What Is Visual Processing?

The visual pathway is the most important pathway involved with the acquisition of written language skills; however, when discussing visual processing ability, the actual process of seeing is not the issue. Acquisition of a visual image in the “mind’s eye” is believed to be determined by the level of functioning of the angular gyrus, an area in the left hemisphere of the brain, the hemisphere that serves as the language hemisphere for ninety percent of the human population. The angular gyrus sits on the junction of the temporal lobe and the parietal lobe. It is located directly behind Wernicke’s area, the language center of the brain that is responsible for processing sound into understandable words. The level of functioning of the angular gyrus directly impacts the recognition and recall of words. Those students who have a high level of angular gyrus activity have good visual memory. Those who have low levels of angular gyrus activity struggle with reading, spelling, and composition. These students have poor visual imagery and pronounced word recognition difficulty. Those toward the lower end of the spectrum, approximately fifteen to twenty percent of the world’s population, can be described as dyslexic with a specific visual processing difficulty.

Visual processing includes:

• seeing differences between things
• remembering visual details
• filling in missing parts in pictures
• remembering general characteristics
• visual-motor coordination
• visualization and imagination
• organization of a room, desk, binder, etc.

Students with a visual processing deficit often experience most learning difficulty in the areas of reading, spelling, and math because they have trouble visualizing words, letters, symbols, etc.

Visual imagery and word recognition ability have no direct correlation to a student’s intelligence. Cultural icons such as Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein had visual imagery and word recognition skills toward the lowest end of the spectrum. In fact, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein were both dyslexics.

What Is The Orton-Gillingham Approach?

The Orton-Gillingham approach is a unique language training system that was designed by Dr. Samuel Orton, a neuro-psychiatrist and pathologist, and Anna Gillingham was a gifted educator, psychologist, and school administrator. Orton-Gillingham has been the most powerful intervention designed expressly for the remediation of the language processing problems of children and adults with language-based learning disorders such as dyslexia.

The Orton-Gillingham approach is an intensive, sequential phonics-based system that teaches the basics of word formation before whole meanings. The approach accommodates and utilizes the three learning pathways through which people learn, and it teaches to a student’s strengths while seeking to improve weaknesses through explicit and systematic phonics instruction. The result places students in position to master the eighty-five percent of the English code that is phonetic. Further, and most importantly, it allows them to make intelligent choices towards mastering the remaining fifteen percent of the English code that must be analyzed in order to be applied properly.

Orton-Gillingham revolves around the scientifically-based concepts that humans acquire and master language through three distinct neurological pathways: visual processing (seeing), auditory processing (hearing), and tactile-kinesthetic processing (feeling). All three neurological pathways are incorporated in the remediation of language skills or in primary language instruction.

During one component of an Orton-Gillingham session, a student will look at a letter or phonogram and make the corresponding sound. In a reverse process, the student will hear a sound and must name and write the associated letter or phonogram. Even within this vital, yet short, portion of the Orton-Gillingham session, all three neurological pathways are incorporated into the learning process.

What Is Academic Language?

Academic language represents the complex components of the English language that are required for success in academic discourse. In vocabulary and structure, it is quite different from the social English that we use in normal conversations. Mainly composed of Latinate and Greek word construction, academic language is the primary hindrance to the comprehension of school texts and lectures. Therefore, poor academic language skills are the root of low academic performance.

To combat poor academic language skills, students will require instruction in the following key areas of academic language development:

• Vocabulary-knowledge of the forms and meanings of words
• Grammar-knowledge of the grammatical rules that govern usage
• Sentence Structure-using words to convey simple and complex thoughts
• Latinate Word Construction-prefixes, roots, connectives, suffixes
• Greek Word Construction-combining forms (roots) and the connective “o”
• Sociolinguistics-the ability to vary language appropriately
• Critical Thinking Skills-the ability to analyze, compare and contrast, etc.
• Language Awareness-knowledge of academic writing structure
• Study Skills-how to review, test preparation, etc.
• Learning Styles-what methods, approaches, and teaching strategies allow us to maximize our educational experience

Reading Disability Unrelated to Intelligence

Research presented by Dr. G. Reid Lyon, the Chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch at the National Institutes of Health, indicates that disability in basic reading skills is primarily caused by deficits in phonological awareness, which is independent of any achievement capacity. More clearly stated, Dr. Lyon has found that reading disability has no connection with learning capacity or intelligence. Further, deficits in phonological awareness can be identified in late kindergarten and first grade using inexpensive, straightforward testing protocol, and these deficits can be remediated using a systematic approach to breaking the English code.

What Is Academic Language Therapy?

Academic language therapy helps students who need primary instruction or remediation with the English code. Since the educational experience of American students is conducted primarily in the English language, adequate language skills are essential for school success. Academic language therapy, therefore, serves as a foundation for lifelong learning.

Utilizing the multisensory strategies that are the cornerstone of the Orton-Gillingham approach, academic language therapy programs are designed to meet the needs of students who are struggling with reading, writing, and spelling due to auditory and visual processing deficits or language-based learning disorders such as dyslexia.

Academic language therapy services may include, but are not limited to:

· Phonology

· Decoding (word attack skills)

· Morphology

· Handwriting

· Composition

· Reading Fluency and Comprehension

· Writing Mechanics

· Spelling

· Learning Strategies

· Study Skills

· Exam Preparation

Students are taught not only the phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters or groups of letters) associated with the language, but also the spelling rules governing usage and application. In addition to spelling rules, a thorough exploration of Latinate, Anglo-Saxon and Greek word construction is provided. This is an essential element of any English language training because the preponderance of the English language is composed of Latinate word construction (55%), Anglo-Saxon word construction (25%), and Greek word construction (11%). Therefore, it is vital to the development and strengthening of visual and auditory processing abilities that the student is able to recognize and manipulate:

1. Latinate prefixes, roots, connectives, and suffixes

2. Greek combining forms and the connective “o”

3. Anglo-Saxon prefixes, base words, and suffixes