FAQs – Coursework & Practicum

For the Associate level, the practicum student must either be someone with a diagnosis of dyslexia or be highly suspected of having dyslexia as confirmed by the Supervising Fellow.  If the student does not have a formal diagnosis of dyslexia you would benefit from any school testing performed regardless of the dyslexia word, any teacher concerns, or reasons why this student has been flagged for more services, and you would need to do your own informal assessment so you could write a good profile that supports OG as being an appropriate intervention. Testing often avoids the word “dyslexia” but reading disorder, etc or just testing scores that indicate difficulties with phonemic awareness and decoding can be crafted into a good profile. For the Certified level, at least one practicum student should have formal cognitive and academic testing. Cognitive tests may be standard/full versions of the following: Weschler Scales (WISC or WAIS), Standford-Binet, Kaufman, or WJ-IV test of Cognitive Abilities (partial screenings will not be accepted).

Although it is preferable to use the same student, the Academy realizes that certain situations are not always ideal for doing the practicum. You do not need the 100 hours of practicum to be with the same student you present in your application, but you should work with the student sufficient time to show progress through the scope and sequence. The Academy recommends at least 30 lessons with the practicum student.

The Fellow may determine that there are valid reasons for using a video and/or web-based applications for observations.

Please have your Fellow inform the Academy, via email, of your Fellow-In-Training status.