Treatment for Dyslexia
Many treatments for dyslexia have been proposed. The one I use is teaching based on principles originally formulated by Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham. Methods using those principles are called Orton-Gillingham (OG) methods or multisensory, structured, synthetic phonics methods.
I only discuss Orton-Gillingham based teaching on this web site. Some of the other treatments may be effective, but others are nonsensical or fraudulent. The Orton-Gillingham approach has been developed and tested in many different implementations over the course of fifty years. I have personally observed its effectiveness; and I urge anyone seeking dyslexia remediation to get it from an Orton-Gillingham trained academic therapist. You can get help finding a therapist from the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) or the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators.
In a program of OG remediation, the therapist will work on helping the student to build and strengthen certain skills. The specific skills targeted depend on the diagnosis, the age of the student, and the particular OG method being used. It is not always obvious why the targeted skills are important to the ultimate goal of effective, efficient reading and writing. For example, before I started my training I did not understand why handwriting and spelling were so heavily emphasized in almost all programs of OG remediation. After all, doesn't everybody now type on a word processor and use a spell checker?
One of the powerful features of OG academic therapy is that it is diagnostic and prescriptive. That is, in the course of each session the therapist performs a diagnosis that identifies skills that need more work and instructional techniques that are effective at that stage for that student. The therapist uses the diagnosis to formulate a prescription, embodied in the lesson plan for the next session.
One result of the diagnostic-prescriptive approach is that
the therapist will need several different exercises, drills,
or games to teach each skill;
what works for one student will not necessarily work for another.
I find it hard to keep track of all these resources; and I have found
myself reinventing so many wheels that I decided to try to keep track of
them by the magic of hypertext.
Take a look at the
site outline
for links to some of the
materials my colleagues and I use.
Click here to return to the top level.
Everything on this web site is the personal opinion of S. W. Davison. Any of it might be incorrect or out-of-date.