WHAT SHE DOES
As a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT), Tara is specially trained to use Orton-Gillingham methods that are individualized and unique to the specific learner. Her instructional delivery involves using the curriculum Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia. These language skills are taught using a multi-sensory approach in which the senses (visual, auditory, kinesthetic-tactile) are engaged simultaneously for optimal learning. The teaching techniques and intervention strategies used are appropriate for all language learners.
For those students with dyslexia and related language-based learning differences, Tara offers an intensive academic and therapeutic approach to remedial instruction. Additionally, she works with students who do not have a diagnosis of dyslexia but would benefit from additional literacy skills development.
Tara believes all students deserve compassion, understanding, and the most current, effective, evidence-based intervention available. It is her goal to help all students reach their academic potential. Many intelligent and capable students struggle to learn the most basic literacy skills. Sometimes success requires a different approach; a therapeutic approach, early diagnosis, and intervention are critical.
WHO SHE IS
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 the state of 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, 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’ development of literacy skills. 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.
“I highly recommend Tara Chapman to families whose children struggle with dyslexia. Not only is Mrs. Chapman highly qualified through her training at Southern Methodist University and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, but she is exceptionally skilled in working with youth and families.” P.S.
