How to Evaluate a Dyslexia School's Curriculum Before You Enroll
Most parents who visit a dyslexia school pay attention to the right things: class size, teacher warmth, how the students seem. What often gets less attention is the curriculum itself. That is a gap worth closing.
The teaching approach a school uses determines whether your child actually learns to read, or just gets through school in a more supportive environment. These are not the same thing. Knowing what a strong dyslexia curriculum looks like gives you a concrete way to compare schools and ask the questions that matter.
The One Non-Negotiable: Structured Literacy
Every other element of a dyslexia curriculum sits on top of this one. If a school cannot clearly explain how they use structured literacy, that tells you something important.
Structured literacy is the scientifically validated approach to teaching reading and spelling that directly addresses the phonological processing difficulties at the core of dyslexia. The International Dyslexia Association defines it through four specific qualities, each of which matters for students with dyslexia.
At Feller School, structured literacy is not a supplement added on top of a general curriculum. It is the foundation the entire school is built on. Every teacher is trained in it, and every subject reflects it.
Explicit instruction
Nothing is left for the student to figure out on their own. Concepts are taught directly and clearly. Rules are stated, not inferred. This matters because dyslexic students cannot reliably pick up reading patterns through exposure the way many typical readers do. They need to be taught.
Systematic and cumulative
Skills build on each other in a logical sequence. A student masters one concept before the next is introduced, and each new concept connects to what came before. This is different from how most general education classrooms approach reading, where skills are often introduced out of sequence or revisited without being fully secured first.
Multisensory
Students learn through seeing, hearing, and movement simultaneously. Tracing letters while saying sounds, tapping syllables, using manipulatives to build words. According to Reading Rockets, multisensory instruction helps the brain form stronger, more durable connections between letters and sounds than single-channel approaches. For students with dyslexia, this is not a nice-to-have. It is a core part of why the instruction works.
If a school you are considering does not mention structured literacy specifically, or cannot describe how they implement it, look at other options.
Teaching Methods Worth Asking About
Structured literacy is the framework. The specific programs a school uses are how that framework gets implemented in the classroom. Two of the most well-researched approaches are worth asking about by name.
Orton-Gillingham is the foundational method from which most structured literacy programs descend. It is multisensory, explicit, and highly individualized. According to the IDA's knowledge and practice standards, programs grounded in the Orton-Gillingham approach consistently produce strong outcomes for students with dyslexia.
Wilson Reading System is a highly structured, multisensory program that focuses specifically on word-level reading. It is particularly effective for students with significant phonological awareness deficits.
Feller School uses the Logic of English curriculum, which you can read about on the Feller School curriculum page. It is a structured literacy approach with a strong evidence base that covers phonics, spelling, grammar, and written expression in a single integrated system. What matters when evaluating any school is not just the program name but whether teachers can explain clearly why they use it and how it addresses the specific profile of dyslexia.
What the Curriculum Should Actually Teach
A good dyslexia curriculum covers specific skills in a deliberate sequence. Here is what each area involves and why it matters.
Phonological and phonemic awareness
Before a child can read, they need to understand that spoken words are made of individual sounds and that those sounds can be manipulated. Rhyming, counting syllables, blending sounds, and breaking words into their component parts are all phonological skills. For students with dyslexia, this is the foundational layer everything else builds on.
Phonics and sound-symbol association
This is the explicit connection between letters and the sounds they represent. A strong phonics program teaches students how to decode unfamiliar words by applying reliable rules, not just memorizing sight words. It also covers spelling from the sound up, which is how dyslexic students learn to encode language most effectively. The Science of Reading approach Feller School uses is built around exactly this kind of systematic phonics instruction.
Vocabulary
A student who can decode a word but does not know what it means has not fully read it. Strong dyslexia curricula include dedicated vocabulary instruction, teaching students both specific word meanings and strategies for working out unfamiliar words from context. Reading Rockets provides detailed guidance on what effective vocabulary instruction looks like for struggling readers.
Syntax and grammar
Reading comprehension depends partly on understanding how sentences are structured. A curriculum that teaches grammar explicitly helps students parse complex sentences and improves both their reading and writing. The Logic of English curriculum used at Feller School integrates grammar instruction throughout rather than treating it as a separate subject.
Reading fluency
Decoding accuracy is the first goal. Fluency comes next. A student who can sound out every word but reads haltingly cannot build comprehension efficiently. Good curricula include systematic fluency practice so that decoding becomes automatic and reading becomes less effortful.
Reading comprehension
This is what reading is for. The best dyslexia curricula teach comprehension strategies explicitly: visualizing, predicting, summarizing, and making inferences. These strategies do not develop automatically. They need to be taught the same way phonics does. According to Understood.org, comprehension difficulties are often secondary to decoding difficulties in students with dyslexia, which is why getting decoding right first matters so much.
Written expression
Dyslexia affects writing as well as reading. A complete curriculum addresses the full writing process: generating ideas, constructing sentences and paragraphs, organizing content, and editing. A student who can decode well but cannot express themselves in writing has not been fully served. Feller School's teaching methods page explains how written expression is addressed alongside reading throughout the school's curriculum.
Questions to Ask When Evaluating a School's Curriculum
When you visit or call a school, these are the specific questions worth asking:
What structured literacy program do you use, and are your teachers formally trained in it?
How do you assess each student's phonological awareness at the start of the year?
How do you track progress in decoding and fluency specifically?
What does a typical reading lesson look like in your classroom?
How do you adjust instruction when a student is not making expected progress?
Does your curriculum address written expression, or is it focused primarily on reading?
A school that answers these questions specifically and confidently is worth a second visit. Vague answers about being "student-centered" or "meeting kids where they are" without specifics about method are worth pressing on.
Individual Assessment Matters Too
Even the best curriculum needs to be calibrated to the individual student. Two children with dyslexia can have very different profiles. One may have strong phonological awareness but weak processing speed, while another has the reverse. A school that applies the same curriculum the same way to every student is missing something.
At Feller School, teachers assess each student's specific profile and adjust instruction accordingly. Small class sizes make this possible in practice rather than just in theory. Schedule a tour to see how that works across a school day.
Conclusion
Specialized dyslexia education is a significant investment. The curriculum is what determines whether that investment produces the outcomes you are hoping for.
A school with warm teachers and a supportive culture is valuable. A school with warm teachers, a supportive culture, and a rigorous structured literacy curriculum is what your child actually needs.
Use the questions in this article when you visit. Ask for specifics. A school that knows its curriculum well will be glad you asked.
If you are still in the earlier stages of figuring out what your child needs, take the free screener at Feller School first. Five minutes gives you a clearer picture of what you are looking for in a school.
Sources: International Dyslexia Association · IDA Knowledge and Practice Standards · Reading Rockets · Understood.org · National Center for Learning Disabilities