Orton Gillingham Approach
Orton Gillingham is a researched based approach that has decades of success in helping students that struggle with reading (literacy remediation). It is used for students with dyslexia, but it has been proven beneficial for most students with reading, writing and spelling struggles. (Here’s a great article on “5 Reasons to Believe in the Orton-Gillingham Approach”)
It was created by Dr. Samuel Orton (a neuropsychiatrist and pathologist) and Anna Gillingham (an educator and psychologist) in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
It is multi-sensory and involves the following which are all components of structured literacy as set by the International Dyslexia Association:
Systemic and Cumulative
The instruction follows a logical order and new concepts are based on previously learned information.
Explicit
Direct teaching with continuous interaction between the student and teacher and continuous evaluation of how to help the student fully understand concepts.
Multi-sensory
Includes tactile (touch), kinesthetic (movement), visual (sight) and auditory (hearing) to help increase memory and learning.
Diagnostic and Prescriptive
Instruction is planned and geared toward what that specific individual student needs and is constantly re-evaluated by the teacher to best meet the needs of the individual student.
Benefits of Orton Gillingham
