Educational tutoring using the Orton-Gillingham approach.

The Orton-Gillingham (OG) approach is a multi-sensory approach to teaching literacy to people who struggle with reading and/or spelling such as those with a diagnosis of dyslexia.  OG's multi-sensory approach enables all students struggling to learn to read to become successful readers.  Important components of Orton-Gilllingham are that concepts are taught from simple to complex and are reviewed regularly in order for students to be able to store the information in their long-term memory and be able to successfully apply the skills they are learning to reading.

At Bloom, our tutors teach all concepts in a structured and explicit manner using the Orton-Gillingham approach. This approach is known as the “gold standard” for reading instruction and allows students to become efficient readers.

Meet Our Tutor

  • Natasha Tarbox

    With 13 years of teaching experience under her belt, Natasha understands how critical it is for all students to become fluent readers. She has tutored students in reading for 5 years and is thrilled to provide Orton-Gillingham tutoring at Bloom.

    Schedule Tutoring with Natasha

Questions About Tutoring

  • Dyslexia is a neurological disability which affects the ability to sound out words, recognize words, and spell words. People with dyslexia struggle with processing and manipulating sounds. Dyslexia is NOT an indicator of intelligence as most people with dyslexia have average to above average IQs. People with dyslexia have had good literacy instruction and, despite that, are still struggling in reading and spelling.

  • The Orton-Gillingham (OG) Approach to reading instruction contains all the necessary components of reading that the Science of Reading requires for solid reading instruction. Phonics rules, sound-symbol connections, syllable patterns, and syllable division rules are all important components of instruction. Students also work on developing their reading fluency as well as their comprehension skills. For students lacking in phonemic awareness, that component is also included in the lesson. OG is multisensory, so students are using their visual, auditory, and kinesthetic pathways simultaneously when learning new concepts. It is also cumulative, so all concepts previously taught are woven into later lessons to ensure mastery and storage in long-term memory.

  • There are four skills necessary for reading that will be covered in each session:

    1. Symbol to sound relationships (encoding). During the visual drill, the students are presented with previously taught graphemes (letters), and they then provide the sound. The visual drill improves reading skills through developing automaticity.

    2. Blending (decoding). During the blending drill, students will practice blending nonsense words that all include previously taught sounds. This improves reading skills.

    3. Sound to symbol relationship (encoding). During the auditory drill, students will write the correct grapheme (letter/letters) associated with the phoneme (sound) that they hear.

    4. Put letters together to spell words (encoding). Students will learn to finger spell words so that they are able to write the sounds in the correct order when spelling words. Finger spelling helps students process the individual phonemes (sounds) in words in the correct order. This improves spelling skills.

  • Students also learn the various ways to spell sounds based upon their order of commonality in the English language. This also improves spelling skills as it helps them choose the proper graphemes (letters) according to phonics skills.

    Lessons include a new skill where students either learn a new phoneme/grapheme, new syllable pattern, new spelling rule, or a new syllable division rule.

    Students will apply the decoding skills they are learning by reading text. Fluency and comprehension are addressed as well.

    For students struggling with phonemic awareness, phoneme blending and phoneme segmentation will also be included in the lesson.

  • If your child has completed testing at Bloom, your tutor will review the evaluation report before the first session. Your Orton-Gillingham certified tutor will also conduct assessments over the first two sessions to ensure your child is getting exactly what they need from our tutoring services.

    For clients new to Bloom, we offer a Tutoring Assessment Session to discover what your child already knows and identifies any gaps where your child needs direct instruction. This assessment will provide the Bloom tutor with a roadmap for instruction.

  • At Bloom, we work with the individual to create programming based on his or her specific needs. We require a minimum of two sessions per week for optimal progress.

    Some students may need more frequent sessions. Our tutors will review your child’s progress to ensure that the session frequency is beneficial.

  • We offer individualized tutoring packages over the summer to allow you to choose a number of sessions that works best for you and your child. Check out our current rates here.

  • You can email our tutor directly to schedule tutoring:

    Natasha

  • Please contact your tutor by email to cancel your session at least 48-hours in advance of your session. If you do not cancel 48 hours in advance, you will be charged for a full session.

Grow with Bloom, today!

Complete our New Client Request Form to set up an appointment.

After you complete the form, you’ll receive an email from us via SimplePractice (our EMR) to setup your Client Portal access and complete our intake forms online.

Once you’ve completed all the required forms, we’ll email you to schedule an initial appointment.