Multisensory teaching approach

MTA (Multisensory Teaching Approach) is a multisensory curriculum for students identified with dyslexia. It was written by Margaret Taylor Smith, and published in 1987. It meets the description of a multisensory curriculum as it is direct, systematic, explicit, sequential diagnostic, and multisensory. Teachers are highly trained instructors or Certified Academic Language Therapists.

MTA is based on the Orton-Gillingham method of systematic instruction, with clearly identified graphemes that are to be taught in a multisensory manner for the prescriptive instruction of dyslexic students in reading, handwriting, and spelling/written expression. 

MTA is broken into 7 kits, beginning with the most commonly used graphemes and phonemes in reading/spelling instruction to the most difficult concepts. Students are provided with scaffolded and differentiated instruction, based on their prescriptive needs. Teachers have the ability to adjust the instructional pacing.

According to the curriculum author, MTA is to be delivered in a small group setting (1-6 students) for 45 minutes a day/ 5 days a week, or 60 minutes a day/ 4 days a week. Depending on the severity of the student’s dyslexia, a student could remain in the curriculum for three to five years.

MTA contains the components mentioned in the National Reading Panel report. These parts are evidenced in the curriculum through Soundations! (phonology), single word decoding (reading practice), fluency in phrase/sentence context, morphology - in both new learning and reading instruction and reading/listening comprehension, and verbal expression. All are presented in a simultaneous and multisensory manner in order to maximize the pathways for reading and spelling for students identified with dyslexia.