What Does An Orton Gillingham Lesson Look Like?

By Emily Levy, founder & director of EBL Coaching

Does your child struggle to sound out words or spell with accuracy? Do they have a diagnosed learning disability such as dyslexia? If so, they may benefit from systematic, multi-sensory phonics instruction using a method like Orton Gillingham. The Orton Gillingham method is a systematic, multi-sensory approach that helps students with learning disabilities and reading challenges develop stronger decoding and spelling skills.

What does an Orton Gillingham lesson look like?

At the foundational level, using the Orton Gillingham method, we introduce a series of sounds and their corresponding letters, then how to blend those sounds together to form words.

Basic Orton Gillingham Lesson

For students who are non-readers or struggle to read even basic single syllable words, an Orton Gillingham lesson might start by teaching them the names of the letters and the corresponding sounds for p, f, s, t, and a. We would create audio-visual cards for each letter, with the letter on the front and a key picture on the back. For example, p might have a picture of a pizza on the back, f might have a picture of a fish, s might have a sun, and so on.
With the student’s desk cleared, the Orton Gillingham tutor would start by saying, “This is the letter p (holds the front of the card up), like pizza (turns card around), it makes the sound /p/.” The student repeats that sequence with the tutor and then tries it on their own three times.

Skywriting

Next, we would move onto skywriting. The tutor would hold their hand in the sky and say, “When we
write the letter p, we go down, up, and around (as they form the letter in the air).” The student would
repeat the formation in the air with the tutor, and then try it on their own.

Sand Writing

The next step in the Orton Gillingham lesson is to bring out a tray of colored sand. The tutor would trace the letter p in the sand, and the child would trace it on their own in the sand three times.
We would follow the same sequence for each of the four consonants (p, f, s, t) and short vowel (a) in the group of letters we are focusing on.
Learn more about the Orton Gillingham approach at The Orton Gillingham Approach – EBL Coaching.

Blending Sounds

Once the student has grasped these sounds and letters, we would move on to form both real and nonsense words. We would use the note cards or magnetic tiles to create words such as sat, pat, and tap. When students are ready, they will read word lists, sentences, and stories containing these sound patterns. From there we would move onto other groups of consonants and short vowels (such as n, r, c, k, e, etc.), and eventually onto words with blends, digraphs, vowel teams, silent e words, multi-syllabic word patterns.

Reviewing Previously Taught Content

At the start of each session it’s important to always review any old sounds before moving onto new ones, and to integrate these previously taught sounds into the lessons.
If your child is struggling with reading, Orton Gillingham tutoring can help them immensely in developing their reading and spelling skills. Contact EBL Coaching to learn more about Orton Gillingham tutoring in NYC and NJ.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Orton Gillingham tutoring only helpful for children with dyslexia?
While the Orton Gillingham approach was originally designed for students with dyslexia, it can help all students who struggle with reading. Students who struggle to sound out words, guess at words when reading, have difficulty spelling accurately, or have trouble reading fluently can all benefit from Orton Gillingham instruction.

Can parents use the Orton Gillingham approach at home?
When we tutor students using the Orton Gillingham method, we find it helpful for parents to reinforce the material we work on at home in between tutoring sessions.  It’s important that home reinforcement follows the Orton Gillingham sounds and patterns that we teach during the tutoring sessions.

What age should decoding instruction begin?
There is no set age that decoding instruction should start. Once a student learns the names of the letters and their corresponding sounds, they should be ready to blend sounds together to decode words. They can practice blending both real and nonsense words to help further develop their decoding skills.

Other Related Blogs:
Building Pre-Reading Skills
Build Your Child’s Reading Fluency Skills

Dr. Emily Levy is the founder and director of EBL Coaching, a one-on-one tutoring center specializing in dyslexia, ADHD, and learning disability instruction in NYC and NJ.