Walter E. Dunson, Jr., Ph.D.

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.

The Orton-Gillingham 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 Orton-Gillingham approach revolves around the scientifically-based concept that humans acquire and master language through three distinct neurological pathways: visual processing, auditory processing, and tactile-kinesthetic processing.  The approach incorporates all three pathways in the remediation of language skills or in primary language instruction.