Introduction: Using Generative AI to Create Tailor-Made Lessons for Your Dyslexic Child with the Orton-Gillingham Method

Introduction: Using Generative AI to Create Tailor-Made Lessons for Your Dyslexic Child with the Orton-Gillingham Method

As a parent of a dyslexic child, you understand the importance of finding effective, personalized strategies to support your child's reading development. The Orton-Gillingham (OG) method has long been recognized as one of the most successful, research-backed approaches for teaching children with dyslexia to read. This structured, multisensory technique focuses on phonics, phonemic awareness, and sound-symbol relationships to help children overcome the challenges they face with reading.

In the past, implementing the OG method often required extensive resources and time, making it difficult for many parents to provide consistent, targeted support. However, with advancements in technology, particularly the rise of generative AI, creating customized, engaging lessons has never been easier.

Generative AI can act as a powerful tool to help parents design tailored lesson plans that fit their child's unique needs, learning pace, and challenges. By using AI to create lessons based on the Orton-Gillingham method, parents can provide their children with focused, multisensory activities that target specific areas of difficulty, such as phonemic awareness, decoding, and fluency. These lessons are not only structured and methodical but can also be personalized to make learning fun, interactive, and manageable.

In this guide, we'll explore how you, as a parent, can harness the potential of generative AI to develop a series of personalized, evidence-based reading lessons that incorporate the core principles of the Orton-Gillingham method. Whether you're new to the OG approach or looking for ways to enhance your child’s learning experience, this innovative use of AI can provide the tools and support needed to help your child succeed in their reading journey.

For a parent of a dyslexic child using generative AI to develop lesson plans based on the Orton-Gillingham (OG) method, the focus would be on creating personalized, engaging, and manageable lessons that build on each child's unique strengths and challenges. The Orton-Gillingham method is a structured, multisensory approach to teaching reading that emphasizes phonemic awareness, sound-symbol correspondence, syllable patterns, and fluency.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how the parent could use generative AI for this:

1. Create Personalized, Structured Lesson Plans

• Input Student’s Learning Profile: The parent should provide generative AI with information about the child’s current reading level, strengths, weaknesses, and any specific areas of struggle (e.g., letter reversals, difficulty with blending sounds). This helps the AI tailor lesson plans to the child’s needs.

• Customize Lesson Focus: They could ask the AI to focus on specific aspects of the Orton-Gillingham method, such as phonological awareness, syllable types, or decoding strategies. For example, lessons can be designed to target vowel-consonant blends, multisyllabic words, or irregular spelling rules.

• Adjust Difficulty: The AI could adjust the complexity of the lessons over time. For instance, starting with simple words and gradually moving toward more complex words and concepts, which is a key principle of the OG method.

2. Engage Multiple Senses

• Multisensory Activities: The Orton-Gillingham method is multisensory, meaning it incorporates visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning. The parent could use AI to generate ideas for lessons that integrate all these modalities. For example, the AI might suggest activities where the child writes words in sand or on textured surfaces, uses colored markers for different sounds, or taps out syllables with their fingers.

• Interactive Tools: The AI might recommend apps, games, or tools that allow the child to practice spelling, phonemic awareness, and reading in an interactive way. It can suggest audio-based books, videos with captions, or tools like text-to-speech or speech-to-text for additional support.

3. Use Repetition and Practice

• Spaced Repetition: The parent can ask the AI to create lesson plans with spaced repetition for optimal retention. This method builds on the idea that reviewing concepts at increasing intervals helps solidify learning.

• Review and Reinforce: AI could generate weekly or daily review materials that include past lessons and help reinforce newly learned material in different contexts (e.g., writing sentences, reading passages, or playing word games).

4. Create Personalized Practice Materials

• Customized Flashcards: Generative AI can create flashcards with target words, with specific focus on areas of difficulty (e.g., high-frequency sight words, tricky spelling patterns, etc.). These flashcards can incorporate pictures, sound files, or even interactive components for kinesthetic learning.

• Word Lists & Activities: Based on the child’s current progress, the AI could generate lists of words that reflect particular syllable types or phonemic patterns. The parent can use these lists for practice exercises like sorting words, spelling games, or dictation activities.

