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LASE workshop

Thanks to the Lutheran Association for Special Education for inviting me back to present another workshop on Orton-Gillingham. We spent the afternoon taking an indepth look at syllables and syllable structure from an Orton-Gillingham focus. After learning more about how to approach teaching the concepts, everyone got to practice  with … Continue reading >


when clues chart

I had a student who was really struggling with understanding the difference between “where” and “when”. We were working on comprehension, and were talking about setting which can include both concepts. One of the activities we did was to take a list of words and decide whether they were “where” … Continue reading >


silent-e card deck – o and u

Looking for a way to get some extra practice in for students who need to work on whether the word says rob or robe, cub or cube? Try this deck of cards with short o, o-silent-e, short u, and u-silent-e words. Here are some suggested activities: Card Sort – pull out just the short-o and … Continue reading >


letter grid spelling

Orton-Gillingham focuses on helping students understand how syllables are structured as a beginning sound, vowel sound and ending sound. This understanding supports more accurate reading, but also leads to improved spelling as well. One way to really show students how this works is to use a letter grid when sounding … Continue reading >


LASE professional development workshop

Thanks to the Lutheran Association for Special Education for inviting me to present a workshop on Orton-Gillingham at their professional development meeting. They learned about the underlying principles that define the Orton-Gillingham approach and why they are so important when working with students with dyslexia. Then they took a hands-on tour through an Orton-Gillingham … Continue reading >


reading action cards

Add a little action to break up longer reading passages into more manageable sections. After your student reads a paragraph, have them draw one of the action cards and do whatever it says. Actions including taking a bow (while you applaud!), switching chairs, acting out what they just read, or … Continue reading >