WHAT IS ORTON-GILLINGHAM?

Memorable visual aids, interesting kinesthetic tools, and spoken sounds simultaneously increase neural activity in the brain and learning. Mutli-sensory tools can be a simple (food color dyed) rice tray, a plastic needlepoint mat, or any textured surface.

Let your student be the guide for tactile preferences. 

Children with dyslexia struggle to identify beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words. LiteraSee uses isolation, blending, substitution, and deletion activities to strengthen phonemic awareness. Using two colors of blocks distinguishes consonants from vowels.

Students learn phonics (letter names and sounds) with a daily phonogram drill; keyword use is optional. Blending letters into nonsense words requires students to rely on their phonological knowledge. Mastering this foundational skill is critical to read unknown words.

By breaking down our language into the smallest parts of sound and meaning, students can understand how words work. 

LiteraSee explicitly teaches phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling rules/generalizations, syllable types and division, vowel teams, the Bossy R vowel sound, affixes, and English language origins. 

 The lessons are cumulative and leveled using terms from the most common and widely used to the rarest. Mastery and frequent reviews are essential for a strong foundation. Once good phonemic awareness is established, start all students at level one regardless of age; every student is guaranteed to learn new information at level one!

LiteraSee introduces students to sentence structure, nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and articles. Basic grammar is essential knowledge and will help students with spelling based on the word's meaning and use.

Students learn prefixes and suffixes alongside the history of the English language. Knowing the historical influences on our language explains the high occurrence of sight words in Anglo-Saxon words and unusual vowel sound spellings found in advanced Latin, French, and Greek words.

LiteraSee lessons follow a consistent format, so following a script is unnecessary. At the end of each lesson, read together, review with games, practice phonemic awareness, or do fluency exercises as time permits. While the format is structured, teach at the pace and level of the student.  

Through Socratic questioning, students learn to make connections that are critical for understanding the big picture. Their answers give insights into which concepts need to be retaught and practiced. After each lesson, write notes and plan for the next session. Assessment and regular review are critical for success!