Why ?

Since the ability to read well is the key to success in education and an essential life skill, it is necessary to have a skilled, intensive one-to-one intervention to assist dyslexic students.
Sharon Lawless is a certified Montessori Teacher where an emphasis is placed on an individualized approach with each child; a student’s strengths are used to improve his/her weaker areas of achievement. Montessori Training also emphasizes the use of all the senses in learning. This is an important aspect to Sharon Lawless’ approach to teaching students with dyslexia; she uses a multi-sensory approach using all the senses in combination.

Who ?

Sharon Lawless holds an Ed.D. with a specialization in Learning Disabilities. Her goal in working with students is to meet the needs of each student she encounters. She wants each student to develop in such a way that he/she feels good about his/her abilities and will aim for long-term success. In the meantime, remediation should always be done in a way that provides an incentive and doesn’t humiliate the child. How reading is taught can dramatically affect the student’s feelings of self-esteem.
Dr. Lawless provides a supportive, nurturing, scientific, research-supported approach to reading remediation.

How ?

The National Institutes of Health released an important study in 1994 which found that phonemic awareness skills must be taught before reading and spelling are taught.
Dr. Lawless has used the Susan Barton Reading and Spelling System for eight years; the program addresses all five components of literacy instruction required by No Child Left Behind: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency, and comprehension. The Susan Barton System is a systematic, explicit, multisensory Orton-Gillingham-based reading and spelling program. As the above study recommends, the Barton Program teaches phonemic awareness first.

Dr. Lawless holds a M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education and knows that the value of the proper intervention increases when the intervention is made as soon as possible with a dyslexic student.
Sally Shaywitz, M.D. states in her book, Overcoming Dyslexic, "Early identification and remediation (of Dyslexia) is important because the brain is much more plastic in younger children and potentially more malleable for the rerouting of neural circuits."
Dr. Lawless encourages parents to seek help for their students as soon as possible.