Dr. Emily Levy on the Kelly Tag Podcast – Reading Success and Orton Gillingham Tutoring
You can listen to this full podcast HERE!
In this podcast, I discuss strategies for reading success and how Orton Gillingham tutors can help children with learning challenges thrive. Students with dyslexia and reading challenges learn best with a structured, multi-sensory approach to teaching. Orton Gillingham tutors can provide this type of specialized instruction.
What is Orton Gillingham?
Orton Gillingham is a structured, research-based, systematic approach to teaching. It integrates multi-sensory tools, such as audio-visual flash cards, white boards, and magnetic tiles, to help students develop stronger reading and spelling skills. All students can benefit from this type of instruction but students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities need this approach in order to effectively develop these skills.
What does an Orton Gillingham lesson look like?
When an Orton Gillingham tutor uses this methodology, they follow a systematic approach to teaching, integrating previously taught concepts as they introduce new concepts. If a student has grasped how to effectively read consonant-vowel-consonant words, words with blends, and words with consonant digraphs, for instance, they may be ready to move onto words with vowel teams. If they are learning the sound “oo”, the lesson might start with an audio-visual card drill. The Orton Gillingham tutor would hold up a flashcard with the letters “oo” on the front and a key picture on the back, like “boots”. The Orton Gillingham tutor would say aloud to the student, “These are the letters oo, like boot, it makes the sound /oo/“ while flipping the card around, showing the letters, then the picture, then the letters again. The student would repeat that sequence with the tutor and then try it on their own. Next, the Orton Gillingham tutor would move onto skywriting; using large gross motor muscles, they would draw the two o’s in the sky, saying “around and around” as they form each letter. The student would then try it together with the tutor and then independently. Next, the tutor might move onto writing using colored sand or shaving cream. They would start by modeling the formation of the two o’s, then ask the student to do it with them and then on their own. The tutor would then move onto Orton Gillingham workbooks that offer practice exercises using that vowel digraph. Next, the student would practice blending sounds together to form words using magnetic tiles or flash cards. Finally, the lesson would end with the student reading words, sentences, or a story containing the “oo” sound and any previously taught sounds.
Reading Comprehension
Students with learning disabilities often struggle with reading comprehension in addition to decoding. A multi-sensory approach, such as the tri-colored highlighting strategy, can help with this skill as well.
To use this strategy, the tutor would explain to the student that when we read, there are three elements we should look for: the topic is one, two, or three words describing the passage, like winter, outdoor sports, or airplanes. The student would highlight the topic in blue. Next, the student should look for the main idea, which is what the author is saying about the topic, such as “There are many activities you can do in winter” if the topic is winter. They should highlight the main idea in green. Finally, the student should look for the important details, which are important pieces of information found throughout the passage describing the main idea. They should highlight the important details in yellow, trying to only highlight salient details, and only words and phrases, not sentences, if possible. The tutor may then ask the student to write a 1-2 line summary in their own words describing the passage or even produce a written response to the passage, detailing whether they agree or disagree with the information found in the passage and why.
Students with learning challenges thrive with a multi-sensory approach to teaching. Orton Gillingham tutors can help students develop much stronger reading and spelling skills and ultimately help them excel in school.
Learn more about Orton Gillingham tutoring at
Dear Dr. Levy, My son
received an excellent report card. I can’t say enough good things about his EBL
tutor. She has done a tremendous job helping him improve his reading and writing
skills. Most importantly, she is wise and kind. She is always patient with him.
Because of his tutor, my son writes with much more ease.
– Parent