Structured. Systematic. Built around your child.
What is Structured Literacy?
Structured Literacy is the approach to reading instruction that research consistently shows is most effective for students with dyslexia and language-based learning differences. It is beneficial for all readers.
Instruction is explicit. Nothing is left to guessing or discovery. Each concept is taught directly. It is also systematic. Concepts are introduced in a logical order, from simple to complex. Finally, it is cumulative. Each lesson builds on what came before, with continuous review
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Structured Literacy addresses the full architecture of the English language: the sound system (phonology), the spelling system (orthography), meaningful word parts (morphology), sentence structure (syntax), and comprehension. The goal is not just accuracy — it is automaticity, the point at which decoding is effortless enough that a student's full attention can go toward meaning.
The Orton-Gillingham Approach
The Orton-Gillingham Approach is the foundational framework underlying Structured Literacy instruction. Developed in the 1920s by Dr. Samuel Orton and refined by educator Anna Gillingham, it is the basis from which most evidence-based reading programs — including Wilson — were derived.
What makes OG distinctive is that it is genuinely individualized. It is diagnostic and prescriptive by design: every lesson is planned from the student's performance in the previous one. Instruction simultaneously engages auditory, visual, and kinesthetic pathways, building the precise connections between sounds and print that fluent reading requires.
The Wilson Reading System
The Wilson Reading System is an evidence-based, structured literacy program developed by Barbara Wilson, who trained in the Orton-Gillingham Approach at Massachusetts General Hospital. Wilson is widely used in schools and is specifically designed for students with dyslexia who need intensive remediation.
I hold the Wilson Dyslexia Therapist (W.D.T.) credential — the highest certification available through Wilson Language Training — and am also trained in Wilson's Just Words program. I deliver Wilson instruction individually or in small groups.
How I choose what to use
Both approaches are grounded in the same research base. The difference is in how they're structured. The Wilson Reading System is a carefully designed program with a defined sequence — that predictability is part of what makes it effective, and it's why schools use it. The Orton-Gillingham Approach is a framework rather than a program: by design, it has no fixed scope and sequence. What matters is that the practitioner knows how to read each student's responses and adapt instruction accordingly.
I hold certification in Wilson at its highest level and am certified in OG at the Associate level, with Clinical-level coursework currently in progress. That means I can deliver either — or draw from both. For some students, following the Wilson sequence is exactly right. For others, particularly those with complex or atypical profiles, the flexibility of the OG framework produces better outcomes. After a diagnostic screening, I'll tell you which approach I recommend and why.
In all cases, every lesson is planned from careful observation of the student's responses. Progress is monitored continuously, not assumed.