• Level Adjustments: The AI can help by adjusting the complexity of materials based on real-time feedback. For example, if the child is struggling with a particular concept, AI can generate more practice materials specifically targeted at that weakness.

5. Tailor to the Child’s Learning Style

• Generate Visual Aids and Charts: For a dyslexic child, visuals can be a powerful tool. AI can create charts, diagrams, and visual representations of rules (e.g., a color-coded chart for vowel patterns or syllable division rules). This visual representation helps break down abstract concepts and makes them more concrete.

• Create Short and Focused Sessions: Since children with dyslexia often benefit from short, focused learning intervals, the AI could recommend breaking lessons into manageable chunks, with built-in breaks, to maintain attention and avoid fatigue.

6. Foster Independence and Build Confidence

• Explain the Orton-Gillingham Method: To help the child understand the method, the parent could use generative AI to create simple, age-appropriate explanations of the OG approach, perhaps with analogies or stories that make the process feel less intimidating. For example, a story explaining how letters work together like puzzle pieces could be a good way to frame the method.

• Interactive Assessments and Feedback: AI can also generate quizzes or assessments that allow the child to track their progress and receive immediate feedback, reinforcing positive outcomes and providing opportunities for corrective instruction when necessary.

7. Consistency and Adaptation

• Schedule and Track Progress: Generative AI can help the parent create a daily or weekly schedule for practicing the lessons. It can also track the child's progress and suggest next steps based on performance. This keeps the child on a consistent path without overwhelming them.

• Adjust Based on Feedback: The AI can analyze the child’s responses and automatically adjust lesson content based on what’s working or what needs additional focus.

Comprehensive Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Screen for Parents

This screen is designed to help parents assess where their child stands in terms of phonics and phonemic awareness skills. By understanding your child’s current abilities, you can better tailor their reading lessons to meet their needs, particularly when using the Orton-Gillingham method or other structured literacy approaches.

Instructions for Parents:

• This screen should be completed over a series of short sessions.

• For each section, ask your child to perform the tasks aloud or in writing, depending on their ability.

• For each task, record whether your child was able to complete it correctly, struggled, or could not complete it at all.

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Section 1: Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. These skills are crucial for building reading and spelling abilities.

1.1 Rhyming Ability

• Task: Ask your child to say a word and then provide another word that rhymes with it.

• Example words:

  • “cat” – can your child say “bat” or “hat”?

  • “pen” – can your child say “ten” or “den”?

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child can say at least 3 rhyming words per example.

  • Partial: Child can say 1 or 2 rhyming words per example.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles to find any rhyming words.

1.2 Initial Sound Identification

• Task: Say a word and ask your child to identify the first sound in the word.

• Example words:

  • “dog” – child should say /d/

  • “fish” – child should say /f/

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child correctly identifies the initial sound in 8 out of 10 words.

  • Partial: Child correctly identifies the initial sound in 5–7 out of 10 words.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles to identify initial sounds.

1.3 Final Sound Identification

• Task: Say a word and ask your child to identify the last sound in the word.

• Example words:

  • “cat” – child should say /t/

  • “hop” – child should say /p/

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child correctly identifies the final sound in 8 out of 10 words.

  • Partial: Child correctly identifies the final sound in 5–7 out of 10 words.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles to identify final sounds.

1.4 Medial Vowel Sound Identification

• Task: Say a word and ask your child to identify the middle vowel sound.

• Example words:

  • “cat” – child should say /a/

  • “pen” – child should say /e/

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child correctly identifies the medial vowel sound in 8 out of 10 words.

  • Partial: Child correctly identifies the medial vowel sound in 5–7 out of 10 words.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles to identify the medial vowel sound.

1.5 Blending Sounds

• Task: Say each individual sound in a word and ask your child to blend them together to form the whole word.

• Example word:

  • /b/ /a/ /t/ = “bat”

  • /s/ /a/ /t/ = “sat”

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child can blend 3 sounds correctly into a word in 8 out of 10 tries.

  • Partial: Child can blend 3 sounds correctly into a word in 5–7 out of 10 tries.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles with blending sounds.

