How Feller School's Curriculum Is Built Differently for Students with Dyslexia

Most schools have a curriculum and then figure out how to accommodate students with dyslexia within it. Feller School started from the opposite direction.

The curriculum was designed around how dyslexic students actually learn, not adapted from a system that was not built for them. That difference shows up in every subject, every lesson, and every teaching decision the school makes.

Here is what that looks like in practice.

Reading: Structured Literacy as the Foundation

Research from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has consistently found that conventional reading instruction is insufficient for students with dyslexia. The assumption built into most curricula is that reading develops naturally with exposure and practice. For students with phonological processing differences, that assumption does not hold.

Feller's Science of Reading approach replaces that assumption with structured literacy. Students learn the phonograms and spelling rules that govern English systematically, starting with the simplest sound-letter relationships and building toward complex patterns. Nothing is assumed. Everything is taught explicitly.

The International Dyslexia Association describes structured literacy as the most research-supported approach for students with dyslexia. Feller uses the Logic of English curriculum, which teaches all 75 phonograms and 31 spelling rules that account for the vast majority of English words. Students learn to decode any word they encounter rather than relying on memorization or context guessing.

The instruction is also multisensory throughout. Seeing, hearing, touching, and movement are all engaged simultaneously during reading instruction. According to Reading Rockets, multisensory instruction builds stronger, more durable neural pathways for reading and spelling than single-channel approaches. For students whose brains process language differently, that reinforcement across multiple senses is what makes the instruction actually work.

Mathematics: Mastery Before Movement

There is a common assumption that dyslexia affects reading and writing but leaves math untouched. The research tells a more complicated story.

Studies cited by the International Dyslexia Association show a significant co-occurrence between dyslexia and difficulty with mathematical processing, particularly when math problems are reading-intensive. Feller addresses this directly through the Math-U-See curriculum.

Math-U-See teaches mathematical concepts using physical manipulatives. Addition, subtraction, place value, and more complex operations are taught using blocks students can see and handle. The principle behind this is the same as the multisensory reading instruction: abstract concepts become concrete when students engage with them through multiple senses simultaneously.

The curriculum follows a strict mastery model. No concept is introduced until the previous one is fully secure. This matters because mathematical understanding is cumulative. A student who has a shaky grasp of place value will struggle with multiplication. A student who has not fully mastered fractions will hit a wall in algebra. Building each concept on a verified foundation prevents those gaps from compounding over time.

The goal Feller is working toward with this approach is not just mathematical competence. It is eliminating the math anxiety that often accompanies dyslexia and replacing it with genuine confidence. Many students with dyslexia have strong spatial and logical reasoning abilities that go undeveloped when math instruction relies too heavily on reading. Math-U-See is designed to let those strengths surface. You can see how this fits into the broader teaching methods at Feller School.

Core Knowledge: Building a Comprehensive Knowledge Base

One of the less-discussed effects of dyslexia is its impact on general knowledge acquisition. Reading is the primary vehicle through which most students build background knowledge across history, science, geography, and civics. Students who struggle to read fluently often arrive in later grades with significant gaps in that knowledge base, not because they are less intelligent, but because the primary delivery mechanism for that knowledge was not working for them.

Feller's Core Knowledge curriculum addresses this directly. Rather than assuming students will absorb background knowledge incidentally through reading assignments, the curriculum builds a sequential body of knowledge year after year through teacher-led discussion, visual aids, audio resources, and hands-on activities.

History classes include reenactments. Geography involves creating physical models of the continents. Science means experiments, not just textbook descriptions of experiments. Every lesson is designed as an experience rather than a reading assignment.

Reading Rockets documents how background knowledge and vocabulary are among the strongest predictors of long-term reading comprehension. By building that knowledge through multisensory instruction rather than through reading alone, Feller students develop the vocabulary and world knowledge that supports comprehension as their reading fluency grows.

Beyond Core Academics

A curriculum that addresses reading, math, and core knowledge covers the academic essentials. Feller's curriculum goes further.

Art, music, and mindfulness are built into the school week. This is not supplementary programming added when time allows. These subjects are part of the curriculum because Feller understands that education is not only about academic remediation.

Students with dyslexia often have exceptional creative and spatial abilities that traditional academic environments rarely develop. Art and music give those strengths a context. Mindfulness supports the emotional regulation that helps students manage the frustration and anxiety that dyslexia can produce. Teachers receive specific emotional training to ensure that classroom interactions reinforce confidence rather than undermine it.

Understood.org's research is clear that the emotional dimension of dyslexia is as important to address as the academic one. Feller's curriculum is built to do both.

Conclusion

A curriculum built for students with dyslexia looks different from a general education curriculum with modifications added. The reading instruction is different. The math instruction is different. The way knowledge is delivered is different. And the attention to the emotional experience of learning is built in rather than bolted on.

Feller School's curriculum is the product of that different starting point. If you are wondering whether it might be the right fit for your child, take the free screener to get a clearer picture of what your child needs. Then schedule a tour and see the curriculum in action.

Sources: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development · International Dyslexia Association · IDA Dyslexia and Math · Reading Rockets · Understood.org · National Center for Learning Disabilities