Anna Gillingham and Bessie Stillman based their original 1936 teaching manual for the "alphabetic method" on Dr. Orton's theories. They combined multisensory techniques with teaching the structure of written English, including the sounds (phonemes), meaning units (morphemes such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots) and common spelling rules. The phrase "Orton-Gillingham approach" refers to the structured, sequential, multisensory techniques established by Dr. Orton and Ms. Gillingham and their colleagues.

What is meant by multisensory teaching?
Multisensory teaching is simultaneously visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile to enhance memory and learning. Links are consistently made between the visual (what we see), auditory (what we hear), and kinesthetic-tactile (what we feel) pathways in learning to read and spell. 

Margaret Byrd Rawson, a former President of The Orton Dyslexia Society (the precursor to The International Dyslexia Association), said it well:

"Dyslexic students need a different approach to learning language from that employed in most classrooms. They need to be taught, slowly and thoroughly, the basic elements of their language -- the sounds and the letters which represent them -- and how to put these together and take them apart. They have to have lots of practice in having their writing hands, eyes, ears, and voices working together for the conscious organization and retention of their learning."

Teachers who use this approach teach children to link the sounds of the letters with the written symbol. Children also link the sound and symbol with how it feels to form the letter or letters. As students learn a new letter or pattern (such as s or th), they carefully trace, copy, and write the letter(s) while saying the corresponding sound. The sound may be made by the teacher and the letter name(s) given by the student. Students then read and spell words, phrases, and sentences using these patterns. Teachers and their students rely on all three pathways for learning rather than focusing on a "sight-word" or memory method, a "tracing method," or a "phonetic method" alone.

What is the rationale behind multisensory teaching?
Children with dyslexia often exhibit weaknesses in auditory and/or visual processing. They may have weak phonemic awareness, meaning they are unaware of the role sounds play in words. They have difficulty rhyming words, blending sounds to make words, or segmenting words into sounds. They may also have difficulty acquiring a sight vocabulary. That is, dyslexic children do not learn the sight words expected in the primary grades. In general, they do not pick up the alphabetic code or system.

When taught by a multisensory approach, children have the advantage of learning alphabetic patterns and words by utilizing all three pathways. Orton suggested that teaching the "fundamentals of phonic association with letter forms both visually presented and reproduced in writing, until the correct associations were built up" would benefit students of all ages.

Is there solid evidence that multisensory teaching is effective for children with dyslexia?
There is a growing body of evidence supporting multisensory teaching. Current research, much of it supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), converges on the efficacy of explicit structured language teaching for children with dyslexia. Young children in structured, sequential, multisensory intervention programs, who were also trained in phonemic awareness, made significant gains in decoding skills. These multisensory approaches used direct, explicit teaching of letter-sound relationships, syllable patterns, and meaning word parts. Studies in clinical settings showed similar results for a wide range of ages and abilities.

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) thanks Marcia K. Henry, Ph.D. for her assistance in the preparation of this fact sheet.

* The International Dyslexia Association supports efforts to provide individuals with dyslexia with appropriate instruction and to identify these individuals at an early age. IDA, however, does not endorse any specific program, speaker, product, or instructional material, noting that there are a number of such which present the critical components of instruction as defined by IDA

© Copyright 2000, The International Dyslexia Association (IDA). IDA encourages the reproduction and distribution of this fact sheet. If portions of the text are cited, appropriate reference must be made. Fact sheets may not be reprinted for the purpose of resale.

Integrated Tools that Support   For those who want to use a multisensory phonics method to teach students with dyslexia, the one ingredient that has often been missing is a cohesive set of tools that supports teaching in this fashion. The key is to have step-by-step lessons and fun, integrated tools that support instruction. Go Phonics was developed with that purpose in mind. Go Phonics, an Orton Gillingham based beginning reading program, was designed for instructional use by parents, tutors, and teachers to teach students with dyslexia. It has 48 phonics games that integrate with its workbooks and controlled vocabulary decodable storybooks. As a curriculum or supplement, Go Phonics provides the practice and preparation for reading, handwriting, and spelling plus a high percentage of K-2 language arts skills. (Designed for any age beginning reader.) Click here for an overview of Go Phonics Click here to view integrated tools that provide the practice and repetition needed for success.

The Slingerland Approach, developed by Beth Slingerland in the 1960's, is an adaptation of the Orton-Gillingham method for classroom use. This structured, sequential, simultaneous multi-sensory teaching apporach is designed to teach students the integrated skills of speaking, reading, writing and spelling. When incorporated in the beginning of language arts instruction in the general education classroom, this approach is effective in preventing at-risk students from experiencing failure while providing all emergent readers with a comprehensive foundation for reading. The program's flexibility, however, makes it an excellent remedial tool for dyslexic individuals of all ages.

Form more information contact the Slingerland Institute: 425-453-1190