Anthony,  the Orton-Gillingham approach is the best way to go in my opinion.
It is an excellent way to teach the structure of the English Language and
help students make some sense out of what appears to be a difficult language
because of, as some say, "so many exceptions to the rules".  It teaches the
regularities first and gives us a "filing system" for our brains and then
has a way to present the exceptions.  It is highly multisensory (uses
visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactlle learning pathways). My adult ESOL
students love it.  It is important that there is thorough and complete
training in the approach for it to be used successfully.  It is the approach
recommended by the International Dyslexia Association; however, it works
well with all beginning readers ages 5 through adult levels.  In my opinion,
it can be labeled  "universal design" as everyone can benefit from it.  I
tutor children as well as adults and use it with all levels.  It is best if
you can start right at the kindergarten level. What a gift you will be
giving each child.

 

Recommended resources:  Dyslexia Tutor Manual by Dorothy B Whitehead

                                        Sequential Phonics, Lesson Plans for
the Reading Tutor by Marlene

                                        Bartok McCormick

                                 Linguistic Concepts for Orton-Gillingham
(Companion to the Lesson Plans

 
above)

                                    The above can be purchased from the
Michigan Dyslexia Institute, Inc, 

                                       (http://www.dyslexia.net/ )
(1-800-494-6758) 

 

                                       AVKO Sequential Spelling for Adults,
(www.spelling.org <http://www.spelling.org/> )

                                       The Orton-Gillingham Manual by Anna
Gillingham and Bessie W. Stillman , Educators Publishing Service

                                            (epsbooks.com)

 

In my opinion, phonics must be taught in conjunction with phonemic awareness
and spelling.  It needs to be sequential and meaningful.  It is not useful
to teach the sound of a grapheme and hand the student a worksheet to do
independently.  The degree to which it is multisensory depends upon the
needs of the students.  Writing is a multisensory activity, but some
students need more such as the use of sand trays (memory trays). When all
four pathways are used simultaneously - visual, auditory, kinesthetic and
tactile, one increases the opportunities for learning, retention and
retrieval of information.   In short, phonological awareness is an important
ingredient in developing competent reading skills. Use it in conjunction
with word analysis, vocabulary development, comprehension and fluency
beginning with kindergarten and continuing through adult education. 

 

Anthony, I hope this will be helpful to you.  I will be happy to answer any
questions you may have.

 

Betsy Gauss

Certified Orton-Gillingham Tutor Trainer

Lake Wales Literacy Council Tutor Trainer, Lake Wales, FL , USA

Member of the Florida Practitioners Task Force on Adults with Learning
Disabilities

 

  _____  

From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
RKenyon721 at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:47 AM
To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov
Subject: [LearningDisabilities 1951] Question on Using Phonics

 

Hi,

 

Here is an interesting message from the Technology List.  Does anyone have a
response for Anthony in the UK?

 

Hi
 
The use of phonics for the teaching of early grapheme recognition and
production has now been mandated for children in the UK. The debate still
rages as to whether this is the right approach. One of the problems we have
is the lack of experience in the technique - this is made even more
difficult if one were to think of extending its use to the adult
language/literacy learning environment. Does anyone have any experience of
using phonics with adult ESOL/EAL learners and, if so, with what results and
what materials were used. To my mind, it would seem logical to utilize a
tried and tested method.
 
As ever - thanks for your help.
 

>From the other side of the pond.

 

Anthony

 

Thanks,

 

Rochelle

 

 

 

Rochelle Kenyon
Moderator, NIFL/LINCS Learning Disabilities Discussion List
Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee
RKenyon721 at aol.com 
 
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