What is The Wilson Reading System?

The Wilson Reading System (WRS) is a research-based Tier 3 Intervention Program that directly and explicitly teaches the structures of the English language related to reading and spelling.

The program addresses the following areas:

How words are built and their reading and spelling rules
Recognizing and learning High Frequency Words, sometimes known as Sight Words or Heart Words
Vocabulary building and understanding how to use specific words
Reading fluency, or smoothness
Listening comprehension
Reading comprehension
And more!

“Explicit teaching of alphabetic decoding skills

is helpful for all children,

harmful for none, and crucial for some.”

- Snowling, Hulme, Snow and Juel

The Wilson Reading System Is:

1. OG Based

The best dyslexia intervention programs are Orton-Gillingham based. In order for a program to be considered an OG program, it must meet certain criteria. These programs are specifically designed with students that have learning differences in mind, but they benefit all students. They are scientifically proven to deliver the best results.

Orton-Gillingham curriculums will be multi-sensory, sequential, incremental, cumulative, individualized, based on phonograms (letters or pairs of letters), and explicit.

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2. Research Driven

The program that you select for your child should be research driven. This is an important piece of the puzzle that often gets overlooked. New programs are created all the time, but they don't often have years of empirical research to support them. This is one reason why we like the Wilson Reading Program (WRS). The WRS program is a curriculum based off the Orton-Gillingham approach. The LD Expert uses the Wilson Reading System to fidelity in order to provide the best services to our students.

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3. Certified Professional

While the program itself is very important, the person delivering the instruction is also critical! Most importantly, they should be fully certified in the intervention program. Wilson tutors should have Level 1 or Level 2 certification, or be currently completing their practicum. Simply completing the 3-day workshop is not adequate. Additionally, your tutor should make building a relationship with your student a priority!

Before becoming a certified WRS practitioner, a tutor will have:

Completed an intensive 3-day training workshop
Completed a supervised practicum year involving a minimum of 65 lessons
- The supervisor will have also completed advanced requirements in order to become a WRS trainer
Completed the Master’s level coursework that is paired with the supervised practicum
Maintained their practitioner status with continuing education that must be submitted every five years