Good Sensory Learning Blog

Many parents and professionals ask me about the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading and spelling. It is a well-researched and multisensory way of teaching struggling readers.  In fact,  popular programs such as Lindamood-Bell, Wilson, Barton, Fast Forward, and Spire are all based on this incremental approach. What is at the Heart of the Orton-Gillingham Approach? I created the following infographic above helps provide an overview of the process. When was the Orton-Gillingham Approach Created, and Who Designed it? The Orton-Gillingham approach has been around since the 1930's. It was designed by a Samuel T. Orton, neurologist and pathologist, and Anna Gillingham, an educator and...

Although there is a common formula to writing a five-paragraph essay, students soon learn that each teacher has their own unique preferences. I can remember a teacher that didn’t allow students to use the transition, “on the other hand,” unless they had already used, “on the one hand.” Some insist on transitional sentences, others do not. Some want a student’s thesis statement in the middle of the introduction, while others want it at the beginning or even at the end. As a result, students have to adjust their writing to accommodate each new teacher. How can this be done? Help...

As an educational therapist and learning specialist, hooking is one of the most valuable memory strategies that I teach my students. In fact, tedious study sessions can be transformed into a memorable and often hilarious task. What is Hooking? Hooking is a memory strategy in which you use the term itself that you are trying to remember to guide you to the answer. In other words, you search for clues in the word. You can "hook" auditorily, to the sound or sounds in the term or visually, to the way the word looks. Occasionally, you might find a hook in...

We all suffer, from time to time, with that feeling that a name or phrase we are trying to recall is on the tip of our tongue, but somehow we just can't access the needed information in the moment. For many students, this happens during stressful moments such as test-taking, but for others, such as most students with dyslexia, this is a pervasive problem that requires intervention. What Exactly is a Wording Finding Problem? Word finding problems, also known as word retrieval difficulties, dysnomia, anomia or semantic dyslexia, result in difficulties recalling names of objects, places, and people, with no impairment...

When I first began my private practice about 20 years ago, my primary focus was remedial reading with Orton Gillingham (OG) methods. With my doctoral training in hand, I continually reviewed reading programs, read books, and went through a number of OG training courses.  Although the suggested materials were purported to be "multisensory," I still found the process, for the most part, dull and boring. In addition, I often had to bribe my students with candy and stickers to read long lists of words and complete tedious drills.  What could I do to make the process fun, exciting, memorable and even more...