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Section 2: Phonics

Phonics refers to the understanding of the relationship between letters and sounds. These skills are essential for decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) words.

2.1 Letter-Sound Correspondence (Single Letters)

• Task: Show your child a letter and ask them to say the sound associated with that letter.

• Example letters:

  • “b” – child should say /b/

  • “d” – child should say /d/

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child knows the sounds for at least 20 out of 26 letters.

  • Partial: Child knows the sounds for 10–19 out of 26 letters.

  • Needs Practice: Child knows the sounds for fewer than 10 letters.

2.2 Short Vowel Sounds

• Task: Ask your child to say the short sound for each vowel letter.

• Example vowels:

  • “a” – child should say /æ/ as in “cat”

  • “e” – child should say /ɛ/ as in “pen”

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child knows the short sounds for all five vowels.

  • Partial: Child knows the short sounds for 3–4 vowels.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles with short vowel sounds.

2.3 Blending Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) Words

• Task: Show your child a simple CVC word (e.g., “cat”) and ask them to blend the sounds together to read the word.

• Example words:

  • “cat” – child should blend and say “cat”

  • “dog” – child should blend and say “dog”

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child can blend 10 out of 10 CVC words correctly.

  • Partial: Child can blend 5–9 out of 10 CVC words correctly.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles to blend CVC words.

2.4 Digraphs (Consonant and Vowel)

• Task: Show flashcards with digraphs and ask your child to say the sound for each one.

• Example digraphs:

  • “sh” – child should say /ʃ/ as in “ship”

  • “ch” – child should say /ʧ/ as in “chip”

  • “th” – child should say /θ/ or /ð/ as in “that” or “think”

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child can correctly identify and pronounce at least 4 out of 5 digraphs.

  • Partial: Child can identify and pronounce 2–3 out of 5 digraphs.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles with digraphs.

2.5 Silent “e” (Magic “e”)

• Task: Show your child a word with a silent “e” and ask them to say the word correctly.

• Example words:

  • “cake” – child should say “cake” (long /a/)

  • “bike” – child should say “bike” (long /i/)

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child can correctly read 8 out of 10 CVCe words.

  • Partial: Child can correctly read 5–7 out of 10 CVCe words.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles with silent “e” words.

2.6 Word Families

• Task: Show your child words that belong to the same word family (e.g., “-at” family) and ask them to identify other words that fit the pattern.

• Example families:

  • “cat, hat, mat, bat” – all belong to the “-at” family

  • “sip, lip, dip, tip” – all belong to the “-ip” family

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child can correctly identify and generate at least 5 words from 3 word families.

  • Partial: Child can identify and generate 3–4 words from 3 word families.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles to identify word families.

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Section 3: Fluency and Word Recognition

This section focuses on whether your child can recognize high-frequency words and read with fluency.

3.1 High-Frequency Words (Sight Words)

• Task: Ask your child to read a list of high-frequency words (e.g., “the,” “and,” “it,” “is,” “you”).

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child can read 8–10 sight words without hesitation.

  • Partial: Child can read 5–7 sight words without hesitation.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles to read sight words.

3.2 Reading Simple Sentences

• Task: Ask your child to read a simple sentence aloud (e.g., “The cat is on the mat”).

• Scoring:

  • Complete: Child reads 3–5 sentences fluently with minimal help.

  • Partial: Child reads 1–2 sentences with some hesitation.

  • Needs Practice: Child struggles to read simple sentences.

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Scoring Summary:

• Complete: The child demonstrates proficiency in the skill.

• Partial: The child shows some understanding but needs further practice.

• Needs Practice: The child requires additional help and instruction in the area.

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Next Steps Based on Results:

• If the child scores well: They may be ready for more advanced phonics skills and reading comprehension activities. Consider progressing with more complex word structures, such as multisyllabic words or irregular spelling patterns.

• If the child scores lower: Focus on reinforcing foundational phonemic awareness and phonics skills. Use multisensory tools, such as flashcards, glitter trays, and the Montessori sandpaper letters, to provide engaging, hands-on practice.

