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At our Fall OVB Conference, October 11, 2008, two principals of area schools were recognized for their work in advancing Orton Gillingham training.
One had just begun the process of training her staff; the other had seen the impressive results of OG instruction throughout her school for the last several years.
The latter is Linda Giuliano, who is beginning her twenty-eighth year as an educator. It all began with one of her teachers who happened to be trained in Orton Gillingham, and an incoming student who was unable to read. The child had come from another state with two years of kindergarten under his belt, and two years of first grade. All the child recognized were four letters, none of which were in his name. His father was a non-reader. Linda asked Star Merinfield, an Orton Gillingham Master Teacher, to come and see if she could make a difference in this child’s life. Fearing the worst, Linda dreaded observing the child reading.
To her surprise, after just four weeks, this severely dyslexic struggling non-reader was able to read the words in a pre-primer book! Linda returned to her office in tears, as she witnessed the powerful effect of Orton Gillingham instruction. “If we can teach this child to read, we can teach anyone!” she adds.
Since then nearly every teacher in her building has received OG training. A part of this educational initiative were Carol Woods, Martha Chiodi, and other Master Teachers who instructed teachers in Linda’s school, Primary School South (formerly Lakeside Elementary) in the Winton Woods School District. Eventually the spelling curriculum throughout the school was based on phonemes, or “word patterns”, as Linda calls them. In fact, “spelling words” to be memorized were omitted, and in their place came the vowel team “ee”, for instance. All the words that fit that pattern… meet, tree, bee and many others were posted on a “word wall”. Any of those were fair game on the spelling test.
Instead of memorizing unrelated words, Linda could see that Orton Gillingham empowered children to be better readers and spellers. “I want every child to have these strategies”, she says enthusiastically. “OG is giving kids a tool belt”, she continued. “Just pull one out and you’ll be able to read!”
The biggest challenge for Linda, has been how to do OG in groups of children, but now some of her teachers are well on their way to perfecting this skill. “All I know is I have seen this thing work”, she added. “There is no reason why everyone in this country should not be able to read.”
 Principal, Karen Mulligan, at Fairview-Clifton German Language School (Cincinnati Public Schools), began to see the positive impact of Orton Gillingham when one of her teachers was trained several years ago. As a few others trained, the enthusiasm began to grow. Karen knew just what to do with extra funding that became available to her school. In the spring of 2008, she asked Martha Chiodi and a group of Master Teachers to come and work with teachers who volunteered to take the training. “I’m a firm believer in using anything that works,” she tells me.
And so were her teachers. They gave up afternoons to listen to lectures, and their free bells to work with struggling students, under the tutelage of Master Teachers. Diane Turner, a kindergarten teacher, had been trained in several reading programs through the course of her 17 years in the public school system. “After taking the Orton Gillingham training at Fairview, I finally found the comprehensive program in which all children can be successful”, Karen says. She was so enthused that Diane went on to take Orton Gillingham Practicum at the Mayerson Academy the summer of 2008. “This has been one of the best experiences I have ever had and I can’t wait to begin this school year knowing the success my students will have because of this training!” she added.
“Our teachers love it. They’ve grown as reading instructors, and have also grown together as a team,” Karen agrees.
Both Karen and Linda were honored at the OVBIDA Fall Conference on Saturday, October 11, 2008. Each received a one year free membership to the IDA and a citation from the International Dyslexia Association.
Submitted and written by:
Peg St. Clair |