The Kildonan School

The Kildonan School was a private coeducational boarding and day school in Amenia, New York offering daily one-to-one Orton-Gillingham language remediation and a college preparatory curriculum for students in grades 2-12 and PG (post-graduate). The Kildonan School was exclusively for students with dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities. The school announced in August 2019 that it will close for the 2019-20 school year and will not reopen.

History

The Kildonan School was founded in 1969 by Diana Hanbury King and Kurt Goldman. The college preparatory program, that as of the school's closing in 2019 had a 100% college acceptance rate, evolved from Dunnabeck, the one-to-one Orton-Gillingham based language remediation summer camp also founded by Diana King, which takes place on the school’s campus every summer.

Ms. King taught for years at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. and at Camp Mansfield in Vermont, the latter of which was founded by Helene Durbrow, who studied directly under Dr. Samuel Orton. Ms. King has written numerous books on the Orton-Gillingham approach,[1][2] and she lectures across the country and trains teachers in Orton Gillingham methodology in the US, in Bermuda, and in Asia.

The Orton-Gillingham approach

The Orton-Gillingham approach is a structured, flexible,[3] multisensory[4] way of teaching reading and writing. When implemented at integral times and in appropriate ways,[5] it has been shown to remediate dyslexia to the point of “normal” counterparts.[6] It remediates dyslexia by attending to the neural language-processing system of individuals with high IQs with a seemingly inexplicable deficit in reading or spelling, and departs from older methodologies that focused on the visual system.[7]

Accreditation

The Kildonan School was accredited in 2003 by the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators and re-accredited by NYSAIS (the New York State Association of Independent Schools) in 2013. As of the school's closing in 2019. The Kildonan School had two AOGPE Fellows on staff who mentor each tutor the school employs through 70 hours of pre-tutoring training and the AOGPE associate/certification process.

Complementary programs

Dyslexic students learn language differently from other students – specifically, it has been posited that dyslexics compensate for lack of activity while reading in the angular gyrus (responsible for signifiers in language and residing in the back of the brain) with much activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (responsible for speech and residing in the front of the brain).[8] Research shows, therefore, that dyslexic students tend to also have trouble with balance and coordination.[9] In keeping with brain research that shows that language remediation relies on stimulating connections between brain networks, and specifically between the two hemispheres of the brain,[10][11] The Kildonan School requires all lower school students to train in horseback riding and all upper school students to learn to ski. These two sports are balance sports, and so require students to make neural connections between both hemispheres of the brain.

Mission and philosophy

Kildonan’s mission of empowering students with dyslexia is in keeping with research by Brock and Fernette Eide and Ben Foss, which shows that a way to open up future opportunities for dyslexics is to play on their strengths.[12][13][14] To this end, Kildonan encourages its staff to include The Dyslexic Advantage and The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan in their professional development plans.

Notable alumni
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References

[15]

  1. King, Diana (2000). English Isn't Crazy!: The Elements of Our Language and How to Teach Them. Baltimore, MD: York.
  2. King, Diana (1985). Writing Skills. Cambridge, MA: Educators Publisher Service.
  3. Sheffield, Betty (1991). "The Structured Flexibility of Orton-Gillingham". Annals of Dyslexia. 41 (4): 41–54. doi:10.1007/bf02648077. PMID 24233756.
  4. Oakland, T; J.L. Black; G. STanford; N.L. Nussbaum; R.R. Balise (1998). "An Evaluation of the Dyslexia Training Program: A Multisensory Method for Promoting Reading in Students with Reading Disabilities". Journal of Learning Disabilities. 32 (2): 140–147. doi:10.1177/002221949803100204. PMID 9529784.
  5. Ritchey, K.D.; J.L. Goeke (2006). "Orton-Gillingham and Orton-Gillingham Based Reading Instruction: A Review of the Literature". The Journal of Special Education. 40 (3): 171–83. doi:10.1177/00224669060400030501.
  6. Warrick, Nicola; Hyla Rubin; Sheila Rowe-Walsh (1993). "Phoneme Awareness in Language-delayed Children: Comparative Studies and Intervention". Annals of Dyslexia. 43 (1): 153–73. doi:10.1007/bf02928179. PMID 24233990.
  7. Shaywitz, Sally (Nov 1996). "Dyslexia". Scientific American.
  8. Ariniello, Leah (1999). "Dyslexia and Language Brain Areas". Brain Briefings - Society for Neuroscience.
  9. Fawcett, Angela (1992). "Automatisation Deficits In Balance For Dyslexic Children". Perceptual and Motor Skills. 75 (5): 507–529. doi:10.2466/pms.1992.75.2.507. PMID 1408614.
  10. Tramontana, Michael; Stephen R. Hooper (1995). Hemispheric Stimulation Techniques in Children with Dyslexia. Advances in Child Neuropsychology. Springer. 3. pp. 144–77. doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-4178-2_6. ISBN 978-1-4612-8687-5.
  11. Dryer, R.; I.L. Beale; A.J. Lambert (1999). "The Balance Model of Dyslexia and Remedial Training: An Evaluative Study". Journal of Learning Disabilities. 32 (2): 174–86. doi:10.1177/002221949903200207. PMID 15499717.
  12. Venton, Danielle (2011-09-20). "Q&A: The Unappreciated Benefits of Dyslexia". Wired.
  13. Bakker, Merel (2013-10-16). "Dyslexia: Our Children Deserve an Honest Chance!". Huffington Post.
  14. Belzberg, Lisa (2013-02-20). "Can Dyslexics Succeed at School or Only in Life?". Huffington Post.
  15. http://www.tricornernews.com/node/59698 Kildonan School closing due to low enrollment], Lakeville Journal, July 3, 2019

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