Helping People with Learning Disabilities

Everyday is a challenge to help my students with learning disabilities in a small library setting. I run a reading program that’s based on an evidence-based program named the Orton-Gillingham approach. I make sure that I use various Orton-Gillingham components such as phoneme awareness drills. I often use many rhymes since “tuning into rhymes sensitizes very young children to the fact that words come apart” (Shaywitz, 2003, p 178).

My students that are struggling readers seem to be steadily improving. Teaching a phonologically based reading method to struggling readers is at times quite difficult but very rewarding. Everyday I stick with an Orton-Gillingham based lesson plan and resources such as Recipes for Reading and Wilson Readers. I use techniques that include a combination of sound, letter and word recognition drills and dictatation. When my students are having a tough time learning a word, I will use multisensory techniques such as having them tap-out or clap-out sounds or finger trace letters of a word in the air until they eventually learn a particular word. The Orton-Gillingham approach seems to be working for my students but, of course, the type of techniques to use and the pace of the program vary from student to student.

Reference

Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at any Level. New York: NY. Vintage books, A Division of Random House, Inc. Reference