This screen is an essential tool for identifying where your child may need extra support in their literacy development. By regularly assessing progress, you can tailor their learning journey and ensure they get the most out of their lessons.

Example Lesson Breakdown Using AI:

• Day 1: Focus on Phonemic Awareness (Initial Sounds)

  • Visual Aid: Picture flashcards with images of objects starting with a specific sound (e.g., "b" for ball, bat, etc.).

  • Activity: Say the words aloud, then tap out the initial sound using fingers (multisensory).

  • Review: Provide 5 words with the same initial sound and have the child identify and repeat them.

• Day 2: Focus on Vowel-Consonant (VC) Syllable Type

  • Visual Aid: A color-coded chart showing different syllable types, with “VC” in blue.

  • Activity: Introduce 3 VC words (e.g., “at,” “in,” “up”) and have the child read, write, and spell them.

  • Practice: Dictate VC words for the child to write, focusing on sound-symbol correspondence.

By leveraging generative AI in this way, the parent can make the Orton-Gillingham method more accessible and engaging for their child while ensuring the lessons are tailored to meet their individual needs.

Here’s a structured 6-lesson plan for a dyslexic child using the Orton-Gillingham method, incorporating the requested materials such as flashcards, glitter trays for tracing letters and digraphs, Montessori sandpaper letters, and the movable alphabet. These lessons are designed to be multisensory and gradual, focusing on phonics, phonemic awareness, and building foundational skills.

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Lesson 1: Introduction to Consonant Sounds & Letter Formation

Objective:

• Teach the child the sounds of consonants using a multisensory approach.

• Practice writing letters and forming sounds.

Materials Needed:

• Flashcards with consonant letters (e.g., b, p, m, t, d)

• Glitter tray

• Montessori sandpaper letters

• Movable alphabet

• Blank paper and markers

Lesson Breakdown:

1. Review Consonant Sounds:
   Show the flashcards with the consonant letters (b, p, m, t, d). Say the sound for each letter (e.g., /b/ for b, /p/ for p) and have the child repeat it.

2. Glitter Tray Practice:
   Have the child trace the letter "b" in the glitter tray, saying the sound as they trace. Repeat this process for the other consonant letters.

3. Montessori Sandpaper Letters:
   Allow the child to feel the sandpaper letters (b, p, m, t, d) and trace them with their fingers while saying the sounds aloud.

4. Movable Alphabet:
   Have the child use the movable alphabet to form simple words with the consonants they have learned, such as "bat," "pat," and "mat."

5. Wrap-Up Activity:
   Ask the child to write the letters on paper while saying the sound they represent. Provide positive reinforcement for their effort.

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Lesson 2: Short Vowel Sounds (a, e, i, o, u)

Objective:

• Introduce short vowel sounds and practice blending consonants with vowels.

Materials Needed:

• Flashcards with short vowels (a, e, i, o, u)

• Glitter tray

• Montessori sandpaper letters

• Movable alphabet

• Blank paper and markers

Lesson Breakdown:

1. Introduce Short Vowel Sounds:
   Show the flashcards with the vowels (a, e, i, o, u). Say the short sound for each vowel (e.g., /a/ as in "cat"). Have the child repeat each sound after you.

2. Glitter Tray Practice:
   Have the child trace the short vowel "a" in the glitter tray, saying the short /a/ sound as they trace. Repeat for the other vowels.

3. Montessori Sandpaper Letters:
   Let the child trace the sandpaper letters for each vowel, saying the sound aloud.

4. Blending Consonants and Vowels:
   Use the movable alphabet to create simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, like "bat," "pat," "mat." Say the sounds of the letters individually, and then blend them together to say the word.

5. Wrap-Up Activity:
   Have the child write short CVC words on paper, practicing the sounds they learned.

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Lesson 3: Consonant Digraphs (sh, ch, th)

Objective:

• Teach the child to recognize and produce consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th).

Materials Needed:

• Flashcards with digraphs (sh, ch, th)

• Glitter tray

• Montessori sandpaper letters

• Movable alphabet

• Blank paper and markers

Lesson Breakdown:

1. Introduce Digraphs:
   Show the flashcards with the digraphs "sh," "ch," and "th." Explain that these two letters together make a single sound (e.g., "sh" as in "ship"). Have the child repeat each sound after you.

