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WHAT IS THE ORTON-GILLINGHAM APPROACH?
All trained Orton-Gillingham educators follow a set of principles whenever they plan a lesson for a student. These principles uphold the integrity of the approach.
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IT IS DIAGNOSTIC
Teachers assess and create lessons based on where the child is in their current reading ability. Concepts and skills are taught for mastery. Teachers continually measure student progress to determine when to advance to new concepts and skill challenges. There is no hard-set sequence in instruction.
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IT IS EXPLICIT
Teachers use direct instruction. Students are taught the rules, generalizations and structure of the English language.
Orton-Gillingham trained instructors provide direct instruction in seven key areas
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Reading (decoding/fluency/comprehension) strategies
Spelling rules/patterns
Letter formation
Phonemic awareness skills
Grammar
Morphological analysis
Written expression.
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IT IS SYSTEMATIC AND SEQUENTIAL
Lessons follow a specific order or progression and build on previously taught material. Teachers explicitly teach connections between past concepts and the new concept via direct instruction or student self-discovery activities.
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IT IS MULTI-SENSORY
Teachers use visual, auditory, tactile-kinesthetic activities throughout the lesson. Students master skills quicker and more permanently with multi-sensory activities because they create stronger neural connections in the brain. Students train with processes that help them see, hear and touch/move manipulatives supporting the explicit instruction of each concept they learn.