Orton-Gillingham Approach Special Education Teachers’ Experiences with Dyslexia in US Students

Abstract

The current study is focusing on the special education teachers that use the Orton-Gillingham (O-G) approach when they teach students with dyslexia. The main objective of the research was to gain knowledge of the experiences that special education teachers have, when they use the O-G approach and their perspectives of the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. When it comes to research and the O-G approach, research has been only on the student. There is lack of research on special education teachers that use the O-G approach because most research has been only on the O-G approach’s impact on the students. The informants of the current study are three special education teachers from a private school in the United States that has only students with dyslexia. The interviews were semi-structured. It is qualitative study that uses phenomenology and hermeneutics. Teachers shared their different experiences and knowledge of the O-G approach. From the thematic analysis of the data, five themes emerged that show the special education teacher’s perception. The results showed the perception and the experiences that the special education teachers have for the O-G approach. They shared their definitions of what dyslexia is. They also reported the benefits and the barriers of the O-G approach, and its connection with the lexical quality hypothesis. The above findings contribute to the current limited scientific knowledge for the effectiveness of the O-G approach. Finally yet importantly, dyslexia is individual and the outcomes to any programme or method will be different between individuals