To meet the needs of students who are seven and older who have been identified with dyslexia
Bridges: A Dyslexia Intervention Connecting Teacher, Avatar, and Student (Bridges) is a two-year curriculum written by the staff of the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children. Bridges follows the same scope and sequence as Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia.
Those familiar with Take Flight know it is designed for use by academic language therapists. Developing the expertise of an academic language therapist is a two-year process, and at times, that can result in a discrepancy between the number of students identified with dyslexia and the number of trained therapists available to provide services.
Bridges is a carefully considered response to this complication: a shortage of trained dyslexia therapists. The curriculum is designed to maintain high-quality, research-based, and highly effective dyslexia instruction while reducing teacher preparation time. The digital avatar teacher, Ms. Hallie, delivers the more complex aspects of the structured dyslexia intervention. Certified teachers receive 10 days of training. The program provides scripted manuals that, when combined with the training, equip certified teachers with the tools needed to provide a research-based dyslexia intervention.
Five Components of Effective Reading Instruction
Bridges contains the five components of effective reading instruction identified by research from the National Reading Panel. Bridges addresses each component by:
- Phonemic Awareness – following established procedures for explicitly teaching the relationships between speech-sound production and spelling-sound patterns
- Phonics – providing a systematic approach for single word decoding
- Fluency – using research-proven directed practice in repeated reading of words, phrases, and passages to help individuals read newly encountered text more fluently
- Vocabulary – featuring multiple word learning strategies (definitional, structural, contextual) and explicit teaching techniques with application in text
- Reading Comprehension – teaching individuals to explicitly use and articulate multiple comprehension strategies in narrative and expository text (i.e., cooperative learning, story structure, question generation and answering, summarization and comprehension monitoring
Bridges was designed for:
- students who are seven and older
- one-on-one or small group instruction (no more than six students)
- use by a certified teacher
- four days a week – sixty minutes per day for two years or
- five days a week – forty-five minutes per day for two years
Bridges key findings include:
- Significant improvements in both short- and long-term student outcomes for students receiving Bridges instruction
- Similar developmental patterns of word reading skills for Bridges and Take Flight students
- Significant growth in sound-symbol knowledge and decoding is evident after just one semester of intervention
Why train at The Written Word?
Experience the transformative benefits of LIVE Zoom training, where interactive instruction, real-time feedback, and expert guidance come together to enhance the training experience.
✅ The Written Word is approved by Scottish Rite to offer training – ✅ IMSLEC Accredited Center & CALT-QI Instructors – ✅ Live Interactive Online Training – ✅ Presentation with Training PowerPoints & Ms Hallie – ✅ Additional Online Teaching Resources – 
Training course content reflects the IDA’s Standards for Teaching – ✅ ALTA CEUs available
10-Day Training
Who:
- Certified Teacher, Reading Interventionist, Special Education Teacher
- 6 ALTA CEUs per training day are available
When:
- 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CST. (Zoom-Live-Online)
- Registration Due Date: 60 days before the training date
- This training may be cancelled if there are insufficient registrants
Dates:
- Dates – Contact us to schedule customized training dates
- Dates – Contact us to schedule customized training dates
Steps required to register
Step 1 – Register and pay for the Training Fee*
Please fill out the Registration Form located at the bottom of this page.
- Once registration is received, The Written Word will issue an invoice for a $1,200 training fee per teacher and email instructions for purchasing materials from Scottish Rite for Children (SRC).
- Additional handouts & instructional posters will be available to download through The Written Word’s shared drive during the training.
Step 2 – Request a SRC Account or Update an Existing Account
If you do not have an account with Scottish Rite for Children (SRC), you must request an account. Click the button below to request an account. If you already have an account, click “Update Existing Account” to select the training you would like to receive, if it is not already in your ordering portal.
- After completing the request form, your account number will be sent to the email address you provided within 3 to 5 business days. A username and password will be sent to you from adminupress@qg.com. You can then log in and complete your order.
- If you plan to purchase the curriculum with a school district purchase order, the account you request should be in the same name as the purchase order. The same applies if using a school credit card. Attach a tax-exempt form with the purchase order.
- If you plan to order the curriculum with your personal credit card, the new account should be in the same name as the credit card and the credit card billing address.
- If the correct information is not received, dyslexia.curriculumtsrh.org will email you to request the missing information. If you do not respond, your account may be denied.
Step 3 – Order materials from Scottish Rite for Children and other sources*
The following items need to be purchased through the Scottish Rite for Children (SRC) online portal.
