Orton-Gillingham Programs: How They Can Help Illiterate/Dyslexic People Gain Jobs

Posted on: 14 November 2019

People who cannot read or have trouble reading are often left behind. They make less money than their peers and they are rarely discovered in school because they find ways to glide past reading tests and reading proficiency scores. To change that, Orton-Gillingham tutors and the related reading program work to give people with illiteracy and dyslexia a chance to improve and get better-paying jobs. Here is how this works. 

Potential Employers Identify Job Seeking Candidates as Having a Literacy Problem

Let's say your company found a bright, talented candidate for an open position in your company. There is just one barrier in the way; dyslexia. While this person seems to be able to do all the hands-on related tasks pertaining to the job, they are unable to read instruction manuals or read labels on bottles and machines. Approaching this person about this issue has to be handled gracefully and tactfully if you are serious about hiring them. You can offer to have the company pay for a reading assistance and tutoring program, like the Orton-Gillingham method, which has been used to teach people to read since the 1920s. If the person accepts a referral is made.

The Job Candidate Starts the Program and the Job

Your company hires the candidate. The new employee starts the reading program too. Some companies actually set aside time in the workday for groups of people with reading and comprehension issues to take an onsite instructional class together. For one hour each day until reading proficiency has significantly improved, the group meets as part of their daily job responsibilities. Over the next month or two, the new employee is tutored in techniques that are gradual, phonetically based, and cumulative. A small pocket dictionary to use while at work the rest of the time is useful because as the employee improves reading skills, they can look up unfamiliar words and sound them out based on syllables and sounds.

In Six Months to a Year, the Employee Has Learned to Read, Reads Better, and/or Overcomes Dyslexia

Since the previously mentioned method of teaching people to read has been the standard for nearly one hundred years, it is easy to see how it continues to be the right method/program for acquired reading skills. In six months to a year (or less), this new employee will read far better than they ever did. They may even have so much confidence now that they leave your company for a better paying job, but your company can feel good about changing lives like this.

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