WHO WE ARE

About Us

We do two things at Orton Gillingham Reading Specialists:

We teach struggling readers how to read, spell, and do handwriting using the Orton Gillingham approach to literacy.

We teach educators how to become Orton Gillingham Reading Specialists.

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HOW WE STARTED

Our History

Orton Gillingham Reading Specialists was established in 2003 by Karen Sonday, M. Ed. and Fellow of Orton Gillingham Academy. She began the business in a small office, teaching struggling readers with just two teachers. In 2018, we moved into a beautiful training center in Edina, MN where we grew our services and our staff. After the advent of COVID, we transitioned to a fully-online business model and are now able to serve students from all over the world with our staff of 12. We have helped thousands of students - pre-K through adult - learn to read.

KAREN SONDAY

Our Founder

Karen Sonday (M.A. Special Education, B.A. Child Psychology, F/OGA) is our owner and founder. She has been an Orton Gillingham practitioner since 1983 and is a speaker and teacher trainer nationally and internationally. Karen supervises each of our Reading Specialists, creating a consistent and extremely effective program for students. She is also co-author of the Sonday System Essentials Orton Gillingham based curriculum with her mother, Arlene Sonday, an eminent Orton Gillingham teacher and author. The Sonday System curriculum is being used in school districts all over the world.

New-Karen

OUR STAFF

Our Amazing Team

Jen Bremer 2023

Jen Bremer

Reading Specialist

Olivia-Chowbay-Williams--Reading-Specialist

Olivia Chowbay- Williams

Reading Specialist

Kristin Dann - Bookkeeper Admin

Kristin Dann

Finance and Operations Manager

Katherine Englund 2023

Katherine Englund

Team Lead,
Master Reading Specialist

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Sarah Falcon

Reading Specialist

Maggie Klimisch 2023

Maggie Klimisch

Master Reading Specialist

Jessica-Marks---Reading-Specialist

Jessica Marks

Reading Specialist

Pam Mehlin 2023

Pam Mehlin

Master Reading Specialist
Training Supervisor

Rhonda Rademacher 2023

Rhonda Rademacher

Master Reading Specialist

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Abbe Pedersen

Executive Director

New-Karen

Karen Sonday

Founder and Owner

Rebecca - Corrected

Rebecca Zilberstein

Reading Specialist

Kari-Zizzo

Kari Zizzo

Reading Specialist

Contact Us

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