Orton-Gillingham

It uses all the learning pathways: seeing, hearing, feeling, and awareness of motion, brought together by the thinking brain. The instructor engages in multisensory teaching to convey curricular content in the most understandable way to the student. The teacher also models how the student, by using these multiple pathways, can engage in multisensory learning that results in greater ease and success in learning.

An Orton-Gillingham lesson is both diagnostic and prescriptive. It is diagnostic in the sense that the instructor continuously monitors the verbal, nonverbal, and written responses of the student to identify and analyze both the student’s problems and progress. This information is the basis of planning the next lesson. That lesson is prescriptive in the sense that it will contain instructional elements that focus upon the resolution of the student’s difficulties and that build upon the student’s progress noted in the previous lesson.

The teacher presentations employ lesson formats that ensure the student approaches the learning experience understanding what is to be learned, why it is to be learned, and how it is to be learned.  Students are taught skills and concepts in a direct manner leaving little room for misunderstanding.

It uses systematic phonics, stressing the alphabetic principle in the initial stages of reading development. It takes advantage of the sound/symbol relationships inherent in the alphabetic system of writing. Spoken words are made up of individual speech sounds, and the letters of written words graphically represent those speech sounds.

It draws upon applied linguistics not only in the initial decoding and encoding stages of reading and writing but in more advanced stages dealing with syllabic, morphemic, syntactic, semantic, and grammatical structures of language and our writing system. At all times the Orton-Gillingham Approach involves the student in integrative practices that involve reading, spelling, and writing together.

It increases linguistic competence by stressing language patterns that determine word order and sentence structure and the meaning of words and phrases. It moves beyond this to recognizing the various forms that characterize the common literary forms employed by writers.

The teacher presents information in an ordered way that indicates the relationship between the material taught and past material taught. Curricular content unfolds in linguistically logical ways that facilitate student learning and progress. In OG classes, students begin by reading and writing sounds in isolation. Then sounds are blended into one syllable and multisyllabic words. Students learn the elements of language - consonants, vowels, digraphs, blends, and diphthongs - in an orderly, sequential fashion. Students proceed to advanced structural elements such as syllable types, roots, and affixes.

Step-by-step learners move from the simple, well-learned material to that which is more and more complex. They move from one step to the next as they master each level of language skills. In OG classes, material is introduced, a review of previously introduced material leads to a level of automaticity. Vocabulary, sentence structure, composition, and reading comprehension are taught in similar structured, sequential, and cumulative manner.

The approach provides for a close teacher-student relationship that builds self-confidence based on success.

Students understand the reasons for what they are learning and for the learning strategies they are employing. Confidence grows as they gain in their ability to apply newly acquired knowledge about and knowledge how to develop their skills with reading, spelling, and writing. 

A cognitive approach to instruction includes conscious intellectual activity (such as thinking, reasoning, or remembering).  The study of the English language and the many generalizations and rules that govern its structure are the building blocks of the Orton-Gillingham Approach. Students learn how best to apply the language knowledge necessary for achieving reading and writing competencies.

Students’ feelings about themselves and about learning are vital. Teaching is directed toward providing the experience of success. With success comes increased self-confidence and motivation. Learning becomes rewarding as positive emotions increase and negative emotions decrease. Pacing is based on student success. 

Flexible in that teachers are trained experts and access the learning requirements of students to best meet their needs.