>>> Total Cost for First-Year per Classroom, $2,245*
- Cost for First-Year per Classroom, $1,820*
- Bridges Learning Portal, $1,000*
- Bridges Intervention Kit, $820*
- Cost for First-Year per Classroom, $1,820*
- The following materials need to be purchased from other sources*
- Comprehension Books and additional teaching materials, $400* (List Supplied)
- Miscellaneous items, $25 per student* (List Supplied)
- The following materials need to be purchased from other sources*
>>> Total Cost for Second Year per Classroom, $300*
- Bridges Learning Portal Annual Renewal, $300*
>>> Additional ordering of Student Books*
- Student Books 1-7; one book per student, $20*
- Connected Text Books (Trade books) will be an additional cost per student (Suggested List Supplied)
>>> Note: technology support required
- An Interactive Board and a TV (to show the avatar simultaneously with the Interactive Board) are needed but are not included in the estimated costs.
- The SMART Notebook is software intended for use with an interactive display on the SMART Board. The software must be purchased to utilize the Bridges interactive files.
*Training programs do not offer refunds, but you will receive credit for future training. Please note that material costs are subject to change and may vary, and credit card payments will incur a 4% processing fee.
MEET THE QUALIFIED INSTRUCTORS (QI)
Tara J. Chapman
Co-Founder, M.S., AMS-EL, CALT-QI
Tara Chapman has taught public and private education students for over 35 years. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education, a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction-Reading, and an American Montessori Society (AMS) Elementary I Credential. Tara is a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) and a Qualified Instructor (QI). As a CALT, she is trained to provide diagnostic, explicit, and systematic Multisensory Structured Language intervention, which builds a high degree of accuracy, knowledge, and independence for students with written-language disorders, including dyslexia. A Qualified Instructor (QI) has earned the credentials necessary to teach professionals to become a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) through the Academic Language Therapy Association. She is the Founder and Executive Director of The Written Word Center for Dyslexia and Learning, a dyslexia-focused, International Multisensory Language Education Council (IMSLEC)-accredited Center in Wheaton, Illinois. She is dedicated to educating and supporting students, parents, and teachers throughout Illinois and beyond. Tara completed her CALT training in the Learning Therapy Program at Southern Methodist University and her QI training at McKinney Christian Academy’s Multisensory Teacher Training Program.
As a Qualified Instructor, Tara is approved to offer Dyslexia Therapy Training in Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia, Build: A K-1 Early Reading Intervention, Jet: A Fast-Paced Reading Intervention, Bridges: A Dyslexia Intervention Connecting Teacher, Avatar, and Student, Turbo Start: A Dyslexia Curriculum for Newly Identified Students, Rite Flight: A Classroom Reading Rate Program, and Rite Flight: A Classroom Comprehension Program, developed by staff at the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children (SRC) in Dallas, Texas. She also offers professional development courses in A Structured Approach to Teaching Reading, Writing, and Spelling and Literacy and Learning Workshops, designed to teach parents how to support their students’ literacy development. She serves on various ALTA National committees and the ALTA Illinois Chapter Board, which she helped establish in 2018. She is currently an active board member of Everyone Reading Illinois.
Melody Herring
M.Ed., LDT, CALT-QI, RPED
Melody has worked in public education for more than 20 years. She has served as a special education and general education teacher, an elementary and middle school campus administrator, a dyslexia therapist, and an educational diagnostician. She received both her undergraduate degree in Psychology and her master’s degree in Educational Administration from Texas Woman’s University. She worked on her Educational Diagnostician credentials for certification through Midwestern State University and is a Registered Professional Educational Diagnostician through Texas Professional Educational Diagnosticians. She is the Founder and Executive Director of R.E.A.D. Evaluation and Dyslexia Center offers professional development and training in reading, structured literacy, dyslexia, and the identification of dyslexia and dysgraphia.
Melody is also a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) and a Qualified Instructor (QI). As a CALT, she is trained to provide diagnostic, explicit, systematic, Multisensory Structured Language intervention, which builds high accuracy, knowledge, and independence for students with written-language disorders, including dyslexia. A Qualified Instructor (QI) has earned the credentials necessary to teach professionals to become a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) through an accredited International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC) training center. Melody is approved to offer training in Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia, Bridges: A Dyslexia Intervention Connecting Teacher, Avatar and Student, and Build: A K-1 Early Reading Intervention, developed by staff at the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children (SRC) in Dallas, Texas. Melody completed her CALT and QI training through McKinney Christian Academy-Multisensory Teacher Training (MCA-MTT). She is a Licensed Dyslexia Therapist in Texas.
Registration Form
Please fill in the information below and click submit. Your acceptance into BUILD training will be confirmed within two business days via email. Instructions for ordering materials from Scottish Rite for Children and submitting payment for the training will be provided in the email.
