WHO ARE ORTON AND GILLINGHAM?

Samuel T. Orton, a neurologist, psychiatrist and pathologist, was a pioneer in studying both the physiological and educational aspects of what he called in 1928 specific reading disability or dyslexia. He was fascinated with patients who were bright and often had talents in many areas, but struggled with reading and language skills. He became convinced that dyslexia was not a problem of vision or perception but a problem of language.

Dr Orton felt that the cause of this problem was neurological in origin and that the remedy for it was educational. In the 1930’s he worked with Anna Gillingham, a remedial teacher, psychologist, and gifted educator with a superb mastery of the English language, to develop the method that is now called the Orton-Gillingham approach.

Dr. Orton had two basic principles for teaching students with dyslexia:

1) Instruction must be multi-sensory, including a simultaneous association of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic language stimuli, or multi-sensory methods;

2) Instruction must include the phonetic structure of the language sequentially from the smaller units into larger and more complex wholes. He wanted the instruction to be carefully structured but not programmed, and it was to be adaptable to individual needs.

ABOUT THE ORTON-GILLINGHAM APPROACH

The Orton-Gillingham approach is language based, multisensory, "structured, sequential and cumulative", cognitive, and flexible.

Language Based
The approach includes studying and teaching language. Trained teachers understand the nature of language, the way people learn, and the language-learning process.

Multisensory
Teaching is action-oriented. Teachers use auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and tactile reinforcement. Spelling is taught along with reading.

Structured, Sequential, and Cumulative
Elements of the language are introduced systematically. Students start by reading and writing sounds in isolation. They learn to blend these into syllables and words. Other elements of the language (consonants, vowels, digraphs, blends, diphthongs) are introduced in an orderly way. As students learn new material, they continue to review old material to a level of automati-city. Vocabulary, sentence structure, composition, and reading comprehension are taught in the same way.

Cognitive
Students learn the generalizations and rules that govern language structure.

Flexible
The approach can be used in many different ways: with individuals; small groups; in classrooms; and at all levels, from primary to adult. While early remediation is best, remediation can be successful at any age. In addition, the approach can be used with a variety of materials and is adaptable to the individual needs of the students.

Does it work?

Yes. Over fifty years of research and the experiences of many dedicated tutors and teachers affirm the effectiveness of the Orton-Gillingham approach.

Orton-Gillingham Classes

UMBIDA offers teacher training classes for teachers, tutors, parents, and others interested in multi-sensory language instruction.