Orton-Gillingham Approach at Christ Academy
Mrs. Duke’s expanded role
We are pleased to have Ashley Duke serve as our Grade 2 teacher and as our Orton-Gillingham technique trainer on campus this year. The Approach is a prescriptive way to teach reading, writing, and spelling when literacy doesn't come naturally to students.
You may not have heard of the Orton-Gillingham Approach before, but it’s a multisensory approach to reading that has been proven effective in many programs such as the Take Flight program, a comprehensive intervention for students with dyslexia, the Multisensory Structured Language Education Council, MSLEC, and the Science of Reading, SoR.
What is the Orton-Gillingham Approach?
The Orton-Gillingham, O-G, Approach is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive way to teach literacy when reading, writing, and spelling doesn't come easily to individuals. It is most properly understood and practiced as an approach, not a method, program, or system. In the hands of a well-trained and experienced instructor, like Mrs. Duke, it is a powerful tool of exceptional breadth, depth, and flexibility.
The essential curricular content and instructional practices that characterize the Orton-Gillingham Approach are derived from two sources: first from a body of time-tested knowledge and practice that has been validated over the past 80 years, and second from scientific evidence about how individuals learn to read and write; why a significant number have difficulty in doing so; how having dyslexia makes achieving literacy skills more difficult; and which instructional practices are best suited for teaching such individuals to read and write.
The Orton-Gillingham Approach is most often associated with a one-on-one teacher-student instructional model. Its use in small group instruction is not uncommon. A successful adaptation of the Approach has demonstrated its value for classroom instruction. Reading, spelling, and writing difficulties have been the dominant focus of the Approach although it has been successfully adapted for use with students who exhibit difficulty with mathematics.
The Orton-Gillingham Approach always is focused upon the learning needs of the individual student. Orton-Gillingham (OG) practitioners design lessons and materials to work with students at the level they present by pacing instruction and the introduction of new materials to their individual strengths and weaknesses.
Orton Academy. “What Is the Orton Gillingham Approach.”
https://www.ortonacademy.org/resources/what-is-the-orton-gillingham-approach
How will Mrs. Duke be using the Orton-Gillingham Approach?
For the first year of implementing this program, Mrs. Duke will conduct trainings with Lower School throughout the year to teach various ways to apply these strategies in each classroom. Our vision is to expand the program to the entire school in the years to come. Teachers will have access to Mrs. Duke to provide resources for every student as well as the use of the Orton-Gillingham Lab.
Working with classroom teachers, she will show them how to use Orton-Gillingham Approach strategies in their everyday classroom to the benefit of all students. The classroom teachers will use these strategies to help struggling readers as well as all students. The strategies will include:
Phonemic Awareness using card decks
Spelling concepts and rules taught for meaning and understanding, not rote memorization
Morphology practice
Sight words
Controlled fluency practice
Multisensory techniques
Handwriting skills
Comprehension skills
Mrs. Duke’s Training and Qualifications:
Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) | Therapists integrate visual, auditory, and motor processing with an explicit understanding of the structure of the English language, which provides a solid foundation in written language skills.
4-year bachelor’s degree from an accredited university to start training under a certified Qualified Instruction
The MSLEC training program that includes: 200 instruction hours, 700 clinical/teaching hours, and 10 demonstrations
Master’s degree
Pass ALTA Competency Exam for MSLEC
If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Duke directly at aduke@christacademywf.org