Specialized in Dyslexia and Dyscalculia
Empowering students to achieve their full potential
About Academic Therapy Services
Meet Your Therapist
My name is Itzia Aparicio. I wanted to share a little about myself and my passion behind the science of reading and helping students with learning differences. I have been working with students with learning differences for over 15 years and training schools and teachers for the past 12 years. I am very passionate about helping students with learning differences because I understand what it feels like not to get it. English is my second language and when I moved to the United States I went from being an A+ student to someone who struggled to read and spell. I felt frustrated, inadequate, and sad. I struggled with processing the sounds of a new language. I was not deaf but my brain needed help processing the new sounds it was hearing. 15 years ago during my undergrad, I started to provide tutoring services to students with learning differences such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, hyperactivity, and neurodivergent minds, and through training I discovered structured literacy and the science of reading. I was mind-blown to learn that there is a direct correlation between processing the sounds we hear and reading, spelling, reading comprehension, and writing. The more training I received the more passionate I became to help students not feel how I felt when I was younger. I became certified in the Orton-Gillingham method so I could help students with learning differences using data-driven evidence-based practices and programs. After working one-on-one with students with exceptionalities, I realized that there had to be millions of reading specialists to truly make a difference. That’s when my new dream started. I wanted to not only work with students with learning differences but to empower teachers with the science of reading knowledge, so they could provide targetted, data-driven, science-based instruction in the classroom. If every teacher was a reading specialist, the number of kids in need of special education and intensive reading services would decrease exponentially.
I am accredited as a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) through ALTA and a Certified Structured Literacy and Dyslexia Specialist (C-SLDS) Trough the International Dyslexia Association. I am certified under several structured literacy programs and research-based math curriculums. The CALT certification is the most comprehensive dyslexia training available to date. To be allowed to take the exam for the CALT certification you need a minimum of 200 instructional hours of comprehensive therapy-level training in an Orton-Gillingham program, and a minimum of 700 clinical/teaching practicum hours with both intro and advanced level of instruction. My practicum was 2,104 hours!! I love what I do, I am committed to help my students reach their potential. Seeing how structured literacy can change lives keeps me going.