Associate Coursework (Virtual) - Fall 2025
Virtual Training | Available
The Orton-Gillingham Associate Level Course is a 60-hour comprehensive two-week class. The class is intended for practitioners working with struggling readers of all ages, including those with dyslexia, in individual or group settings.
This 60 hour course along with the 10 hour OGA subscriber level course meets the 70 hour coursework requirement at the Associate Level of certification with The Orton-Gillingham Academy
- Prerequisite: 10 hour OGA subscriber level course LINKED HERE
- Course Dates: September 3, 2025 - May 6, 2026
- Course Times: 8:00 am to 9:45 am EST
- Location: Delivered Virtually
- Instructors: Jen Burch F/OGA
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT HOURS: 60 hours
Specific topics covered in the class include:
- Dyslexia and related brain research
- General history and structure of the English language
- Phonological and phonemic awareness
- Sound/symbol relationships for reading and spelling
- The six syllable types and seven ways to divide words
- An introduction to morphology
- Spelling generalizations and suffixing conventions
- “Learned” or non-phonetic words
- Advanced decoding skills
- Designing and teaching an OG lesson
- Administering informal diagnostic assessments to inform instruction
Course Expectations:
All participants will be asked to:
- Attend all class meetings live online for the entire duration of the course
- Download and print the required course manual and all visual drill decks.
- Complete OGA Subscriber coursework (10 hours), which counts toward the total number of hours before the course begins to gain an overview of:
- The Orton-Gillingham Approach
- The Science of Reading
- Dyslexia and the reading brain
- The history and structure of the English language
- Complete homework assignments between classes
- Read assigned required readings and reading reflections
- Take a brief final exam
Course manual and all visual drill decks: All participants will be sent a link to the course manual and all visual drill decks, which they are required to print before the start of class. The links will be sent approximately three weeks before the course starts.
Materials to purchase on your own: these materials are not required, but are highly suggested:
- Equipped for Reading Success, $60, order from here.
- Unlocking the Power of Print, Dorothy Whitehead, $35, order from here.
Jen Burch
Jen has worked at Readsource for seven years, as an outreach program coordinator to remediate students in an underserved elementary school in Atlanta, a teacher trainer, and now as the Director of Academic Programs. Jen began her career as a molecular biologist at Emory University. It wasn’t until 2013, when her then second grade daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia, that she began her training in the Orton-Gillingham approach to better understand her child’s needs. Since then, Jen has become a Fellow with the Orton Gillingham Academy. She believes that the ability to read is a basic human right, and literacy is the great equalizer. In her role as Director of Academic Programs, her goal is to help ALL students read on grade level by strategically working to bring high-quality instruction based on the Orton Gillingham methodology to more teachers across the US and around the world.