2. Glitter Tray Practice:
   Have the child trace the digraphs "sh," "ch," and "th" in the glitter tray while saying the corresponding sounds.

3. Montessori Sandpaper Letters:
   Allow the child to trace the sandpaper letters for the digraphs (sh, ch, th), saying the sounds as they trace.

4. Movable Alphabet:
   Have the child use the movable alphabet to form words with the digraphs, such as "ship," "chat," and "that."

5. Wrap-Up Activity:
   Ask the child to write simple words with the digraphs on paper and read them aloud.

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Lesson 4: Blending Short Vowel Sounds with Consonant Digraphs

Objective:

• Teach the child to blend short vowels with consonant digraphs to form words.

Materials Needed:

• Flashcards with short vowel sounds and consonant digraphs

• Glitter tray

• Montessori sandpaper letters

• Movable alphabet

• Blank paper and markers

Lesson Breakdown:

1. Blending Short Vowels and Digraphs:
   Show flashcards with words that include short vowels and digraphs, such as "shut," "chip," and "bath." Have the child blend the sounds together.

2. Glitter Tray Practice:
   Have the child trace words with short vowels and digraphs in the glitter tray, saying the sounds as they trace.

3. Montessori Sandpaper Letters:
   Let the child trace the sandpaper letters for words like "shut," "chip," and "bath," saying the sounds aloud.

4. Movable Alphabet:
   Use the movable alphabet to form words with short vowels and digraphs. Have the child blend the sounds and read the words.

5. Wrap-Up Activity:
   Have the child write a few of the words on paper and read them aloud.

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Lesson 5: CVCe Words (Silent E)

Objective:

• Introduce the concept of the silent "e" and practice blending CVCe words (e.g., "cake," "bike").

Materials Needed:

• Flashcards with CVCe words

• Glitter tray

• Montessori sandpaper letters

• Movable alphabet

• Blank paper and markers

Lesson Breakdown:

1. Introduce Silent E:
   Show flashcards with words that have the silent "e," such as "cake," "bike," and "rope." Explain that the "e" at the end of the word makes the vowel say its name (e.g., /a/ in "cake" says its long sound).

2. Glitter Tray Practice:
   Have the child trace the CVCe words in the glitter tray, saying the sounds as they trace, emphasizing the long vowel sound.

3. Montessori Sandpaper Letters:
   Allow the child to trace the sandpaper letters for the CVCe words, focusing on the silent "e" and its effect on the vowel sound.

4. Movable Alphabet:
   Use the movable alphabet to form CVCe words like "cake," "bike," and "rope." Have the child blend the sounds and practice reading the words.

5. Wrap-Up Activity:
   Have the child write and read several CVCe words, reinforcing the silent "e" rule.

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Lesson 6: Word Families (at, ip, ot)

Objective:

• Teach the child to recognize and read words within common word families (e.g., "at," "ip," "ot").

Materials Needed:

• Flashcards with word families (e.g., "at," "ip," "ot")

• Glitter tray

• Montessori sandpaper letters

• Movable alphabet

• Blank paper and markers

Lesson Breakdown:

1. Introduce Word Families:
   Show flashcards with words from different families, such as "cat," "bat," "sip," and "pot." Explain that these words share the same ending sound.

2. Glitter Tray Practice:
   Have the child trace the word family endings in the glitter tray, such as "-at," "-ip," and "-ot," saying the sounds as they trace.

3. Montessori Sandpaper Letters:
   Let the child trace the sandpaper letters for the word family endings, emphasizing the common ending sounds.

4. Movable Alphabet:
   Use the movable alphabet to form different words within the word families, such as "cat," "bat," "sip," and "pot."

5. Wrap-Up Activity:
   Have the child write words from the word families on paper, reinforcing the patterns they’ve learned.

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These six lessons combine a variety of multisensory activities, including tracing with glitter trays, using Montessori sandpaper letters, and manipulating the movable alphabet. Each lesson builds on the previous one, helping the child progressively master phonics, phonemic awareness, and the mechanics of reading.