It is the mission of the Scottish Rite Dyslexia Foundation to provide financial support for education and programs assisting those who are reading disabled.

To fulfill its mission the Scottish Rite Dyslexia Foundation supports dyslexia services training for teachers and those who help the reading disadvantaged, with a focus on dyslexia.  The Scottish Rite Dyslexia Foundation provides grant funding for assisting teachers to obtain training that meets the requirements of th Texas dyslexia Handbook that will enable them to identify, support, and treat dyslexia disabled students identified with dyslexia.

The Scottish Rite Dyslexia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity. Our educational services and operations are funded by donations and fundraising activities done by Scottish Rite Masons in Austin and surrounding areas.

The Scottish Rite Dyslexia Foundation began in the late 1980s as the Austin Scottish Rite Learning Center. It was located in a downtown Austin Colonial mansion that was a bequeathal from Helena Ziller, the widow of a prominent Austin Scottish Rite Mason. The original mission was to facilitate intervention for dyslexic children and to certify language therapists. This is done using a leading edge, certified curriculum and programs designed by the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas, which provides dyslexic individuals with a proven research-based, multi-sensory approach for learning the basic language skills of reading, writing, and spelling.

The name of the Learning Center was changed to the Austin Scottish Rite Dyslexia Center to better represent the specific focus of the operation. The names are now used interchangeably. In 2001, the Center decided to broaden its focus and not only tutor children, but also provide area educators with the training required to become Certified Academic Language Therapists (CALT) through the Academic Language Therapy Association.

For its first 25 years the Center relocated 2 times, but it remained fully staffed to provide help to Dyslexic children with their literacy and training teachers to teach reading skills to dyslexic children. The Center was a resource to families in referring their children to professionals to evaluate them.

In 2015 our school building was sold and a foundation model was adopted by the Center to focus its efforts focus on providing support in the training of dyslexia teachers. This enables the Center to help and influence more children through the teachers that it trains without the expense of a physical plant and administrative overhead.

Today all Dyslexia and Certification services are funded by donations and fundraising activities done or in conjunction with Scottish Rite Masons in Austin and surrounding areas. It is our fervent hope that the Community will further embrace our efforts in improve the literacy of our children. Our reach is limited by our funding, the Center counts on the generosity of our patrons.

The return on your investment – is our community. Let us show you!

The Masonic Order has been involved in quality education in Texas since the Battle of San Jacinto and the early growth of the Republic. For more than 150 years, Texas Masons have joined with others around the world to institute and support charitable programs.

The Scottish Rite Dyslexia Foundation takes great pride in continuing this tradition of service by bringing quality education to those Austin area children who struggle to free themselves from the effects of dyslexia.

Take Flight is a Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia. It was developed by the staff of the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. Take Flight builds on the success of the three previous dyslexia intervention programs developed by the staff of TSRHC: Alphabetic Phonics, the Dyslexia Training Program and TSRH Literacy Program.

Take Flight is a two-year curriculum designed for use by Certified Academic Language Therapists for children with dyslexia ages 7 and older to be taught four days per week (60 minutes per day) or five days per week (45 minutes per day). It is intended for one-on-one or small group instruction with no more than six students per class. Follow-up research indicates that students who complete Take Flight instruction show significant growth in all areas of reading skill and maintain the benefits of instruction on word reading skills and continue to improve in reading comprehension after one year. Ongoing studies show students maintain reading skills in the average range through year four.

Take Flight is a comprehensive intervention for students with dyslexia and addresses the five components of effective instruction identified by the National Reading Panel’s research: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension.

It is the mission of the Scottish Rite Dyslexia Foundation to support programs for reading-disabled persons such as, but not limited to, teacher training, providing educational opportunities and therapies for children, and help those who are reading disabled.

The Scottish Rite Dyslexia Center is a 501(c)(3) charity. The Board of Directors serve as 100% volunteers and receive no income.