What’s the difference between a phoneme, a grapheme, a morpheme? The science of teaching reading can sound like a foreign language, especially when you are first learning about Orton-Gillingham or Structured Literacy instruction. While you will likely be talking about digraphs and trigraphs, and blends before you know it, some of the specialized vocabulary can…
The road you take to become a more structured literacy interventionist can take many twists and turns throughout your career. Who I am today is certainly not the young, impressionable twenty-two-year-old in her first year of teaching back in 2000. If I could talk to that young teacher now, I would definitely have some advice…
When you’re in the middle of Orton-Gillingham training, you learn how to write lesson plans for your students. Part of writing an effective Orton-Gillingham lesson plan is to create a word list. The words you select must be appropriate for reading and spelling. By appropriate, I mean you are choosing words that suit the needs…
K or CK? Is there a rhyme or reason? After introducing the FLOSS rule, the next spelling generalization that is usually taught is the K/CK spelling generalization. This is an incredibly useful and freeing spelling generalization that allows students to spell many words using standard spelling. This generalization applies to the END of words and…
Tips for Teaching the FLOSS Spelling Generalization Some of the most powerful tools we teach our Orton Gillingham students are spelling generalizations to help them choose the correct spelling option. Most adults are not even aware of these “rules”, as with increased familiarity with the orthography of English, one develops an awareness of what “looks…
Decoding and encoding consonant blends is among the most important concepts you teach your beginning readers. This is a skill they will use across multiple syllable types, in both single syllable and multi-syllabic words and even in reading and writing Latin roots and Greek combining forms. Your students may come to you already confident…
Many teachers are familiar with decoding strategies that may emphasize the use of picture clues, meaning and self-monitoring. Sometimes these decoding activities are even given cute nicknames to help students remember. While we want students to monitor our students and their reading for accuracy to make sure it makes sense, often…
7 Tips for Getting Off to a Great Start with a New Student When parents come to me seeking help for their child, very often it is the child’s emotional well-being that has been the final catalyst to seek tutoring. Struggling readers often begin to think of themselves as “stupid” and their overall self-confidence and…
Explaining Orton-Gillingham to Families It can be a challenge when talking about dyslexia and the parts of an Orton-Gillingham lesson to avoid using a lot of technical language and jargon. Many times, parents seeking tutoring services have been told their child should receive Orton-Gillingham instruction or sometimes a specific O-G based program, without really…
Multisensory Teaching Strategies in the Classroom Part One: Using Multisensory Teaching Techniques Multisensory teaching is not just crucial for kids with dyslexia, or within Orton-Gillingham lesson plans, it is good solid teaching for ALL students. Incorporating multisensory learning tools into your classroom lessons will not replace intervention services, but it will make…
