This Business Spotlight originally appeared in the Autumn 2024 edition of the 503. Magazine. Click here to read the entire edition online.
The staff of Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center, with founder Lynn Brown (second from right).
As parents, teachers, and the education community have become more aware of learning disabilities, identifying children dealing with those challenges has become easier, leading to a heightened sensitivity as a culture and a better understanding of how kids learn in different ways and at different speeds.
However, with this understanding, local communities are also identifying a more significant need for specialized teaching and tutoring, which our school systems can’t always provide. Fortunately for us in the Salem area, local businesses and organizations, such as the Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center, are stepping in to address this growing need.
Started by CERI Certified, Structured Literacy Teacher Lynn Brown, M.Ed in 2019, the Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center is taking on one of the most common learning disabilities, dyslexia, which affects about 20% of the general population, according to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. Neurological in nature, the disability is characterized by inaccurate word recognition, and poor spelling and decoding abilities, which cause those with dyslexia to struggle with reading comprehension, writing, and even speech.
With a background in special education and as a reading resource teacher, Brown has always been fueled by a personal mission to improve children’s literacy. However, it wasn’t until she discovered a new teaching method, that she found a pathway to becoming a professional tutor for dyslexic students.
“A colleague pointed me in the direction of the Orton-Gillingham methodology,” Brown said. “I used crowdfunding to pay for my training, and I haven’t looked back since. The tutoring center came about from many conversations with many moms who were at the end of the road, and with nowhere to go to get the help their child needed.”
Using the Orton-Gillingham approach — which employs multiple senses to activate different pathways in the brain while reading — Brown began tutoring from home. But as demand for tutoring skyrocketed during COVID, she expanded the business by hiring more tutors and opening a location for the Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center (1665 25th St. SE in Salem) in 2021.
The Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center is located at 1665 25th Street SE Salem.
Today, the center employs 10 tutors who share Brown’s passion and are guided by the center’s core values, which are summarized by the mantra, “Literacy and Justice for All.” While there are others focused on children’s literacy and tutoring, Brown says few are trained in the unique and specialized methods that dyslexia requires. Her staff’s training and the center’s ability to provide one-on-one tutoring, group classes, and online tutoring, have established Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center as the region’s true expert in this niche area of specialized education.
“We can bring a child up to reading at grade level in under three years,” Brown said. “We pride ourselves on being student-centered, meeting them where they are, and growing them into confident, independent readers. We are actually doing the work that many are talking about ‘needing’ to do.”
Not only is the work important for Brown and her team, but the rewards of seeing children grow and ultimately succeed make the tutoring they do truly special.
“I love the lightbulb moment kids have when we finally flip the reading switch on!” Brown said. “I also love the relief and joy the parents get when they see their child feeling successful. I believe that literacy is a human right, and I also believe we can solve a lot of social inequities through literacy. The work we do will have an impact for generations.”
Brown says the biggest challenges — not just for her business, but even more so for parents and the community — are access to tutoring and affordability.
Along with working behind the scenes with legislators and community agencies to find funding, the Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center is partnering with George Fox University to provide low-cost academic evaluations for students and continues to donate tutoring and testing to local parent-teacher associations. The center is also working with the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care to become a certified childcare program, so it can bill Oregon’s Employment Related Day Care program for academic daycare.
Brown and her staff are proud of their efforts, but she says there is still more work to do to help parents more easily afford tutoring.
“Our job won’t be done until 80% of Oregon students are reading at or above grade level,” she said. “We will keep on fighting for them and looking for new ways to support them.”
Visit wvdyslexiacenter.com to learn more about the Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center and the variety of tutoring services it offers.