Orton Gillingham Curriculum for The Best Reading Success with Dyslexia
We’ve known for decades:
Orton Gillingham Approach Reading Programs are effective for teaching children with dyslexia to read:
If your child has been diagnosed (officially) with dyslexia by a qualified neuropsychologist, psychologist, or psychoeducational evaluator, then you probably need to use Orton Gillingham curriculum for your reading program for teaching your child how to read.
The Orton Gillingham (O-G) method is by Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham. It is a multisensory method for teaching children with true dyslexia to read. The orton gillingham approach is not a reading program. However, there are many reading programs available that use the Orton Gillingham approach.
In order to find an effective Orton Gillingham curriculum for your reading program, you first need to know the essential components of the Orton Gillingham teaching method.
The Orton Gillingham approach incorporates the following criteria:
- Comprehensive – The program covers every detail of phonology. Every letter, every sound, every sound-letter combination, rules for spelling, rules for decoding, frequency of words using rules, etc.
- Explicit instruction – The program teaches every detail of phonology outright. There’s nothing the instruction bypasses.
- Direct instruction – The program provides direct teaching of every detail to the student.
- Multi-sensory – Each piece of instruction is taught multiple ways using auditory, visual, and kinesthetic (movement) based teaching.
- Mastery – Teaching of each piece repeats and continues until the child can automatically recall the sound-letter combinations, decoding and spelling rules, syllabication, etc. without hesitation.
SO, when you are searching for Orton Gillingham curriculum and a reading program, be sure the program is comprehensive. It should teach content auditorily, visually, and kinesthetically. The program must explicitly and directly teach your child every phoneme. It should also have built-in mastery checks that you can use in assessing your child’s level of automatic recall.
Look for TRUE Multisensory Components
There are some programs that have visual and/or auditory components, but NOT kinesthetic components. While these programs work to a degree, they will not work as well as programs where teaching also incorporates some kind of movement. Finger spelling, clapping, toe writing on the carpet, large writing on a big chalkboard, etc. are easy and common choices. If your child happens to be a kinesthetic learner, then a program that incorporates large-body movements will be the best for your child.
As a key step, you will want to assess your child’s learning style to know what type of learning activities serve your child best. If your child is primarily a visual or auditory learner, you’re in luck! Virtually all Orton Gillingham curriculum reading programs use visual and auditory components or activities.
Thus, when you are looking at programs, carefully consider if the reading program is truly using the Orton Gillingham approach. Some programs say they’re Orton-Gillingham curriculum reading programs, but they aren’t truly multisensory.
Below are some resources for you. They are actual Orton Gillingham curriculum reading programs in wide use among homeschooling families working to overcome dyslexia. This list of programs is in no particular order:
Direct Instruction Dyslexia Reading Programs:
- All About Reading
- ABeCeDenarian
- Barton Reading
- Wilson Reading
- Lindamood-Bell LiPS
- New Herman Method Reading Program
Computer-based Dyslexia Reading Programs: Use in ADDITION to Direct Instruction:
- Fast ForWord
- Lexia Reading at Home
- Earobics NOTE: Earobics is discontinued. However, sometimes it can be found on Amazon if you can catch someone selling it there.
If you’d like an Orton Gillingham curriculum app for reading practice, Sound Literacy is one that uses virtual letter tiles for teaching. “Sound Literacy provides a parent with the basic building blocks (elements) that written words are made of – letter and letter combinations, prefixes, suffixes, and bases. With the added ability to create any combination used to explain how words are structured, spelled, or pronounced the possibilities are endless.”
In addition to the resources above, check out our “Home School Curriculum for Learning Disabilities” Resource page for a wider variety of homeschooling curriculum for dyslexics. There are numerous Orton Gillingham curriculum reading programs available on the market. You just need to be aware of your child’s learning style. Then pick a reading program that includes activities for your child’s primary learning style. If the program is also based upon the Orton Gillingham approach, the reading program you choose should be a good fit for your child.
