As some states around the country have implemented new laws on dyslexia, some people have come to me to talk about how, “They have finally discovered dyslexia and this new method – Orton-Gillingham.”
Well, not to burst any bubbles, but dyslexia has been around for a while, long before the laws were formed.
Dr. Samuel Orton (co-creator of the Orton-Gillingham method) wrote an article titled “Word-blindness in school children,” for the Archives of Neurological Psychiatry. That article appeared in 1925!
This was followed by his 1937 text, Reading, Writing & Speech Problems in Children, published by Norton press. Building on his original writings, Dr. Orton then collaborated with Anna Gillingham resulting in the Orton-Gillingham method.
If you read the original writings, you will quickly see that most of the modern methods that we think were discovered yesterday are essentially unchanged from the original writings. The same basic principles that they discussed continue to apply.
Isn’t that incredible? With all of the evolution of technology, we are essentially left with the same approaches for reading disabled children that were used in the 1930’s, 40s, 50’s ’s.
So, what should parents know about these methods?
This Tuesday night (12/9) I talk about Orton-Gillingham with two experts in the field, Dr. Kelli Sandman-Hurley and Tracy Block-Zaretsky, co-founders of the Dyslexia Training Institute in San Diego. The show will air on “School Struggles,” on the Coffee Klatch Network.
To access the show go to:
If you can’t make the show, you will have access to it afterward on the home website for The Coffee Klatch:
http://thecoffeeklatch.com/school-struggles-with-dr-richard-selznick/.