Meeting the Needs of Learners with the Orton-Gillingham Approach

The Orton-Gillingham Approach is a teaching method designed to help readers through explicit instruction of the connections between letters and numbers. For students on the St. Mark’s Campus, multi-sensory strategies, along with systematic and sequential phonics lessons, are being taught in our classrooms and the results are truly remarkable. This powerful and proven approach is for all levels of learners, and it builds effective and confident readers, writers, and spellers. 

During this specific instruction time in kindergarten, first, or second grade classrooms a number of activities are underway that incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic strategies for learning. An example (pictured) is students tracing letters in gravel trays. This strategy is used as part of an auditory drill to practice new sounds. When writing in gravel, students have a higher chance of retaining the information.