Cohort V at the Tradition campus
The dyslexia therapy master’s degree program at William Carey University is celebrating five years of training therapists to meet the needs of students with dyslexia.
The program’s first cohort began training in 2013 with 23 graduate students. Since that time, the program has enrolled 117 students over five cohorts, graduated 51 therapists, with 15 more students set to graduate in 2018. The program expanded to the WCU Tradition campus in the summer of 2017 to meet the growing need for trained therapists in South Mississippi.
During the past five years, the WCU program earned two international accreditations. In 2015, the program earned accreditation through the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), and in 2017 achieved accreditation through the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Counsel (IMSLEC).
In addition to the required coursework, students must complete 720 supervised internship hours. Upon graduation from the program, therapists are eligible to sit for the IDA Exam to earn national credentials as an IDA Certified Dyslexia Therapist, as well as take the ALTA Exam to earn a national title as a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT).
“We are very pleased with the high number of graduates who have earned these national titles,” said Dr. Cena Holifield, program director.
The program has also trained two additional Certified Academic Language Therapists as Qualified Instructors. The two qualified instructors in training will complete their three-year QI training requirements in fall 2018.
The WCU Dyslexia Therapy staff includes Cena Holifield, Ph.D., CALT-QI; Donna George, M.Ed., CALT-QI; Holli Hinton, CALT-QI in training; and Jessica Powell, CALT-QI in training. The program’s instructors work in association with internationally accredited Neuhaus Education Center in Houston, Texas, to provide the latest in evidence-based comprehensive structured reading instruction to their graduate students.
WCU is now taking applications for Cohort VI which will begin in June. Please contact Dr. Holifield
cholifield@wmcarey.edu for additional information.
Cohort V at the Hattiesburg campus