Dyslexia
Fruitvale ISD utilizes a dyslexia intervention program called Multisensory Teaching Approach or MTA. MTA is a program for the remediation of Dyslexia and other reading disabilities. It follows research begun at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in 1965 by Cox and Waites as they developed the Alphabetic Phonics program. This program is an Orton-Gillingham multisensory approach to teaching reading that combine Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic (or muscle) instruction. Title Alphabetic Phonics because it is based on the alphabet symbol system, it teaches the science of the written language and addresses reading, handwriting, and spelling.
Margaret Taylor Smith developed Multisensory Teaching Approach (MTA) in the mid 80's as a refined and more “teacher friendly” curriculum that enhances and further develops Alphabetic Phonics by teaching for mastery.
The research of a four year study (Reynolds, V., Vickery, K., and Cochran, S., Annals of Dyslexia, 1987) showed highly significant gains for all remedial students while students in regular classrooms also showed gains.
The MTA curriculum meets all state requirements as an exemplary choice for the remediation of dyslexia. In fact, the descriptors for remediation were based on this curriculum.