How to Implement the Orton-Gillingham Approach in Speech Therapy with Elizabeth Doherty – Episode 61

We had so much to talk about with Elizabeth that we kept her around to talk about more things related to Speech-Language Pathologists! Elizabeth has a passion for reading and decoding, which is why she decided to specialize in those two areas, along with being Orton-Gillingham certified. Therefore, we picked Elizabeth’s brain so that she could share her knowledge and experience in those areas. So, in today’s episode, Elizabeth shares how to implement the Orton-Gillingham approach and how she successfully addresses reading in her speech therapy sessions.

Working in the private practice field, Elizabeth makes sure to make use of her time with students. With reading being an important aspect of her speech therapy sessions, she discusses how she fits all the key reading skills in and how she structures her sessions. Having a literacy-based approach is a great way to engage students in books while also working on their key reading skills and language goals. But most of all, Elizabeth’s primary goal, besides helping students feel successful with speech and reading, is for students to enjoy reading. We learned a lot from our conversation with Elizabeth, and we know that you will get some helpful takeaways as well!

Topics Discussed:

• How to implement the Orton-Gillingham approach in your speech therapy sessions
• The likelihood that if students have reading challenges, more than likely, they’ll have an oral spoken language challenge as well
• Why collaboration with other teachers in a school setting will help with the responsibility of teaching reading skills to students
• Ways to take data during therapy sessions, but being mindful of teaching vs. measures
• How Elizabeth structures her speech therapy sessions to fit everything in and help students find success