I am often asked exactly how a dyslexic person’s way of learning is different from a non-dyslexia person’s.  Parents in particular wonder how Orton-Gillingham can be better than a new, more modern way of teaching reading.

Brain Files

The answer to both questions is Brain Files.  The longer I work with dyslexic individuals, the more I liken their natural way of organizing information in their brain as the Piles System. We all have piles somewhere – maybe on the counter near where the mail gets dumped every day, or near the computer printer where untried recipes for Starbucks Outrageous Oatmeal Cookies competes for space with the car insurance paperwork. It takes longer to sort through it all the day that car insurance needs to be dealt with than if you filed things as they came in the mail or when you printed.

When a dyslexic child is presented with new language information, I don’t believe they just ignore it, I think it is as if they put it all into a big mental pile with the other language information they have.  It is there, and they can usually find it -given enough time, but it is not the most efficient way to go about.  As with us and our towering stacks of papers on the counter, there has to be a better way!

Enter Orton-Gillingham

The Orton-Gillingham method for teaching dyslexic individuals to read and spell is all about organization. It is specific, sequential; it starts with the basics and moves forward to the most complicated, covering every imaginable letter combination in between.  The O-G method is not only great for teaching language tasks, I am convinced it also builds the much needed Brain Files.

When I start with a new student, we begin with the alphabet.  We write it, and we name the letters and their sounds.  We learn which are the vowels and which are the consonants.  We learn that the consonants are the workers of the letter world, while the vowels are the prima donnas.  You have to have vowels, but it takes knowing the system to predict what they may do in any given word.  With this simple beginning, we have already begun to create file section for letters – consonants and vowels. The student now has a mental file in which they may drop information on those two subjects.  Subfiles are created, with the information categorized and neatly tucked away.

Lots of practice with letter sounds and language tasks means lots of retrieval of that information.  As with computer files, the more you get things out to work with them, the easier and automatic it is to find them. Orton-Gillingham provides that much needed practice, and adds the kinesthetic element to make the knowledge even more sticky.  The secret is finding a better way than the Pile Method to store them in the first place!

Now if only there was an Orton-Gillingham for the piles on my desk!