Orton-Gillingham Tutoring

The Language Training tutorial forms the backbone of Kildonan’s academic program.  Each student at Kildonan receives one-to-one language skills tutoring using the Orton-Gillingham approach; sessions at Kildonan are forty-five minutes long while camp tutoring sessions last an hour.  Material taught during the tutorial is reinforced during proctored study halls; students in grades 9 - 12 spend two hours each night in study halls; Middle School students have 90 minutes of study hall each night while elementary students complete 45 minutes of study hall during their academic days.  For students in Grades 7 - 12, weeknight study halls are devoted exclusively to assignments designed to reinforce what is covered in the tutorial.  

The one-to-one setting provides the best opportunity for success as it allows tutors to focus on the individual student’s strengths and weaknesses.  In our highly individualized  tutorials, tutors and students form strong working relationships that allow students to build trust in our educational program.  In their first year of tutoring, many students will learn to take chances again; they may read their first books or write their first five-paragraph essays.  In a one-to-one setting, they can develop their language skills without worrying about how they will be perceived by their peers.  They are allowed to learn the content that is most critical for their language development and to move at their own pace.  In the words of Anna Gillingham, the tutorial progresses “as fast as you can and as slow as you must.”

Kildonan uses a pure Orton-Gillingham approach.  Many programs that are offshoots of Orton-Gillingham, like Wilson Language and Alphabetic Phonics, begin at a basic level (such as closed syllable words) and progress in a specific sequence dictated by the program.  Pure Orton-Gillingham, in contrast, is an approach rather than a program; that distinction allows us to meet the child at the level of his or her need and make informed decisions about the direction the curriculum should take.  Students come to Kildonan with a wide range of language skills; therefore, the content of the tutorial is diverse.  The Orton-Gillingham approach is, by nature, diagnostic and prescriptive.  On any given day, one student may be working on developing sound/symbol relationships, reading and spelling one-syllable words, composing basic sentences, and reading a beginning level trade book.  Another student in the same grade may be studying the meanings of Latin prefixes, reviewing the major spelling rules, outlining an essay, and reading from a classic, young adult novel.  Although the specific content differs for each student, the underlying goal is to address language skills in the following areas:  phonemic awareness and word attack skills; spelling (encoding); vocabulary; reading comprehension; reading fluency; grammar/syntax; expository writing (composition); handwriting and/or keyboarding.  Language Training tutors are prepared to teach an extensive array of skills within each of those areas.

All teachers in the Language Training department undergo a rigorous, seventy hour Associate Level Orton-Gillingham that goes beyond the guidelines established by the Academy of Orton Gillingham Practitioners and Educators.  Their training continues throughout the year as tutors participate in a practicum experience that includes continued reading, observations by on-site fellows of the Academy, and continued coursework in the form of workshops and meetings.  Many tutors choose to complete the requirements of the Associate Level of the Academy; some choose to move towards the Certified Level as well.  The Kildonan School is an accredited training site under the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators.  

The Orton-Gillingham Approach is one of the oldest teaching approaches for children with dyslexia.  It was developed by Samuel Torrey Orton, who was a neuropsychiatrist and pathologist who began identifying dyslexia as early as 1925, and Anna Gillingham, an educator and psychologist who first published the foundational materials for student instruction and teacher training.  For decades, Orton-Gillingham instructors have found through informal observation that the approach is highly successful.  Recent research using fMRI technology has provided quantitative support for the success of multisensory, structured, phonics-based teaching.  Researchers such as Sally and Bennett Shaywitz have shown that the brains of individuals with dyslexia process reading and writing in different ways than those who are not dyslexic.  More important, however, is their discovery that appropriate instruction forms new pathways in the brain that allow individuals with dyslexia to process language more efficiently and effectively.

Kildonan’s Language Training tutors would attest to the success of Orton-Gillingham as well.  During the 2008-2009 school year:  90% of students made gains in isolated word decoding; 95% of students made gains in reading fluency; 81% of students made gains in vocabulary; 76% of students made gains in comprehension; and 82% of students made gains in spelling.  We believe that Kildonan’s intensive, one-on-one Orton-Gillingham tutorial offers young people with dyslexia the best opportunity to be successful.