Teacher Training at DVFriends

DVFriends will be offering our IMSLEC Accredited Teacher Training Program and Paid Internship during the summer of 2025.

DVFriends Adolescent Literacy Program Training:

8-days, June 16 - 18, June 23 - 27, 2025 8:30 am - 3:00/4:00 pm -- IN PERSON at our Paoli, Pa campus

Each session will consist of a daily quiz, lecture, demonstration lessons, and idea-sharing with an hour set aside for lunch
Trainees can expect nightly homework assignments that consist of a reading from Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills and creating a lesson plan based on material covered during that day's lecture.

DVFriends Paid Internship:
June 30 - August 1, 2025, 8:30 am - 12:30 pm (weekdays only; no school on July 4th)

*COMPLETE THIS FORM TO APPLY FOR THE SUMMER 2025 TEACHER TRAINING

Program Overview

This program trains teachers in a comprehensive Orton-Gillingham-based curriculum designed for middle and high school students including decoding, encoding, phonemic awareness, oral reading fluency, vocabulary development, morphology, writing, study skills, and reading comprehension. With the adolescent student in mind, our program is aware that time is of the essence and our program moves the student through the curriculum as quickly as possible. While the training reflects the methods used by Delaware Valley Friends School with its adolescent population, all of the techniques and materials used in the training can be adapted to be successful with students of all ages.

Our training center was the first school-based program in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware accredited by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and recognized by the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC) as a center for teaching and teacher training. Our IMSLEC accreditation ensures the professionals who enroll in our course receive instruction that meets the professional standards for preparation as Multisensory Structured Language specialists.

Trainees will receive access to DVFriends’ proprietary Adolescent Literacy Curriculum teacher’s manual, practice pages, training manual, and complementary resources.

Training Curriculum Overview

Unit 1: Student Profile
Unit 2: What is Orton-Gillingham?
Unit 3: Program Overview
Unit 4: A-Day Lesson Plan
Unit 5: Basic Curriculum & Establishing a Common Language
Unit 6: Reading Practice
Unit 7: Spelling Practice
Unit 8: Intermediate Level Syllable Division
Unit 9: Assessment & Progress Monitoring
Unit 10: Exceptions & Additional Topics for New Learning
Unit 11: Derivative Spelling Rules
Unit 12: Word Workout & Short Cuts to Long Words Programs
Unit 13: Morphology
Unit 14: B-Day Instruction
Unit 15: Reading Fluency
Unit 16: Reading Comprehension
Unit 17: Grammar & Writing
Unit 18: 2 Column Notes & Note Taking
Unit 19: Certification Process

Trainees should expect:

To participate in lecture sessions from 8:30 am – 4:00 pm
To lead demonstration lessons in front of trainers and fellow trainees
To complete nightly reading and lesson planning assignments
To maintain a Supervised Instruction Notebook (a portfolio documenting the certification process)

After the completion of the training, trainees may complete practicum experience that accounts for 75 hours (of the total 150 hours) of supervised instruction needed to qualify for certification.

Trainees who continue on to the Internship:

Work with 3-4 students between 2nd and 10th grades one-on-one for 60 minutes a day between the hours of 8:00 am and 12:00 pm
Submit lesson plans weekly for trainer review
Engage in 3-4 observed lessons and post-lesson discussion with the trainers
Maintain a Supervised Instruction Notebook (a portfolio documenting the certification process)
Complete an end-of-summer progress report for families
Work with students will take place in-person at our Paoli, PA campus

Multisensory Structured Language and the Orton-Gillingham Approach

The Orton-Gillingham approach includes instruction that is:

Direct & explicit
Systematic & structured
Sequential & cumulative
Synthetic & analytic
Multisensory
Diagnostic & prescriptive
Individualized

This approach is a form of multisensory structured language instruction because students use simultaneous processing using “visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways simultaneously to enhance memory and learning of written language.” Evidence-based scientific research has shows that using Orton-Gillingham approaches for individuals with dyslexia will actually restructure their brains to help them learn to read and spell. This training will give you the tools to provide this approach to remediation for your students.

MORE ABOUT O-G INSTRUCTION

Certification

Trainees are then qualified to sit for the ALTA Competency Exam. This is the final component for certification. Upon passing the exam (which is offered at Prometric Testing Centers), trainees receive their certification and membership to ALTA.

Advantages of Certification

Certification is an assurance to parents, psychologists, and schools that the teacher has mastered the techniques necessary to teach the student with a language-based learning difference. The CALP certification is recognized nation-wide.

As of 2019, DVFS has trained over 100 individuals ranging from educators at all levels to psychologists to parents of children with language-based learning differences. We have trained education program alumni from the following local education programs, amongst others:

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (12)
Tri-Colleges Consortium (Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore Colleges) (3)
Eastern University (3)
Chestnut Hill College (3)
Saint Joseph’s University (3)
Temple University (4)
Arcadia University (2)
West Chester University (2)

Continuing Education

Teachers certified in Pennsylvania qualify for 65 hours of continuing education credits under PA Act 48.

Delaware Valley Friends School welcomes students in grades 1 - 12 with learning differences, particularly in reading (dyslexia), writing (dysgraphia), math (dyscalculia), memory (long-term and working), processing speed, ADHD and executive functioning challenges.

The School shall not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity, age, disability or marital status in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, athletic and other school-administered programs, or in hiring, use of volunteers or board membership.

DOWNLOAD the 2024 Teacher Training Flyer

2025 Teacher Training Flyer

What Trainees Say About The Program

“My school’s phonics curriculum is called Project Read and it’s based on Orton-Gillingham methods. I find myself pulling so many things from the DVFS trainings & program that aren’t included in or aren’t as well explained in Project Read. For instance, I do a letter sound deck every single day and make sure to include written dictation” – M. Varney

“The O-G training was beneficial in many ways to my success as an educator. It developed my knowledge of how to better educate my students. It is a great way to have fun while learning techniques that can help all students, not just those with special needs. I used the O-G training during student teaching and tutoring, which included one-on-one help with students with reading difficulties. The best part, however, is the unique opportunity to learn along with your students” - A. Fizzano

“I honestly think it's the best way to prepare to get the certification. I looked at online programs and conferences in the past, but without the support I had from all of you, I know I would not have been adequately prepared. The fact that the training was free, and I received a paycheck for the summer program was helpful also. Lastly, the sheer amount of materials that we have had access to and the curriculum I received was super helpful in preparing lessons” - Anon. 2019

“I think this training is essential for anyone seeking to become an English Language Arts teacher. I thought I knew the [E]nglish language before I took this training. Through this training I learned the rules of the english language that I partially knew but never knew how to put into words. This training better equipped be to be an English teacher because I can now explain these rules to my students on why a word is spelled a certain way, rather than just saying "well that's the way it's spelled, you just have to memorize it." -- Anon. 2018