Grants Available:  MDI has received a teacher training grant from the State of Michigan Department of Education (MDE) for Public School Districts, ISDs and ESAs to train public school teachers and staff in the recognition of dyslexia and how to teach all children to read using the Orton-Gillingham Approach. For more information about the grant, click here.  

Orton-Gillingham Training Programs:  Learning to teach using the Orton Gillingham approach is an effective way to teach persons with dyslexia from preschool through college. Additionally, the Orton Gillingham approach has been found to be an effective way to teach all children how to read, especially in grades K-3.  Parents, teachers (general and special education), literacy aides and volunteers, potential MDI instructors and college students are all welcome to attend.  MDI has trained thousands of instructors within Michigan and several other states.

MDI's teacher training program begins with the Decoding/Encoding Seminar and Practicum. This seminar prepares the instructor to teach reading, writing and spelling at the beginning stage of reading development to students who exhibit characteristics of dyslexia or reading difficulty. The supervised practicum is a unique and essential component of our training as it provides guided practice in the application of skills and concepts from the seminar.

Additional Courses:  Once a participant has successfully completed the basic Decoding/Encoding Seminar, they are able to register for further training.  These include:  Math Instruction Level 1 & Math Instruction Level 2), Beginning Morphology, Advanced Morphology, Basic Skills Revisited, Grammar, and Games.  

MDI also provides opportunities for further professional development and training to expand competency throughout all levels of reading and writing development through workshops and classes. For more information, please see our calendar or call 517-485-4000.