FAQs – General
Training costs are set by the Fellow trainers or the Accredited training program.
Each level has different requirements. Visit the Training & Certification section of the website for detailed information.
A bachelor’s degree in any area of study is acceptable.
No. The Academy’s standard is an applicant must have a bachelor’s degree to apply to the Academy at the Classroom Educator, Associate, and Certified levels. The minimum requirement for teachers in the United States is a bachelor’s degree. A bachelor’s degree puts immense focus on critical thinking, writing, and other academic skills, all of which lay a good foundation for learning how to teach phonics and morphology and how to work with students. The Academy feels that having a bachelor’s degree as a requirement for certification, to teach dyslexic students, adds credibility to our certification. There is no rule to prevent a person without a bachelor’s degree from taking coursework and practicum, this is at the discretion of the Fellow; however, the participants who do not have a bachelor’s degree must understand that they will not be qualified to apply to the Academy until they have a BA.
The training by a Fellow relies on the guidelines set forth in the AOGPE’s Curriculum Handbook. While your master’s degree and experience will be helpful in training, the coursework that meets the Academy’s standards is outlined in the handbook.
The tutor list is only for Academy certified members at the Associate, Certified, and Fellow levels.
It is up to the discretion of the organization that you are submitting the coursework.
No. Training materials are purchased or supplied through the Fellow or Accredited Training Program.
Examples of Scheduling for Training
- If you are a teacher with summers available, look for training that allows for coursework in the summer and practicum throughout the year with a Fellow through video or web based platform.
- If there are no Fellows or training programs near you, your option is to travel to receive training.
- If a group of teachers is in search of training the Academy will assist in locating a Fellow who travels to train.
There is no rule to prevent a parent taking the class, this is at the discretion of the Fellow; however, the parent or participant who does not have a bachelor’s degree must understand that they will not be qualified to teach/tutor dyslexic students until they have a BA and have taken the 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.
For the profile, it should show a greater depth of understanding of testing and assessment than that expected at the Certified level. When a Fellow mentors teachers they need to have a really good understanding of the students both through interpreting the test results and their clinical judgment from observing the student during testing and teaching.
The lesson should be well into the language continuum, with a reasonable number of lessons prior to the submitted lesson. It does not have to be an advanced lesson but it is probably preferred, depending on the student. A very complex student may not be working on very advanced material but you would still expect them to be well into the scope and sequence.