Practising Licence Programme: Reading Therapist (ONLINE)
This programme aims to qualify any trainee who has passed all the programme’s requirements of the International Association of Counselors & Therapists (IACT) and be admitted as a licenced reading therapist. A reading therapist is expected to understand about literacy and language difficulties, disabilities and disorders faced by the children and their different challenges in reading, comprehension, writing and spelling processes. The processes include phonological (from letters and words to sentences), morphological (from phrases and clauses to sentences), semantic (from affixes and root words to discourse) and syntactic (grammar, text types and genres) processing and skills. The candidate will also be practising about the using different tools and protocols for screening, informal & standardised assessment, evaluation and profiling of children with language difficulties together with intervention planning and procedures.
The IACT is a prestigious professional body based in the USA that admits any person who have fulfilled the rigorous requirements of the practising licence programmes to obtain practising membership as a counselor or a therapist. The membership with the IACT is a mark of high standard and excellence. Practising members are not only knowledgeable and bound by high ethical standards, but are also highly respected as well. They are eligible to work in many countries such as North American, Asian and European countries etc.
The three tiers of the IACT’s practising licence are Credentialed (Therapist), Registered (Assessor) and Board-Certified (Diagnostician). Board-Certified (Diagnostician) members hold the highest status of the membership of the IACT. .
As a requirement of the IACT, all courseworks, assignments and essays of a trainee must be supervised and verified by an approved instructor of the IACT. All works of the candidate are required to be submitted by the instructor to the IACT’s Assessment Board based in the USA for final assessment.
Merlion Academy is authorised to supervise and verify the trainee’s work seeking to gain admission as an IACT member. Trainee will also be supported by the both the IACT Singapore and Malaysia chapters.
Admissions for the programme are conducted on a rolling basis and can begin at any time.
Course Modules:
- Module 1: Literacy as Process and Product
- Module 2: Literacy and Language Difficulties, Disabilities and Disorders
- Module 3: Literacy & Language Screening and Assessment
- Module 4: Literacy and Language Contents and Skills
- Module 5: Intervention for Challenging Literacy and Language Issues
- Module 1: Dyslexia: Assessment & Intervention
- Module 2: Hyperlexia: Assessment & Intervention
- Module 3: Dysnomia: Assessment & Intervention
- Module 4: Dysgraphia: Assessment & Intervention
- Module 5: Dysorthographia: Assessment & Intervention
- Module 1: The Synergy of Reading and Writing
- Module 2: Children’s Literature as an Intervention Tool
- Module 3: Imagination as the Implicit Process in Literacy Development
- Module 4: Readers’ Profiles within the Context of Reading Process
- Module 5: Writers’ Profiles within the Context of Writing Process
* Module exemptions will be granted based on individual’s merits and to the graduate of relevant diploma accredited by International Association of Therapists.
Assessment:
1. Assessments are assignments based, mainly submission of publishable journal articles and papers.
2. Guided learning hours to fulfil: 30 hours per module (150 hours in total).
3. Non-guided learning hours (reading time and journal papers writing for publishing): 30 hours per module (150 hours in total).
Practicum:
220 hours of internship under clinical supervision at a counseling center or therapy clinic or hospital.
Duration:
8 months per tier
Entry Requirements:
Age
21 years and above
Minimum qualification
Minimum a bachelor’s degree in
i. special education, education, psychoeducational therapy, biology, medicine, counselling or psychology; or
ii. any discipline with postgraduate diploma in teaching, education, educational therapy, psychology etc.
English requirement
1. Pearson Test of English (PTE) 53; or
2. IELTS 6.0 (reading and writing must be at 6.0); or
3. A pass in English Language paper at GCE Ordinary Level
4. TOEFL 65
5. Equivalent (such as Pearson Versant English Test).
Course Fees:
(Non-refundable one-time application fee of SGD 95.00 is payable upon application)
Program fee
SGD 1,500.00 per module
Marking fee
SGD 50.00 per module
Payment mode
Stripe / Credit card / Alipay
Refund Terms
90% – more than 28 days before course commencement
50% – less than 28 days before course commencement
10% – less than 3 days before course commencement
0% – more than 3 days after the course commencement
