Method Used for Games

Games for Mastery of the Sound Symbol Relationships

The Orton-Gillingham approach to reading, writing and spelling was created by Dr. Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham for the remedial instruction of dyslexic children. Structured, explicit, sequential, cumulative, multi-sensory strategies are incorporated in each lesson. Alphabetic Phonics evolved from the O-G method as well as other variations on the method.

These games are not a substitute for direct explicit instruction; however, they are offered for the repetition required to master the sound symbol associations. For some students, that mastery can only be achieved through 500 to 1500 repetitions.

An important part of sound / symbol mastery is the ability to segment words into phonemes. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language. The knowledge of the sound/symbol associations must be taught. Students must master the blending of sounds associated with letter symbols in sequence from left to right to make syllables which in turn make words and word parts.

Related material can be found in The Gillingham Manual.