Why Educational Pathways Academy?
Educational Pathways Academy (EPA) is a school for dyslexia, ADHD, and learning disabilities in Florida that provides these students with a place to call home.
Estimates indicate that approximately 30,000 students in Lee and Collier counties have dyslexia or other, lesser-known learning disabilities such as dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, auditory and visual processing disorders, or ADHD. Because of their learning disabilities, these students process information differently. They think and learn differently. Therefore, at EPA, we educate differently.
At Educational Pathways Academy, we offer a Comprehensive Approach to Learning that effectively addresses the needs of students with learning differences. Our educational approach utilizes evidence-based methods and approaches such as Orton-Gillingham (OG) instruction, hands-on, multi-sensory activities, individualized learning, assistive technology, and more.
The Orton-Gillingham (OG) Instructional Approach
In the United States, Balanced Literacy is the most prevalent method for teaching reading and comprehension. However, this method is not always effective for students who struggle with reading because it does not focus on decoding skills. Through extensive research, the Science of Reading has found Structured Literacy instructional approaches to be highly effective and even vital for the educational success of students with learning differences. Orton-Gillingham (OG) utilizes the evidence-based Structured Literacy approach and teaches reading through explicit, systematic, sequential, and multisensory lessons.
Students with language-based learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, have difficulty processing and manipulating language. By using the Orton-Gillingham Approach, Educational Pathways Academy breaks down language into smaller, more manageable concepts and skills. Instructors at the school fully explain literacy components and teach them in logical order, with each lesson building upon the other. This enables students with learning differences to understand and identify the predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds.
MultiSensory
Dyslexia and other learning disabilities can also affect the way the brain processes visual information. With the use of multi-sensory activities, EPA engages the student’s other senses, like touch and sound. Multisensory techniques help close the visual processing deficit by activating the sensory pathways that make an imprint on the brain, helping the student to ultimately process and master the information.
Individualized Education
Students with learning differences not only process information differently but also at their own pace. Therefore, EPA offers each student an individualized education. By maintaining small classroom sizes and small group settings, EPA's exceptional teachers are able to continually interact with students and adapt to meet the specific needs, interests, and abilities of each student. Teachers build upon students’ strengths and provide them with an academic environment where they are able to master educational concepts on their own timeline before moving forward.
Assistive Technology
Assistive Technology (AT) is any device, software, or equipment that enhances a student’s ability to learn and communicate successfully in an area they may find challenging. Assistive Technology ranges from low-tech to high-tech, from pencil grips to computers.
Students with learning differences show great variability in the ways they effectively obtain and process information and in their abilities to demonstrate their knowledge. One student may be strong at understanding and retaining verbal information but need support in communicating that knowledge through writing. While another student may be strong in written communication but need assistance in maintaining focus. Therefore, Educational Pathways Academy utilizes Assistive Technology within Individualized Learning.
Through Assistive Technology, students at EPA are able to engage with the curriculum and their learning environment in a variety of effective ways. Some of these technologies include Audio Books, Speech-to-Text Software, Reading and Math Computer Programs, a variety of Low Tech Aids, and more.
Testimonials
