.  For more information on dyslexia visit Decoding Dyslexia, a parent led movement intertwined with the new CoxHealth learning center.