I use O-G - now and since 1986.  In 1986, in New York, I founded and
directed Project Literacy/Outreach, Inc..  The mission was to develop
volunteer tutors in O-G and to give all services free to the underserved
population seeking literacy skills.  Training was free; services were free.
The program ended in 2004, when I moved to San Francisco.  Hundreds were
trained, and hundreds were helped.  Scientific research deserves respect,
but the thrill of achieving success comes first - both for the learner and
for a teacher.

It's a good question about scientific research - and there's lots available
to find out there.


The International Dyslexia Association will have the data you are seeking.
And to keep continually informed, consider membership in IDA  and maybe
attending conferences.   You may even consider training to become an O-G
teacher.  I can tell you personally (and I know this echoes thousands out
there) that nothing gives more gratification and satisfaction than teaching
someone to read.

Thanks so much, Bruce, for your interest.   Lucille


-----Original Message-----
From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Bruce C
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 1:15 PM
To: The Learning Disabilities Discussion List
Subject: [LearningDisabilities 1764] Re: Overcoming Dyslexia Book Review


Lucille,
You say that Orton-Gillingham works when other
approaches fail. I am very interested. Can you please
cite the research that showed this?
Thanks from Bruce Carmel


--- Lucille Cuttler <l.cuttler at comcast.net> wrote:


> The bottom line: does O-G work?   Does it work when

> other approaches fail?

> YES!  As the old adage puts it, "the proof is in the

> pudding."   There are

> sound reasons for its success, now being established

> scientifically.   I

> have been helping struggling learners since 1986.  I

> know I am not alone in

> my conviction that O-G works when other tools miss

> the mark.

>

> A new book to look at:  PROUST AND THE SQUID,

> Maryanne Wolf.   This may help

> to illuminate the subject.

>

> Lucille Cuttler

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov]On

> Behalf Of

> tsticht at znet.com

> Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 12:01 PM

> To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov

> Subject: [LearningDisabilities 1762] Overcoming

> Dyslexia Book Review

>

>

> Colleagues: Following is a book review I did a few

> years back when the book

> first came out. The review may still be of interest

> to members of the

> Learning Disabilities discussion list.

> Tom Sticht

>

> March 1, 2008

>

> Overcoming Dyslexia

>

> Currently the U. S. government has a policy of

> having programs for children

> and adult reading instruction use scientific,

> evidence-based methods of

> teaching reading.

>

> Sally Shaywitz, M.D., was a member of the Reading

> Research Working Group

> that helped pull together the information about

> scientific, evidence-based

> adult reading instruction currently being

> disseminated on the National

> Institute for Literacy (www.nifl.gov) Partnership

> For Reading web site. In

> 2003 she published a new book entitled Overcoming

> Dyslexia: A New and

> Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems

> at Any Level (Alfred A.

> Knopf, 2003 - US$25.95). In the book she reviews the

> history of dyslexia,

> she summarizes research on reading, including some

> of the new research on

> magnetic resonance imaging that shows which parts of

> the brain are most

> active during reading for both normal and dyslexic

> readers, and she offers

> a considerable amount of advice about how to go

> about helping dyslexics,

> both children and adults, overcome their reading

> problems.

>

> Repeatedly Shaywitz is careful to point out that her

> work and that of others

> cited in the book about reading is based on

> scientific evidence, and she is

> careful to acknowledge the support of the National

> Institute for Child

> Health and Human Development over the years and she

> notes that "For the

> past two decades I have been blessed by having G.

> Reid Lyon at my side as

> my guide and companion. His leadership created the

> modern study of reading

> and reading disability, and his uncommon vision

> forged the science and

> public policy together as a seamless and natural

> whole. I am grateful most

> of all for all his friendship and unfailing support;

> he has been like a

> brother to me." This is an interesting

> acknowledgement of a long time

> relationship with a government sponsor of research.

>

> While I found the book chock full of interesting

> history and scientific

> research on the brain and reading, and I would

> recommend it for that alone,

> what has impressed me the most are the

> recommendations for practice, that

> is, for teaching dyslexics to read and to overcome

> their reading problems.

>

> Of most interest to me is that these recommendations

> now have a history that

> are, for the most part more than 30, 40, 50 or more

> years old and have

> little or nothing to do with the "modern study of

> reading and reading

> disability" as defined above.

>

> For instance, in reviewing programs suitable for

> dyslexic students Shaywitz

> refers to programs referred to "generically as

> Orton-Gillingham (after Dr.

> Samuel Orton and his associate, Anna Gillingham, an

> approach developed as a

> tutorial program for struggling readers."(p. 266).

> These programs have their

> origins in the 1920's and 30's. Among programs she

> reviews are the Wilson

> Reading System, Spell Read P.A.T (Phonemic Analysis

> Training), Lindamood

> Phoneme Sequencing Program (L:iPS), and similar

> programs that, like Orton

> -Gillingham, are "highly structured and systematic,

> tries to engage all the

> senses in learning about letters and sounds, and

> typically is taught

> one-to-one or in small groups."

>

> In short, there appears to me to be a considerable

> gap between the

> scientific research on reading and dyslexia that

> Shaywitz reviews, and

> which does help to better understand the processes

> and brain systems

> involved in reading, and the instructional programs

> that are discussed to

> help dyslexics overcome their problems. The latter

> approaches have been

> known and used for decades by those trained well in

> the teaching of

> reading. So rather than leading to innovations in

> the teaching of reading

> for struggling readers, the contemporary research

> seems to be more

> confirmatory of what has long been known as useful

> practice.

>

> Shaywitz also recommends what reading specialists

> have previously referred

> to as an "active reading strategy" and says, "I like

> to divide reading

> comprehension activities into three parts: those you

> can do before opening

> the book, those that are most helpful as the child

> reads, and those that

> help him organize his thoughts and sum the events of

> the story after he

> finishes reading." (p. 241) This is, of course, a

> modification of

> Robinson's 1941 SQ3R study skills method in which

> before reading one

> surveys the text and raises questions about what it

> may deal with (this

> mobilizes prior knowledge), then reads and during

> reading recites in ones

> own words what the meaning of what is being read is,

> and then reviews

> afterwards to firmly set in mind what has been read.

>

> Though the recommendations that Shaywitz gives for

> helping dyslexics read

> are mostly based on earlier decades of research and

> study of the reading

> process, they are tried and true methods of dealing

> with difficult reading

> problems and she treats topics of vocabulary

> learning, fluency, and

> comprehension very well, with a style of writing

> that relates to the reader

> on a personal basis.  She also gives many good

> pointers for how parents and

> adults can seek help for their own or their

> children's reading

> difficulties.

>

> While Shaywitz provides a very brief and misleading

> representation of "whole

> language" in support of her approach to "scientific,

> evidence-based" reading

> instruction (pp. 202-203), the book will nonetheless

> return its cost for

> those who want to better understand reading, reading

> difficulties,

> dyslexia, good instruction, and access to help for

> struggling and /or

> dyslexic learners.

>

> Thomas G. Sticht

> International Consultant in Adult Education

> 2062 Valley View Blvd.

>

=== message truncated ===



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