Literacy Intervention

Reading & Dyslexia Support in Los Altos

Targeted reading help, without pulling your child out of school life

At Los Altos Christian School, our Literacy Intervention program gives students who are struggling with reading and spelling the specialized, daily instruction they need to catch up to grade level — while staying fully part of their regular classroom and community.

It’s built for families across the Bay Area — Los Altos, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, and beyond — who want real, evidence-based reading support inside a warm, faith-centered school rather than a separate clinic or after-school tutoring.

How the program works

Students in the program are pulled out for about 50 minutes each day to work in a small group of three to four students on focused reading and spelling instruction. Groups are organized by where each student is in the program — not strictly by grade — so the instruction always meets the child where they are.

The rest of the day, students are in their regular classes with their peers. The pull-out is scheduled during a late-morning block where students aren’t missing core new content — they’re working on the same reading and spelling skills their class is covering, just in a more targeted way. There’s no make-up work and no falling behind.

The program currently serves students in grades 2 through 5.

The method: the Wilson Reading System

LACS uses the Wilson Reading System, a structured, multisensory program built on the Orton-Gillingham approach and grounded in the science of reading. It teaches reading and spelling systematically and explicitly — sound by sound, rule by rule — which is exactly what research shows students with dyslexia need.

Our teachers are trained in the Wilson Reading System and work with students through its structured sequence of steps. At the end of each step, students are assessed and progress is reported directly to parents, so families always know how their child is doing.

Aligned with the science of reading

The science of reading is a large body of research from cognitive science, linguistics, and education that explains how the brain actually learns to read. It shows that reading is not something every child simply picks up naturally — it has to be taught explicitly and systematically, building foundational skills like phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Our Literacy Intervention curriculum is in alignment with the science of reading. Rather than guessing words from pictures or context, students learn to decode and spell through direct, structured instruction — the approach the research supports.

Who the program is for

The program is the right fit for students who are no more than about three to four months behind their grade-level peers in reading and spelling, and who have the desire to put in the work. Many of these students have dyslexia — a diagnosis isn’t required to qualify.

We’re able to support students with a specific learning difference such as dyslexia through targeted reading and spelling remediation. As with any program, there are needs that fall outside what we’re set up to provide: we cannot support students who require one-on-one instruction or aide support, intensive therapeutic programs, or specialized social, emotional, or behavioral services.

If your child has an outside IEP or 504 plan, we’re glad to take it into consideration and honor it where we can — though as a private school, we may not be able to provide every accommodation a public-school plan specifies.

Is your child a fit? Let’s talk.

The best first step is a conversation. Schedule a tour, share what you’re seeing with your child’s reading, and we’ll talk honestly about whether our Literacy Intervention program is the right match. If it looks like a fit, we’ll do a Wilson reading assessment as part of the regular admissions process.

Frequently Asked Questions