The Orton-Gillingham approach is a unique language training system that was
    designed by Dr. Samuel Orton, a neuropsychiatrist and pathologist, and Anna
    Gillingham, a gifted educator, psychologist, and school administrator.

    This approach has been the most powerful intervention designed expressly for
    the remediation of the language processing problems of children and adults
    with language-based learning disorders such as dyslexia.  However, due to its
    design and manner of implementation, research supports that all students can
    and will benefit from a multisensory approach.  

    The Orton-Gillingham process places students in position to master the
    eighty-five percent of the English code that is phonetic.  Further, and most
    importantly, it allows them to make intelligent choices towards mastering the
    remaining fifteen percent of the English code that must be analyzed in order to
    be applied properly.

    The approach revolves around the scientifically-based concepts that humans
    acquire and master language through three distinct neurological pathways:
    visual processing (seeing), auditory processing (hearing), and tactile-kinesthetic
    processing (feeling).  In the last pathway, tactile refers to small muscle
    movements (handwriting, manipulation of the vocal tract and speech organs),
    and the kinesthetic refers to large muscle movements (movement of the arms
    or legs).

    The Orton-Gillingham approach incorporates all three pathways (visual,
    auditory, and tactile-kinesthetic) in the remediation of language skills or in
    primary language instruction.
Walter E. Dunson, Jr., Ph.D.
Academic Language Therapist
The Orton-Gillingham Approach