The Orton Gillingham Method is a research-based, multisensory approach that is used around the world for teaching reading. It is an approach that plays a major role in helping those who struggle with reading even when they do not have any mental health issues.
The Orton Gillingham Method was originally developed in the year 1930 by Dr. Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham. It is an approach that has been widely used for decades to help those with dyslexia, and who are struggling readers, but want to improve their reading skills.
The Orton Gillingham approach makes it easy for struggling readers to understand language as well as develop spelling, reading, and writing skills. Knowing more about the Orton Gillingham method helps struggling readers know how this method helps with reading improvement. Let’s have a look at an overview of the Orton Gillingham method and its role in improving reading.
How Does Orton Gillingham’s Approach Work?
The Orton Gillingham method is an effective, sequential, as well as structured, and cumulative approach to teaching writing, reading, and also spelling. It is an approach that is highly used by reading tutors to help struggling readers. Many reading tutors use this approach to help struggling readers get the confidence to improve their reading skills and perform better.
This approach clears that reading difficulties faced by people with dyslexia and other disorder are usually a result of a deficiency in phonemic awareness. Sometimes the reason behind reading difficulties is also the ability of an individual to hear as well as manipulate the individual sounds in words.
Reading tutors that use the Orton Gillingham approach, help dyslexic children and other reading struggles with the use of different new concepts that are thoroughly demonstrated and explained by them before the learners are asked to apply them. The approach and techniques used by them during the learning sessions help learners properly understand the material.
While using the Orton Gillingham approach, reading tutors use a multi-sensory approach, auditory, incorporating visual, and a variety of other things to help learners better process as well as retain information. Hiring a professional reading tutor helps them build a good foundation of reading skills.
Mastery of Basic Skills & Concepts
The Orton Gillingham approach is based on the principle that information is processed by the human brain in a sequential and hierarchical manner. According to this, before understanding complex ideas, the learner first has to master basic skills and concepts. To improve reading skills and perform better, learners first need to recognize and decode individual sounds and letters, before comprehending complex sentences or paragraphs. Reading tutors help learners with this by making it easy for them to have a better understanding of individual sounds and letters so they can recognize and decode them perfectly
Multisensory Approach
The Orton Gillingham is a method that also uses a multisensory approach to learning. The reading tutors make sure that the learners will use multiple senses to engage with the material. Some tutors also use blocks or tiles to help tutors build words. This multisensory approach used by reading tutors further helps dyslexic children and other reading strugglers learn in a way that is not only just more engaging but also memorable than traditional teaching methods. The Orton Gillingham method emphasizes the use of a multisensory approach that engages learners in all three learning modalities: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic/tactile.
Individualization
One common thing that makes Orton Gillingham’s approach more effective is that it is highly individualized. The Orton Gillingham approach is designed to be taught to struggling readers one-on-one or in small groups. While using this approach, tutors tailor the instruction so they can easily meet the specific needs of each dyslexic child. This is more important for those struggling readers, who usually need more personalized attention as well as the support of tutors than they can receive in a traditional classroom setting.
Research-Based
Another thing that makes the Orton Gillingham approach more effective for reading improvement is that it is research-based. This reading approach is used by reading tutors for dyslexic children because it has a proven track record of success. When used by an expert and in the right ways, it turns out to be effective for improving reading skills in children as well as adults, including those with dyslexia.
Final Thoughts
The Orton Gillingham approach turns out to be more effective in improving reading skills in individuals with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. It is an approach that engages learners in all three learning modalities. When used by a professional reading tutor, it helps learners develop a deeper understanding of language, which further makes it easy for them to improve their reading, spelling, and writing skills.
