When reading and spelling are taught together progress is faster, learning is more secure, and the learner becomes a writer as well as a reader. Spelling is the magic that locks learning into long-term memory. It offers an opportunity for kinesthetic/tactile practice through tracing and writing and it provides immediate diagnostic information regarding which sounds, rules and concepts have been learned. Short-term memory difficulties disappear and success is assured.
Why teach spelling? Our culture is so technologically advanced that computers will spell anything easily, quickly and accurately. Why can’t our children read? This question is asked just as frequently because research shows that children are not mastering written language skills. If children are inadequate readers, they will flounder in all academic subjects where reading and/or writing are required. When the two, reading AND spelling are taught concurrently, one reinforces the other. Students learn and succeed.
Research suggests that a multisensory, structured, systematic phonic approach is the best way to teach students with dyslexia. The National Reading Panel has published its findings indicating that effective reading programs should include phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. (Report of the National Reading Panel, 2000; Shaywitz, 2003) The report recommends using a reading program for all children that includes a spelling component and multisensory reinforcement. It appears that what works for students with dyslexia also works for all readers. Students with dyslexia, however, usually need different pacing with more time and practice and, in many cases, additional expertise from other professionals for concommitant conditions. The same general principles are effective for students whose first language is not English but who need to learn to read, spell and write in English.
The Orton-Gillingham Approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling is widely used with students of all ages who have difficulty learning written language skills.
Dr. Samuel T. Orton, a psychiatrist and neurologist, was a pioneer in the field of dyslexia. He used and refined multisensory teaching of phonics. In 1928, while affiliated with the University of Iowa, he published his findings regarding children who were slow learners but who were not brain damaged, cognitively low, or emotionally disturbed. He later joined Columbia University in New York and continued research and investigation of language based disabilities which he called "strephosymbolia". (Rawson, 1988) He and his colleagues at the University of Iowa and at Columbia University began teaching children using intensive phonics with multisensory reinforcement. While in New York, he shared his research with Anna Gillingham, a psychologist and teacher at the Ethical Culture School, who analyzed, organized and expanded the English language to utilize the teaching procedures that Dr. Orton recommended. Using her scholarly knowledge of the English language she expanded the approach to include advanced language structure for older students. She initially developed a remedial program called "The Alphabetic Method". Later, with Bessie Stillman, a colleague, she published Remedial Training for Children with Specific Disability in Reading, Spelling and Penmanship (Gillingham, Stillman, 1960), a virtual encyclopedia on language structure, which is now referred to as the Gillingham manual. (Henry 1998)
The Orton-Gillingham Approach is alphabetic-phonetic, based on the letter-sound connection that forms the basis of our language. The sounds of the language are taught beginning with single consonants and vowels, and moving on to consonant blends, vowel pairs, syllable types, syllable division, prefixes, suffixes and roots. It is a synthetic process as the learner is taught the simplest phonograms and taught to blend sounds into words which hold meaning. It is structured. Sounds and word families are taught simultaneously with rules governing reading and spelling. Orton-Gillingham is systematic and sequential. It moves from very simple language components to advanced language structure incorporating patterns and rules of the language. It is cumulative. Each step is based on learned concepts. The approach is multisensory using three learning pathways, seeing, hearing, and feeling. The learner is encouraged to feel not only with the fingers, hand and arm, but with the tongue, lips, and throat. (Moats & Farrell, 2000) It is a cognitive approach. The learner understands how he is learning and develops strategies for decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) without relying on memory alone. Reading and spelling, when taught simultaneously, are mutually reinforcing. Orton-Gillingham incorporates vocabulary expansion and comprehension to enable the learner to understand and communicate efficiently. The confidence that results when mastery is achieved makes this approach emotionally revitalizing. (Rome& Osman, 1972)
Older students, those already in high school, college, graduate school or other post secondary settings, with reading/spelling skills measured at sixth to eighth grade level (spelling is consistently lower than reading) will usually be able to give the sounds of all consonants, consonant blends, and many vowel pairs but will demonstrate weakness with isolating the sounds of the short vowels. These students, insecure with segmenting, need to be taught syllabication and its application for reading and spelling long words. They will have difficulty with rules for adding suffixes and confusion concerning the ie-ei dilemma even when they can recite the jingle that begins with, ”Use i before e, except after c”. For these students, a careful review of basic language structure including short vowels, rules, place value, and frequency of use, reinforced with intensive spelling dictation and verbal feedback, will solidify the basics. The student then needs advanced language structure which includes teaching accent patterns and schwa as well as Greek, Latin and Anglo-Saxon affixes and roots with emphasis on meanings to enhance vocabulary, pronunciation, reading and spelling. This instruction, for example, would include learning whether to use “er”, “ar” or “or” for the /er/ at the end of a word; using the connective “i” before beginning suffixes. For example: -ior as in senior, -ial as in editorial, -ious as in curious. (Gillingham, Stillman, 1960; Johnson, Bayrd, 1985; Rudginsky, 1985; Sonday, 1991) The process that began as synthetic phonics becomes more analytical when advanced language structure is taught.
