Reading and Spelling

Patricia is a practitioner of the the Orton-Gillingham method, a proven, research-based, multi-sensory approach to teaching written English. 

Students who struggle with written language do not pick up on generalizations or intuitively learn reading and spelling as other students do.  They require instruction that direct and explicit, with each and every concept taught, explained and practiced.

The Orton-Gillingham method employs this approach.  Each concept is taught directly and explicitly, from sound-symbol correspondences, pronunciation, spelling rules and spelling patterns, to syllable types and syllable division patterns.  Older students are taught morphology concepts and word structure (prefixes, suffixes and roots) for words of Latin and Greek origin as well.  This aids not only in reading and spelling, but also with vocabulary.

Each session is prescriptive and diagnostic, and each lesson is written specifically for the student, allowing the instruction to be individually tailored to the needs and the pace required by that student. Guided practice and reinforcement over subsequent sessions allows the student to develop automaticity and mastery.

Writing

Many students struggle with spelling, sentence structure and construction.  They find it difficult to organize their thoughts and structure their writing.   To write effectively a student must develop writing fluency and automaticity at the sentence level, employing a variety of sentence types and constructions.  Similarly, a student must also become skilled at paragraph construction and essay structure.   Patricia provides writing instruction that is tailored to the needs of the student.  Utilizing a structured and systematic approach she guides the student through writing at the sentence, paragraph and eventually the essay level.