Jennie Sjursen 0:00
All the different reading approaches we're looking at say they provide multi sensory instruction. Is that where they use all those art supplies and drawn sand? I think my middle schooler will find that way too babyish. I'm Jennie Sjursen. Ex special educator turned dyslexia interventionist. It wasn't so long ago that I too, was overwhelmed by balance literacy versus structured literacy, education speak, and everything in between. Fast forward after many, many hours of self driven education. And you'll see I've built a thriving dyslexia practice helping students from ages six to 18. My specialties, working with quote unquote difficult almost always to the student, and breaking down the complexities of dyslexic to everyday language strategies and action steps.
Jennie Sjursen 0:55
Before we dive in, have you heard we have our new good book section on our website, it's a new and growing feature. Our goal is for it to be your one stop shop for books about learning and dyslexia for adults and kids. It will help you support your child through their dyslexia neurodiverse journey, we'll dive into it. This month, we're highlighting the second edition of dyslexia advocate by Kelly sandeman Hurley. The original edition of this book was one of my all time favorite resources to share with parents who have recently had a child diagnosed with dyslexia. It is a wealth of information. I myself frequently refer back to it when I need to refresh my memory, or I'm looking for a little clarity on a particular topic. If your child is dyslexic, and you are navigating the public school systems, this book is a must have. We've put a link to our good books page in the show notes below. Go ahead and hit pause and bookmark the page for later. Well wait for you.
Jennie Sjursen 1:55
When I say multi sensory instruction, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Do you suddenly picture kids writing in sand trays or forming letters out of Play Doh? Well, both of these can be fun, and I've used them both to help engage or reengage a student. on their own. These types of kinesthetic or tactile activities are not what Orton Gillingham meant when they advocated incorporating multi sensory techniques into reading instruction. Back in the 1920s, Dr. Orton began looking at incorporating multi sensory techniques into reading instruction. He was influenced by the work done by Grace Renault, who had begun incorporating skywriting and other kinesthetic techniques into her writing instruction, now known as the phenolic method. Sky writing involves writing in the air while simultaneously saying the names and the sounds of the letters, both or an Amphenol believe that kinesthetic methods reinforced visual and auditory associations. Personally, I like to think of it as similar to building muscle memory. I've had students who would look at a letter and couldn't remember the letter name or sound, when I asked them to trace it and see if anything pops into their head. More often than not halfway through tracing the letter, they'll shout out Oh, followed by the correct letter, name or sound. In its purest form, multi sensory instruction simultaneously ties in the Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic senses. A student is using all these pathways in their brain at the same time, they see, hear through vocalization, and write a letter word or phrase as they learn to read. They're using their eyes, their ears, their voice and their bodies. Throughout a drill or task, each sense influences and supports the other.
Jennie Sjursen 3:50
We know that Dr. Orton then went on to work with Anna Gillingham. Anna Gillingham working with Bessie Stillman incorporated this into their teaching manual and created the language triangle to show how the visual auditory and kinesthetic senses are used to reinforce each other during instruction. This triangle is sometimes known as the vac or the Vecht the VA K or VA que te triangle, which visual auditory kinesthetic or kinesthetic tactile, it took the first letter of each of those words to create an acronym. Now, picture a triangle. If you're like me and need visuals, you might want to grab pencil and paper and draw this out as we go. Draw a triangle. Just about the top point of the triangle is the word visual. Just off the right point is kinesthetic, and off the left point is auditory along each side of the triangle or double sided arrows. The arrow between visual and kinesthetic is labeled V dash k between kinesthetic and auditory A dash k, between auditory and visual, a dash v. The arrows are double sided to show that the connections between the senses move in multiple directions, and are bi directional between two points. Draw it out or Google language triangle and you get a much better understanding of how the senses work together.
Jennie Sjursen 5:22
So, here's where the controversy with multi sensory comes in. There's always a controversy somewhere when it comes to teaching reading. As of right now, there are no studies that can prove or disprove the effectiveness of incorporating multi sensory tasks. There are plenty of experienced clinicians who see a value and can cite examples of it working. I shared my own experience a few seconds ago. But again, on the research side, there has not yet been any definitive proof. The other complaint I see about using a multi sensory approach is that the important visual and auditory connections are often non existent or missing. It just becomes another fun activity or art project, an activity most older students want no part of. In my view, the most important thing about using multi sensory tasks or activities is to fully incorporate all the pieces visual, auditory, and kinesthetic simultaneously. The student sees the letter then says the letter name sounds while tracing writing or typing the letter in its simplest form at the single letter level. All of this can be done with letter cards, the students can trace with their finger. All the other bells and whistles aren't needed, and in some cases or distraction. That said, I will definitely whip out different kinesthetic modalities to engage or reengage a student as long as I also keep the simultaneous visual and auditory pieces intact. If you have any further questions about multi sensory instruction, please feel free to sneak into my inbox. And if you love what you've learned so far, please give our little podcast a five star rating we would so appreciate it. Until next time, bye bye I hope you enjoyed this episode of literacy untangled if you love this episode as much as I did, head on over and rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode. If you want to continue the conversation or share your takeaways, head on over to our Instagram at literacy untangled and comment on your favorite part. I can't wait to hang out with you again soon. Bye
