Reading is a bi-sensory event: you have to be able to see the letters and then convert the letters into sounds. Hook up visual senses to auditory senses.

• Spelling is auditory to visual intervention
• Visual is in occipital lobe (intersensory integration takes place in the middle, specifically in the angular gyrus). In many cases, this is the locus of the problem. In other words, there's less activity in this area in the brain.
  • In response, Gillingham proposed that additional senses should be hooked up (tactile, motor senses) because the other ones aren’t as connected
• Orton-Gillingham Approach: bring in other senses to make the visual to auditory connection stronger (ex. sandpaper letters, trace out letters with your fingers: motoric/tactile; using big gross motor movements: think YMCA)
  • Even though they were wrong about it being an underlying visual problem, this fix remains one of or the leading remedial approach used today.
  • Not an overnight solution (takes time) — takes months or years to fully benefit
  • Even though it takes 2-3 years to see reading results, we do see that the brain is changing for the behavior to change
  • People argue that this is multi-sensory treatment, but reading itself is already multi-sensory. You’re just adding more senses!

Cognitive processes behind reading:

• short term/working memory;
• ability to distinguish that a separate perspective exists;
• semantic understanding;
• phonological processing: having to do with phonemes or the individual sounds of language [auditory synthesis: put sounds together to make a single word] — concerns with this bullet is the most important/common problem when it comes to reading difficulties!!!

Process Training Period: Hours and hours training with kids developing memory/ vocabulary/ phonological skills → doesn’t pay off if it’s not related to reading; kids can become really good at the skill but not necessarily at reading!

HOW YOU READ: Simplified Dual Route Model

Printed word →

90% of the words you don’t have to sound out, you automatically know what it is (takes awhile for you to get here from the other type of reading)

Other type of reading: you sound out (convert GRAPHEME - PHONEME - CONVERSION - RULES) to figure out the word

→ Pronunciation