This approach utilizes a student’s strengths, usually intellectual and mechanical-kinesthetic, to compensate for weaknesses which are often found in making sound-symbol analogies, sequencing sounds into words and segmenting words into phonemes and syllables. It is metacognitive. It encourages students to use language to think about language and develop logical and critical thinking skills, then to apply these skills to the task at hand and to generalize them for use in other language based tasks as well as in other academic areas. (Sheffield, 1991)
Each lesson is constructed to include reading and writing the phonograms that make up the language, reading and writing words in isolation, and reading and writing contextually arranged material. Reading and writing phonograms is extended to include reading and writing prefixes, suffixes, and roots as they are introduced. (Rome, Osman, 1999) Reading word lists exercises and reinforces word attack skills and develops fluency. Reading in context develops fluency, expression, attention to punctuation, and vocabulary as well as increasing comprehension of material read. Writing words in isolation reinforces sound-symbol connections, sound sequences, and rules, while writing in context requires that the learner do all of those things and also hold multiple words in memory while writing, using correct capitalization and punctuation. Spelling is also a key element in diagnostic teaching. (Carreker, 2000)
The Orton-Gillingham Approach is appropriate for use with students who have been diagnosed with dyslexia or Specific Language Disability but it is also very effective for students with low skills who do not meet the criteria for inclusion in a school-based remedial program or for students learning English as a second language. Students at risk or in the low reading group in the regular elementary classroom and English language learners will experience success when learning the code, structure and system of the language. (Sparks, et al, 1998)
Because school based testing is usually geared to meet criteria for inclusion in a particular program, students who score above the cut-off point may not be considered eligible for school programs, but may have learning deficits. Those students are too often left in the mainstream without support, understanding or the direct instruction needed for success. The classroom teacher who knows multisensory structured phonics can intervene early and decrease the number of students who suffer from low self-esteem, do not realize their potential and become lifelong underachievers. In the short term early intervention and appropriate instruction may prevent a variety of responses such as inappropriate behavior, giving up, carelessness, and perceived lack of effort.
While Orton-Gillingham instruction was created as a clinical one-to-one approach, it does work well for small homogeneously arranged groups. This means that it can be used comfortably in the regular lower elementary classrooms. In upper elementary or secondary classrooms pullout programs for individuals or groups often work better and provide a safe place for learning.
The teacher or tutor must determine what information needs to be obtained and give tests that will produce that information. Tests can identify students who need intensive phonics, the point of intervention, and help with grouping students. Test results will provide a baseline from which improvement can be measured. Formal or standardized tests, commercially available, will give grade levels, percentiles, stanines, while informal tests do not. Informal tests are commercially available, teacher constructed or included with a reading series. Both types of tests can be used for error analysis.
Standard achievement tests in reading are routinely given to school aged students to determine scores in comprehension and vocabulary for silent reading. Many students who have difficulty reading orally are able to read with greater proficiency and increased comprehension when oral fluency and articulation are not involved. Some standard achievement batteries also test phonic skills.
Oral reading tests, formal or informal, will provide additional information concerning a student’s ability to decode words in isolation and in context while revealing guesses, omissions, repetitions, insertions, errors with fluency, and inability to make contextual corrections. Reading comprehension can be assessed informally by asking content questions. These questions are provided in many standardized tests and can be teacher-formulated for informal testing, they don’t provide information that can be obtained only through dictated spelling tests or writing samples.
While these tests provide broad baseline information and are good indicators of potential or existing problems.
The use of dictated spelling tests is often overlooked as a viable diagnostic tool. These tests provide valuable information regarding the way a student processes sounds and words. Struggling readers will make errors that involve insertions, transpositions, omissions, and a lack of knowledge of the structure and rules of English language. “Black” might be spelled as “back”, “blak”, “block”, or “balck”. The type of error can point to the kind of problem and to the solution as the following chart indicates. (Sonday, 2000)
| Dictated Word | Student Spells | Problem | Solution |
|---|---|---|---|
| stick | sick | Auditory sequencing | Segment and sound |
| stick | stik | Rule | -ck follows short vowel |
| stick | steck | Auditory discrimination | Isolate vowel sound |
| gone | gon | Visual | Nonphonetic word |
| riddle | ridle | Rule | Syllables types/division |
| replying | repling | Rule | Y rule for suffixes |
Most spelling errors can be classified in three categories—visual, auditory and rules/ generalizations--based on the strategy used for correcting the error. Once a student has been taught a sound, rule, or place value, correct responses may be elicited by asking a series of questions. These eliciting questions should be formulated to guide the student through a critical thinking process leading to the correct response without requiring the teacher to use negative language such as “No”, “Wrong”, “Try again”, or “Uh-uh”. (Sonday, 1991, 1992)
When the word “black” is spelled as “blak”, the student would have made an error involving a rule. The following dialogue might occur between teacher and student:
If the rule has been thoroughly taught, the questions should trigger the correct response. If that does not happen, teach the rule again, model it, and have the student read and write several words involving the rule.
