Build: A K-1 Early Reading Intervention (Build) is a comprehensive reading program that explicitly addresses all five reading pillars (phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension). It is suitable for small group instruction of young students in Kindergarten and first grade who have been identified either as having dyslexia or being at risk for dyslexia. It is designed to be taught by a certified teacher who has completed the one-day training.
Build is derived from supplementary materials associated with the very effective dyslexia program from the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders of Scottish Rite for Children called Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia (Take Flight).
Build, is a comprehensive 100-lessson reading program that explicitly addresses all five reading pillars with content, activities, and materials that are suitable for instructing young students in Kindergarten and first grade. Build has its roots in the four previous successful dyslexia intervention programs developed, written, piloted, and revised by staff of the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders of Scottish Rite for Children: Take Flight, Alphabetic Phonics, the Dyslexia Training Program and the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital (TSRH) Literacy Program. Additionally, as with its predecessor programs, the impetus for developing the product and the product design are informed by the ever-increasing scientific understanding of dyslexia. In particular, recent research has documented that the gap in reading achievement between students with and without dyslexia is already established by second grade and, furthermore, that for many dyslexic students, even among those who have received appropriate, intensive, and comprehensive dyslexia intervention, a learning gap persists as they enter high school. These sobering facts behoove us to begin early intervention before second grade and, so, highlight the importance of early identification through screening to identify students who are at risk. The complication is that in Kindergarten and first grade, it may not yet be clear whether a student struggling to learn to read has a developmental learning disorder, like dyslexia, or is struggling to learn for some other reason (e.g., limited exposure). However, the research asserts that watchful waiting is not an appropriate response when a student is showing signs of risk for dyslexia. The needs of students with dyslexia has always been the impetus for Scottish Rite staff to continue to enhance our approach to instruction. Therefore, Build has been designed to meet both the needs of young children identified with dyslexia and as appropriate to use as a supplemental intervention (Tier II) for struggling Kindergarten and first grade students, even when the diagnosis of dyslexia has not yet been established. Build is designed to provide explicit, structured, sequential instruction that lays a solid foundation for building strong reading skills while also building the students’ confidence as a reader. At the end of the 100 lessons, it should be clearer which students do and do not have dyslexia. The students without dyslexia may be ready to return to regular reading instruction and the students with dyslexia will be well prepared for success in their dyslexia intervention program.
Just like Take Flight, Build contains the five components of effective reading instruction supported by the National Reading Panel research meta-analysis and mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act:
• Phonological awareness in Build includes all elements of phonological awareness from rhyming to phonemic awareness with identification of individual speech sounds in words.
• Basic phoneme-grapheme correspondence rules are introduced. This allows time for practice toward accuracy in the application of phonic skills and for more guided reading practice with controlled text.
• Vocabulary is expanded and enriched by developing word relationships by direct instruction in the context of reading.
• Fluency is incorporated within the reading of connected text in phrases and sentences.
• A combination of techniques is used for instruction in reading comprehension (through listening comprehension), including comprehension monitoring, question generation, story structure, summarizing and inferencing.
Build is designed for small group instruction (four to six students) instruction for a minimum of 45 minutes per day. Build includes 100 new learning lessons.
Build has been successfully taught in Scottish Rite’s Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders lab school. Excellent certified teachers with no dyslexia training experience taught a small group of Kindergarten and first grade struggling readers. At the end of the 100 lessons, students who had limited letter recognition were beginning to read words and sentences and were successfully transitioned into Book 1 of Take Flight. Build is also being used with K – 1 students in public school districts both as a formal dyslexia intervention and as a Tier II intervention with good success.

Pricing Structure: Each teacher needs to set up an account (see How to Set Up an Account). The price sheet clearly states all materials and cost to set up a classroom to teach Build (see Build Price Sheet).