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Whether you are working in private practice as an Orton-Gillingham tutor or working with students in a classroom or school setting, sharing information about a student’s progress is an important part of our work. Orton-Gillingham progress reports are one way to do that. When it comes to learning to read, a child’s progress is as…
Soon after introducing the first vowel teams, the need to discuss homophones rears its head. This can be challenging for struggling readers during Orton-Gillingham lesson plans, especially English Language Learners. What’s the difference between a homonym and a homophone? Homonyms and homophones are frequently confused and the words are used interchangeably, but there is actually…
Part of being a successful Orton-Gillingham teacher or tutor means being prescriptive. This means you tailor your Orton-Gillingham lessons and plans to meet the specific needs of your struggling readers. Just as important as being prescriptive is being diagnostic. This means that based on a student’s performance within a particular task, you are able to…
Some of the mountains that our struggling readers must climb are bigger than others. One skill that we must introduce fairly early on, but that will take a long time to master is the vowel team syllable. Let’s look at some tips for teaching vowel teams. In principle, the vowel team syllable is easy to…
Whenever my students meet with me for an Orton-Gillingham lesson, they have a few supplies handy, like their Orton-Gillingham binder. I, of course, come towing my large O-G bag, but I find having things that the student can easily access while I am not with them is helpful for them. Families have an opportunity to see…
This post contains a referral link and affiliate link. We know that part of becoming a successful reader and writer is building and utilizing a rich vocabulary. Parents can begin helping their children do just that starting when they are babies. Reading, singing and talking every single day to your little ones will lay…
One of the very first things students need to master happens to be one of the most difficult for many of them: the short vowel sounds. Short vowels are introduced very early in level one of an Orton-Gillingham lesson plan or with any reading intervention program for that matter. While every student is different, probably the most…
When a Student Finds It Hard to Blend Sounds Together: 6 Tips for Getting Over the Hump While very often, things go along quite swimmingly in the Orton-Gillingham lesson plan, from time to time we all have a student that has particular difficulty blending sounds together. They know their letters and can correctly…
Today, we know more about the human brain than ever before. Brain research is a rapidly growing and changing field and the implications for teachers are huge. From all I’ve read and heard, there is one piece of knowledge that has affected my teaching more than any other. That has to do with the role…