Courses

In the introductory course, "Orton-Gillingham Instruction for the Classroom", participants learn how to teach children to read, spell and write using a multisensory phonetic approach. This includes visual (seeing),  auditory (hearing) and kinesthetic (writing) modalities.  Participants will learn specific techniques for teaching sound-symbol relationships, syllable division and spelling rules.

Some children learn best with their eyes.  Some children learn best with their ears.  Some children learn best by writing.  When you teach using all modalities you ensure that each child has an opportunity to learn using his or her strongest pathway.

It is an approach for teaching reading, writing and spelling based on Orton-Gillingham principles.  The structure of the English language is taught in a logical, sequential, organized and direct manner starting simply and progressing to the complex.  Students learn the precise sounds for each letter or letter combination and immediately blend them into words for reading and write them for spelling.  As students progress they learn syllable patterns and spelling rules.  Reading, spelling and handwriting are taught simultaneously.

As early as 1925, Dr. Samuel T. Orton, a renowned neuropathologist, focused his attention on language-based reading problems and effective remedial  practices.  His book, Reading, Writing and Speech Problems in Children, became a classic in the field of reading research.  Anna Gillingham, an educator and psychologist, further refined Dr. Orton's techniques in the book, Remedial Training for Children with Specific Disability in Reading, Spelling and Penmanship.  This manual became the basis for the Orton-Gillingham approach.