Many of the kids who come to Lakeside are kids who have struggled with acquiring basic reading skills for far too long. The pain and humiliation they experience only succeeds in further exacerbating their reading challenges. Regardless of what behavior the child exhibits as a result of their reading deficiencies, these children feel terrible about themselves.  The result of this negative view of self only further harms their motivation to learn effectively.  Through no fault of their own, many of them are simply owners of brains that somehow don’t quite mesh with the demands they come up against.  Having seen too often the agony of those who taste failure at an early age, the Lakeside team has developed a resilient commitment to such kids and to their parents. At Lakeside, we are obsessed with helping children find reading success. 

Learning to read is a complex process because it depends on the learner who is dynamic. No two brains are wired the same, and therefore the process of teaching reading has to take this into consideration. While research has shown that systematic phonics instruction is the absolute best way to teach reading, there is no evidence to suggest that “one way” of delivering this is appropriate for all children.  At Lakeside, we start with the learner first, continuing to put them first throughout the entire program. Our comprehensive initial assessment provides a window into a child’s reading skills, and also allows us to better understand how they learn in general terms. The initial assessment also determines the starting point in the program. From there, multisensory instruction and continuous assessing make up the bulk and adaptability of the program.