What is Orton-Gillingham?

 

Orton-Gillingham is a literacy approach based on the science of reading that was created during the 1920s by Dr. Samuel T. Orton and Anna Gillingham. Orton was an American psychologist who was known for his work examining the causes of dyslexia and the best methods to diagnose and treat it. Gillingham was a psychologist and teacher who created teaching strategies for students with dyslexia. The two combined their expertise on how students learn to read and their professional understanding of learning disabilities to create the Orton-Gillingham approach. Over the years, this approach has transformed literacy outcomes for many schools and districts and empowered students at every reading level to succeed in the classroom.

The Orton-Gillingham method includes phonics, systematic, explicit instruction, highly structured, and multi-sensory education. It is a Structured Literacy method that breaks reading and spelling down into smaller skills involving letters to build on these skills over time and is the first to use explicit, direct, sequential, systematic, and a multi-sensory approach to teaching the English language and reading.

As nearly 40% of students across the U.S. cannot read at a basic level, the application of an approach that is proven to work for every student is more important than ever.

 

Key Features of the Orton-Gillingham Approach

 

The Orton-Gillingham method was the first to use explicit, direct, sequential, systematic, multi-sensory approaches to teach students to read in the English language. These key features provide students with multiple pathways to learn essential literacy concepts as well as how to connect them together to build context.

Sequential

The Orton-Gillingham approach is sequential, meaning that each lesson is built upon one another in a logical order. This sets students up to succeed, helping them to build a solid foundation in language skills so they can move from simple to more complex concepts.

Explicit

Orton-Gillingham structures literacy learning in a direct and explicit manner, meaning that students learn the structure of a given sound or word and how it fits into the greater framework of the English language.

Multi-sensory Education

Orton-Gillingham literacy instruction uses sight, hearing, touch, and movement to help students connect letters and words. This multi-sensory approach makes the Orton-Gillingham method especially helpful for students with dyslexia.

Systematic Phonics

Systematic phonics provides students with structured and organized literacy instruction that focuses on the relationship between graphemes (letters) with phonemes (sounds) in the English language. Over time, students master simple letter patterns and words to comprehend more complicated concepts over time.

Incremental

Each lesson builds carefully upon the previous lesson. This helps students move from simple concepts to more complex ones, ensuring that there are no gaps in their learning as they advance.

Individualized

Personalized instruction allows teachers to address the specific needs of each learner. Beginning with an initial assessment to understand the learner’s current strengths and challenges, students are met with literacy instruction that is at their level. This is especially important for teaching students with dyslexia how to read.

 

How IMSE Applies the Orton-Gillingham Method In Today’s Classrooms

 

IMSE’s Orton-Gillingham approach is based on addressing the whole child and their individual learning needs. A student’s environmental, cultural, and social factors are linked with literacy development, which in turn, impacts the rest of their lives. IMSE is known as a go-to resource for multi-sensory education, setting educators and districts up to transform literacy outcomes.

Through evidence-based knowledge, support, and comprehensive resources, IMSE provides teachers with the tools to make an immediate impact in the classroom to secure literacy success for all. Teachers can learn more about Structured Literacy, the Orton-Gillingham method, the science of reading and the benefits for students with dyslexia through IMSE’s training options, available both virtually and in-person to meet the busy schedules of educators.

IMSE’s literacy resources and multi-sensory education methods are straightforward and explicit so they can be implemented and effective in the classroom immediately after teachers complete training.

 

Master the Orton-Gillingham Approach Today

 

For over 30 years, IMSE has been bringing effective literacy approaches — including Orton-Gillingham, developed by Anna Gillingham and Samuel T. Orton — to the modern classroom and to English language instruction. We have seen that our Structured Literacy and multi-sensory approach can help all children learn to read; not just students with dyslexia. And we’re more than just a philosophy. IMSE has spent decades working on the practical implementation of Orton-Gillingham, Structured Literacy, and training rooted in the science of reading so educators are equipped with the most current information and strategies. We aim to provide teachers with the knowledge and skills to make all children effective readers, writers, and spellers.


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