Longleaf Academy to Initiate Teaching in a Different Way

In August, the Longleaf Academy will open in the Sandhills.

This private school is different from a conventional school in that it is designed to implement a "best-practiced" approach for children with learning differences, such as dyslexia, AD/HD, and other global learning disabilities, according to Principal Jill Dejak. "Our school initiates teaching in a different way," Dejak said. "While the Longleaf Academy will follow the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, we instruct our students in a four-to-one student-teacher ratio.

"First, students are assessed to determine their conceptual weaknesses. Next, specific goals, which are based upon the Standard Course of Study, are individualized for each person."

Weaknesses in reading and writing are addressed in daily one-on-one clinical sessions using the Orton-Gillingham approach.

"This phonics-based approach adheres to the fundamental principles of reading and writing," Dejak said. "It uses techniques that enrich language for understanding, teaches reading using the three primary modes of memory retrieval (visual, auditory and kinesthetic/tactile), keeps the elements of instruction structured, sequential and cumulative; and, most importantly, instruction must remain applicable. The instructor must activate the student's previously learned information to teach new information. Adhering to these principles enables the student to learn reading and spelling commensurate to his/her intellectual ability."

Teaching children with learning disabilities is a challenging and rewarding experience, according to Dejak. Much research has been conducted over the past 50 years to determine the causes of, and the approaches to, helping these seemingly intelligent children learn.

Dejak said a learning disability is not because of low intelligence; rather, it is due to the insufficient "processing path" and the way in which the brain stores and recalls information. She said children with learning disabilities are capable students; in many cases these children, when given the right instruction, do go on to a higher education.

The Longleaf Academy is unique, but only to this area, according to Dejak. Schools like the Longleaf Academy are helping students with learning differences all over our country, and several in the Carolinas. For example, the Guilford Day School in Greensboro, the Hill Center in Durham, the Greenhills School in Winston-Salem, and the Carolina Day School in Asheville are helping children with learning differences find success so that they gain the tools to be productive in a regular classroom setting, she pointed out.

"If instruction is implemented correctly, and we've done our job, most students leave our school in two to three years to return to the traditional school setting," she said. "The goal should not be to keep students in this environment forever, but rather to provide the necessary conceptual skills, strategies, and instruction that will make them self-sufficient learners for a lifetime."

Longleaf Academy is at 600 Valley View Road. An open house will be held Thursday, June 25. Families will have the opportunity to see the school and meet the teachers and staff.

Anyone needing more information about the open house or to inquire about the school can contact Dejak at 692-2665.