Eliciting questions can be employed whether the learner response is correct or incorrect. A student who is required to respond verbally to questions or explain rules or reasons for spelling words, is reinforced with this exercise. If the student writes the word “black” correctly, the teacher might ask, “Why did you use a -ck at the end?” Either way, the student must process, reason and verbally respond, thus reinforcing the spelling and the rule. The student must use language to think about language. Pausing after each question allows a learner the extra processing time needed to formulate an answer. As the student nears mastery of a rule or concept, fewer questions will trigger the correct response and less processing time is needed. This procedure allows the student to give correct responses and enjoy small successes on the way to locating an error. Successful learner experiences lead to increased confidence, increased effort and willingness to take risks.
Phonological awareness is a crucially important prerequisite for success in reading and spelling. Phonological weaknesses may be present when students have difficulty with rime, onset sound, discriminating between sounds, blending sounds into words, and segmenting words into sounds. Many children will attain these skills developmentally but for those who do not, intervention and direct instruction need to precede or parallel formal reading and spelling instruction. (Shaywitz, 2003)
All readers, good and poor, need to know the sounds of the letters and the differences between sounds. Oral sound blending is necessary if the sounds of the letters are to be put together to make words when symbols are introduced. Segmentation aids spelling. When proficient spellers attack a difficult word, the tendency is to break the word into single sounds or syllables and sequence the parts to make the whole. For example, even good spellers will segment a long word like transportation or spell the nonphonetic word Wednesday by quickly segmenting the word into /Wed/nes/day/ and sub vocally mispronouncing the word.
Teachers and parents recognize speech delay and articulation problems readily but other language difficulties may not be observed. Language processing weaknesses may interfere with a student’s ability to comprehend spoken and written language. Many bright and articulate students suffer in school because of an inability to interpret and quickly process spoken language for understanding assignments and directions or for participation in class discussions. Language deficits may be observed as limited vocabulary or word retrieval problems, inability to recall a word or a name quickly. Weak syntax means a student is unable to get the words of a sentence in order. Trouble with semantics involves classifying and categorizing accurately, making associations of parts and wholes, and identifying synonyms and antonyms. Synonyms are words that have the same or similar meaning such as home, house; cat, feline, animal. Antonyms are opposites such as hot, cold; high, low; politic, foolish. Students fifth grade and older may have difficulty understanding proverbs, idioms, slang, metaphors, nuances or humor. Paraphrasing might be a problem. Inferences, analogies and ambiguous statements may be misunderstood. Critical thinking skills may be weak because the student cannot grasp context clues or has trouble with judgments such as differentiating relevant from irrelevant, fact from opinion, and fact from generalization.
Teacher training does not always prepare teachers to teach reading/spelling using a structured, systematic, multisensory phonic curriculum. When teachers do access courses it is necessary for them to learn the sounds and rules of the language, learn multisensory teaching and precision lesson planning with review and practice included, become familiar with curriculum resources, assessment tools and test interpretation, know how to implement phonological awareness and phonemic awareness activities, and much more. It is a large order. (Moats, 1999, Spear-Swerling & Brucker, 2003)There are Orton-Gillingham based programs written and commercially available that make implementation less daunting. This writer has developed the Sonday System, three separate curricula, that enable a teacher to use prepared learning plans with controlled reading and multisensory materials provided. (Sonday, 1997, 2000, 2003) A teacher can deliver quality instruction while learning the process.
Teaching the code of language using spelling for teaching, reinforcing, and diagnosing is effective. Research consistently revalidates the use of the Orton-Gillingham Approach to teaching reading and spelling to individuals with dyslexia and research finds that structured, systematic, multisensory phonics is an effective component for teaching all beginning readers.
A strong language foundation is an important prerequisite for successful reading and spelling as well as understanding and responding. If receptive and expressive language are problematic, direct instruction through language therapy is a necessary forerunner or parallel program to a reading/spelling remedial program.
Teacher preparation needs to address the issues surrounding the teaching of reading including all aspects of phonological awareness, English language structure, diagnostic teaching, interpretation of assessment results as it relates to diagnostic teaching and systematic delivery of multisensory instruction.
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