- Published on
The following explanation was inspired by a quote someone shared with me that came from Milwaukee, WI Psychologist Dr. Stephen Dykstra. Dr. Dykstra compared the Orton-Gillingham approach to learning to read to physical therapy in terms of treating the reading area of the brain. I found his comparison helpful and so I reworked it slightly and added some other information, to create this explanation for families, on how and why the Orton-Gillingham approach is used for those with dyslexia, or extra difficulty in learning to read and spell.
When someone has extra difficulty with reading and spelling, despite normal intelligence, research has shown that there is an underlying difference in the left hemisphere of the brain, related to the ability to read written language quickly and easily This area causes difficulty with processing sound and connecting it to letters and print.
Think of this spot as a “reading muscle.” If you had an injury or disability of some kind that impaired a muscle, you’d go to physical therapy. You’d have to do exercises just for that muscle. How does that look when you start therapy? You start with tiny little weights, and with practice build your muscle’s strength and ability to do more. It might seem boring. It might hurt. It likely would not be fun. But would it be important?
In the same way, you will start with smaller pieces of sound, and train your brain to connect those sounds quickly to the correct written symbols. You will use all of your senses and do many “repetitions” in order to improve. It is important to cover and fill in all the gaps, where you’ve learned to memorize and guess and to re-teach your brain to really read the symbols instead.
As you see yourself getting stronger, you will understand the importance of doing what you do to “re-train” the brain to read accurately and correctly. You will build a solid base so that your reading will become unstuck and you will be able to read at a much higher level than before.
It takes commitment and determination, but it’s important and it needs to be done. This is the reasoning behind the approach to reading and spelling that you will be doing here.
When someone has extra difficulty with reading and spelling, despite normal intelligence, research has shown that there is an underlying difference in the left hemisphere of the brain, related to the ability to read written language quickly and easily This area causes difficulty with processing sound and connecting it to letters and print.
Think of this spot as a “reading muscle.” If you had an injury or disability of some kind that impaired a muscle, you’d go to physical therapy. You’d have to do exercises just for that muscle. How does that look when you start therapy? You start with tiny little weights, and with practice build your muscle’s strength and ability to do more. It might seem boring. It might hurt. It likely would not be fun. But would it be important?
In the same way, you will start with smaller pieces of sound, and train your brain to connect those sounds quickly to the correct written symbols. You will use all of your senses and do many “repetitions” in order to improve. It is important to cover and fill in all the gaps, where you’ve learned to memorize and guess and to re-teach your brain to really read the symbols instead.
As you see yourself getting stronger, you will understand the importance of doing what you do to “re-train” the brain to read accurately and correctly. You will build a solid base so that your reading will become unstuck and you will be able to read at a much higher level than before.
It takes commitment and determination, but it’s important and it needs to be done. This is the reasoning behind the approach to reading and spelling that you will be doing here.
