Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators: An Overview [Brochure]. Amenia, NY: Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators. (2010). http://www.ortonacademy.org/cms/uploads/overview-2010.pdf
The purposes of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators are seven-fold… to establish/maintain standards, to recognize & certify individuals, to ensure OG professional growth, to accredit schools/clinics/training programs, to sponsor/promote/undertake OG research, and to broaden public awareness of both the OG approach and the nature/needs of persons with dyslexia. Levels of academy membership span from subscriber to associate member to certified member to fellow (pages 4 & 5 outline the training and application process for each stage). The Orton-Gillingham approach is designed for individuals, small groups, and classrooms for primary, elementary, intermediate, secondary, college, and adult students. When a school has an Orton-Gillingham training program, “The Academy accredits the Orton-Gillingham training program of an institution but not the institution itself” (p.3). However, schools which are accredited by national and/or state certifying organizations are eligible to apply for educational program accreditation.
Characteristics of the Orton-Gillingham approach: (1) Diagnostic & Prescriptive, (2) Direct and Explicit, and (3) Language Based. It is also known for having instruction that is:
The founding fathers of the Orton-Gillingham approach:
Dr. Orton - neuropsychiatrist & pathologist
June Lyday Orton - psychiatric social worker (Dr. Orton’s wife)
Anna Gillingham - educator & psychologist “with a superb command of the language”
Bessie Stillman - master classroom teacher
As early as 1925, [Dr. Orton] had identified the syndrome of specific language disability in his papers from 1925 to 1948 and in his book, Reading, Writing and Speech Problems in Children (published in 1937), Orton distinguished language learning disabilities form mental defect, emotional disorder, sensory deficits, and brain damage….In agreement with Dr. Orton, Anna Gillingham and Bessie Stillman compiled and published comprehensive instructional material which included the manual, Remedial Training for Children with Specific Disability in Reading, Spelling, and Penmanship. (p. 6)
This Orton-Gillingham overview states, “While we, the educators, are keeping the structure of the language in mind, we need to remember the learner’s need for a program that is at once multi-sensory, phonetically based, structured, sequential, cumulative and rational.” Our success with providing such a program will depend upon our own understanding of the principles of language, teacher training, and practice.