The Orton-Gillingham Approach

At Sandhills School, Orton-Gillingham isn’t just a class; it’s the foundation of everything we do. Sandhills School is one of only ten dually accredited Orton-Gillingham schools and teacher training centers in the world and one of only two in South Carolina. We not only teach students using Orton-Gillingham but also train teachers and guide educators through the certification process.

This brain-based, research-proven approach helps bright students with dyslexia and related learning differences gain confidence, master essential skills, and discover a love for learning.

Orton-Gillingham is a structured, multisensory, and individualized approach that empowers students to build reading and writing skills in a way that makes sense to their learning profiles. By engaging the auditory, visual, and kinesthetic pathways, students strengthen literacy skills while building confidence in their abilities. This sets the stage for lifelong academic success.

At Sandhills, Orton-Gillingham isn’t just what we teach. It’s how we teach, every day, in every classroom.”

How We Use Orton-Gillingham at Sandhills

Diagnostic & Prescriptive

Individualized

Language-Based and Alphabetic/Phonetic

Language Based & Alphabetic/Phonetic

Our instruction is thoughtful and a well-rounded approach to language that considers the historical context of language and guides students through its complexities in a systematic manner. Language training lessons begin at the simplest sounds and progress to complex words.

Simultaneous Multisensory

Language Training and Orton-Gillingham instruction at Sandhills School engages the auditory (hearing), visual (seeing), and kinesthetic (movement) neural pathways, simultaneously.

Students are often drawing in sand, writing in shaving cream, or counting syllables on beads, and these are all ways that a student enhances their learning, leading to better understanding and memory recall. These activities stimulate the brain in various ways, reinforcing learning and memory formation.

Direct & Explicit

Sandhills language training is presented in a systematic way that all concepts are clearly stated, modeled, and practiced. Our teachers never make assumptions of what a student "should know" or "should have learned" by a certain grade or age. Every student is assessed where they are and that is where instruction begins. All concepts at Sandhills School are explicitly taught and students understand what it is they are learning and why.

Structured, Sequential, and Cumulative, but Flexible

Orton-Gillingham classes are logically organized with well set procedures and routines that move from the simplest to the most complex elements of the English language. Our teachers frequently spiral back to reinforce previously taught skills to achieve a level of automaticity.

Sandhills teachers are keen practitioners that are able to recognize when instruction may require flexibility based on the individuals in their classes.

Synthetic and Analytic

Synthetic & Analytic

Orton-Gillingham practitioners at Sandhills School teach students in both a "part of the whole" and "whole of its parts" approach. For example, students are taught to break down a whole word into individual sounds and syllables. This reciprocal instruction helps students become proficient readers and writers by addressing their specific needs and building a strong foundation in language skills

Cognitive

Instead of memorizing lists of words and practicing rules by rote, Sandhills students are engaged in what they are learning and why they are learning it. They learn the logic and rationale behind what they are learning. Sandhills teachers teach our students strategies that will eventually lead to independent application to new language situations.