A community embracing students with dyslexia and language learning differences.

Why Odyssey

Dedicated to the promise of possibilities inherent in each child.

Odyssey empowers children to develop their strengths, tackle their challenges, and feel the joyful spirit of learning.

Taken from Homer’s account of Ulysses’ heroic journey home from the Trojan War, our name represents the challenging personal journey that each child must undertake in his or her individual road to success.

Every child who walks through Odyssey’s front door is a bright, intelligent, and capable learner, and we recognize his or her many talents and gifts.

We realize that our students learn differently and need a different approach to teaching. When a child is experiencing difficulty with learning, we never assume that it is the child who needs to change, but rather that our approach and strategies need to be modified in order to meet the child’s learning differences.

At Odyssey, each teacher is committed to personalizing the teaching approach to meet the needs of the individual student.

Direct, Explicit Instruction

A child's future success is contingent upon strong executive function and language skills.

For our students with dyslexia or language learning differences, they may have encountered a difficult journey arriving to their diagnosis of dyslexia or language differences. Many children faced challenges in the schools that they attended before coming to Odyssey, and their teachers may have had a difficult time knowing how to build the fundamental skills that the student is struggling with in reading, writing, note-taking and organization.

At Odyssey, a particular focus is placed on explicitly teaching study skills within the context of teaching the content. Teachers instruct students on the skills in preparing for cumulative exams, test taking, organization and time management, comprehension of written language and textbook format, note-taking, vocabulary development, and the application of computer technology for document management, research, and word processing.

A Road Map to Success

Students with dyslexia and language learning differences require direct, explicit teaching in the language skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and in the executive function skills.

These skills are fundamental to everything that needs to be accomplished each day. Most importantly, the executive function skills coupled with the language skills empower the student to be an effective, independent learner. The executive function skills consist of organization, self-talk that drives performance, the ability to regulate emotions, the capacity to channel energies, and the process of being able to plan, execute and complete a task.

Mainstream schools expect students to be increasingly independent in study habits, organization, and time management skills. Without explicit instruction and support in these skills, students who are in other schools may experience frustration and apathy.

The ultimate goal is for students to be empowered with the skills to make appropriate judgments on how to prepare for a task and to determine how effective they are in the process.

Odyssey's program helps each student understand his or her unique learning profile and provides individualized strategy instruction aimed at helping students to build on their strengths while learning to compensate for their weaknesses, and develop the self-advocacy skills and confidence needed to succeed in future academic settings.

FREE Early Identification Screening
(ages 4 - 8)
Schedule a free reading screening today

A Day in the Life of Odyssey

by Townsend Visuals

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