Services Offered
Student Therapy Services
Teacher Training
Parental Support
Welcome to Orton Gillingham Therapy for Dyslexia by Brenda Mackaness!
Brenda Mackaness is a Fellow of the Orton-Gillingham Academy of Practitioners and Educators and a Certified Therapist with the International Dyslexia Association who has 30 years of experience helping students with learning disabilities using the Orton-Gillingham instructional approach, which is specifically intended for persons who have difficulty with reading, spelling, and writing of the sort associated with dyslexia.
With thirty years of experience applying Orton-Gillingham principles to increase the academic skills of students of all ages with strong cultural diversities and extreme academic deficits, Brenda's goal is to positively affect every student with whom she works. Having worked in public, private, and parochial academic settings, from pre-K to collegiate-level students, she has garnered an eclectic and diverse experience of individualizing the Orton-Gillingham approach to support the specific needs of each student.
Conducting sessions via Zoom during and after academic school hours, during the summer months, and throughout the week, Brenda is currently in her fifteenth year of maintaining in independent private OG therapy business. She has achieved tremendous success in helping her students advance their reading, spelling, writing, and math skills through the Orton-Gillingham approach.
Brenda also trains teachers and those adults who are qualified to achieve the Associate Level of training with the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators.
Discover how the Orton-Gillingham multisensory approach differs from any other teaching approach available, and how it dramatically increases literacy skills in students of all ages.
About Brenda
Brenda Mackaness began her Orton Gillingham experience at Trident Academy, a school designed specifically for students who learn differently. For five years, she was a LEAD teacher responsible for remediating reading and writing skills to students in small group settings during the school year and throughout their summer enrichment program. As an employee in the Special Services Department at J & W University, she has helped college students gain study skills to pass challenging courses and eventually obtain their diplomas. She has worked with students at a middle school, where she volunteered to teach them reading skills before and after regular school hours.
When she was employed at a charter high school as a Reading Specialist and an inclusion co-teacher, she helped students meet the requirements for their English class by effectively differentiating and individualizing the English teacher’s instruction. She helped students who had previously failed to pass the state high school proficiency Math and English exams for graduation requirements. She helped students who had special needs improve their reading skills from a 2nd or 3rd grade level to a 6th–8th grade level. She introduced a beginning reader instruction course for teacher cadets at a charter high school, which has proved to be very popular with National Honor Students who wish to pursue their interest in education at the university and college levels.
In 2013, Brenda became a Fellow of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators, the highest level of educators within the Academy. She has had tremendous success during her tenure as a therapist, and as a Fellow, she has the credentials to train those interested in achieving certification in the Orton-Gillingham Approach.
Brenda is presently studying Latin and thoroughly enjoys introducing her more advanced students to our English words that are derivatives of Latin and Greek; etymology and morphology studies are woven into lesson plans. This increases vocabulary knowledge significantly and, therefore, reading comprehension.
With her experience of applying Orton-Gillingham principles to increase the academic skills of students of all ages with strong cultural diversities and extreme academic deficits, Brenda's goals and passions are to plant a seed of love for reading and writing in the minds of every student and to give each student an opportunity to experience not only success in academics but a belief that they can be successful in whatever endeavor they pursue outside the academic world.
