Deanna Mirva – Academic Interventionist
I understand what it is like to have a child who is struggling in school. It didn’t seem to matter how much we read to our daughter, she still struggled to read, write and spell. She was so full of life when she was young, but all of that went away by grade one when she realized she wasn’t keeping up with the other students. Like many other parents, we hired a delightful, retired teacher to help her. When this didn’t work, we realized that we were paying for her to have more of the same instruction that she received at school. As such, we began the search to find out how children learn to read, spell and write. This was how I discovered the Orton-Gillingham Approach. Since then, I have used this approach to help my child and many other children unlock their true potential. Most importantly, I get to see the spark return to so many kids once they see what they really can do!
I am an accredited Orton-Gillingham Practitioner certified through OG Canada. Along with OG, I also utilize Structured Word Inquiry (SWI) with students who struggle with Orthographic Mapping. My bachelor’s degree is from the University of Saskatchewan. I also have a specialty certificate in Multisensory Math in Canada. I am trained in understanding executive functions and interpreting Psychoeducational Assessments. This allows me to work with schools and families providing practical recommendations on how to best assist each student in their environments.
I normally provide instruction to students in a private one-to-one setting but also have experience providing intervention in a public school in both one-on-one intervention and small group instruction. While I work with a variety of children who learn atypically, I specialize in working with children with Specific Learning differences such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia.
Orton-Gillingham Approach
The OG Approach is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive way of teaching. It focuses on the learning needs of the individual and allows practitioners to design lessons and materials that concentrate on the specific needs of each student.
Orton-Gillingham began what is today known as Structured Literacy and continues to follow the research on what is considered best practice in literacy instruction.
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Teaching reading to a student who does not learn easily or naturally is a complex and challenging professional enterprise that requires deep knowledge of content, of the cognitive and language factors that shape student learning, and of pedagogical detail.
-Dr. Louisa Moats