The presentation topic was "Designing Teacher-Friendly Curricular Resources for Students with Learning Disabilities" and featured discussion regarding the Orton-Gillingham (OG) pilot program with CIU 20 non-public school reading specialists Ann Kinney and Diane Lazar.
Ms. Sharp and Ms. Helman outlined the pilot's goals, schedule and outcomes. Ms. Kinney and Ms. Lazar shared their overall experience which included an increased level of effectiveness and positive feedback from students and parents. They also noted that classroom teachers reported a difference in students' reading ability and an increased willingness to read in class.
Orton-Gillingham is an explicit, sequential, and systematic phonics instructional approach that incorporates simultaneous oral spelling and tracing that stimulates the visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic sensory channels to aid students’ retention of phonics learning.