What is the Multisensory or Orton-Gillingham Approach?
What Are Some Programs That Use A Multisensory Approach To The Teaching Of Reading?
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What is the Orton-Gillingham Approach?
Many different programs provide the components necessary for teaching dyslexic students, who need systematic and explicit instruction in sound/symbol correspondences in order to decode the printed word, along with instruction in reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. All the programs listed here can be grouped under the broad umbrella of an Orton-Gillingham approach which is:
- Structured, Sequential and Cumulative — Elements of the language are introduced systematically. Students begin by reading and writing sounds in isolation. These are blended into syllables and words. The various elements of the language (consonants, digraphs, blends, and diphthongs) are introduced in an orderly fashion. As students learn new material, they continue to review old material to the level of automaticity. The teacher addresses vocabulary, sentence structure, composition, and reading comprehension in similar structured, sequential and cumulative manner.
- Language-based — A technique for studying and teaching language, understanding the nature of human language, the mechanisms involved in learning, and the language-learning processes in individuals.
- Multisensory — Sessions are action-oriented with auditory, visual, and kinesthetic elements reinforcing each other for optimal learning. Spelling is taught simultaneously with reading and in this respect differs from traditional phonics instruction.
- Cognitive — Students learn about the history of the language and study the many generalizations and rules which govern its structure.
- Flexible — At its best, Orton-Gillingham teaching is diagnostic-prescriptive in nature. The teacher constantly seeks to understand how an individual learns and to devise appropriate teaching strategies.
(Orton Gillingham Academy, Amenia, New York,1996)
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What Are Some Programs That Use A Multisensory Approach To The Teaching Of Reading?
From the original philosophy and instructional methods of Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham, several multisensory systems have been developed by creative practitioners and educators in different areas of the United States. Some of these approaches are described below (in alphabetical order).
- Alphabetic Phonics- developed by Aylett R. Cox at Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas Texas. This phonetic program teaches reading accuracy, spelling skills, expression, listening and reading comprehension by engaging the visual, auditory and kinesthetic modalities simultaneously.
- Lindamood-Bell-Auditory Discrimination in Depth-developed by Patricia Lindamood, Nanci Bell and Phyllis Lindamood in California.. This program seeks to develop three sensory-cognitive processes which underlie basic language processing.; it develops awareness of the motor -kinesthetic features of speech sounds and these features are labeled to heighten their distinctiveness and enable clear communication about their sequence within single and multisyllable words, enabling individuals to grasp and apply the logic of our alphabet system.
- Phono-Graphix is a new reading and spelling curriculum for gradeK-3 students, as well as for older students who struggle with decoding and spelling. The curriculum combines powerful phonemic awareness exercises with direct, comprehensive, multi-sensory instruction in the sound-symbol code.
- Project ASSIST developed by Virginia Biasotto in Delaware. It is a combination of Spalding, Lindamood, Project READ and Orton techniques to teach reading, spelling and writing to school age students.
- Project Read-developed by Enfield and Green in Minnesota, and designed to be delivered in the regular classroom by the classroom teacher. It is a direct, systematic, multisensory approach to teaching phonology, reading comprehension and written expression.
- The Spalding Method-a unique program designed for the regular classroom that incorporates the use of Orton phonograms to teach the sounds of the language; multisensory instruction, and intensive systematic phonics instruction.
- Wilson Language Training-developed by Barbara Wilson in Massachusetts. This is a highly structured, multisensory program based on the Orton Gillingham approach. It was written for students age 6-adult, and is very successful with students who have been unable to learn with traditional basal methods, whole language or phonics programs.
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