Orton-Gillingham & Other Unique Instructional Programs

The Orton-Gillingham method was developed in the 1920s and 1930s by Dr. Samuel T. Orton and educator Anna Gillingham.

It has been proven to work for dyslexic students around the world.

In this method, links are made between what the child sees (visual), what the child hears (auditory) and what the child feels (kinesthetic-tactile)—sound, sight and touch are all pathways in learning to read and spell.

The Orton-Gillingham method is flexible, structured, sequential and cumulative. Lesson plans are customized for each student. Each new language concept is taught multiple times in multiple ways. For example, students might say “ch” while viewing the same letters on a chalkboard and tracing the letters in the air, modeling the letters in clay or drawing them in sand. The lesson plans proceed step by step; the student must master each step in the sequence before going on to the next. As students learn new material, they review old material.

Windy Row Learning Center also offers other unique instructional programs for children with reading (dyslexia) challenges. These programs work well both with and in place of Orton-Gillingham. We want every child to work with the program that best suits his or her individual learning style.

Margaret Byrd Rawson, a former President of The Orton Dyslexia Society (now The International Dyslexia Association), said: “Dyslexic students need a different approach to learning language from that employed in most classrooms. They need to be taught, slowly and thoroughly, the basic elements of their language—the sounds and the letters which represent them—and how to put them together and take them apart. They have to have lots of practice in having their writing hands, eyes, ears, and voices working together for the conscious organization and retention of their learning.”

Founded in 2003, Windy Row Learning Center is located in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Our tutors are specially trained in Orton-Gillingham and have years of experience. We keep children engaged with lessons that let them experience success in reading for the first time–and forever.