Build a Multi-Sensory Toolbox

You will engage your students, strengthen learning, and improve retention.

Multi-sensory instruction engages more than one sense at a time. The Orton Gillingham approach combines visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile to enhance memory and learning, as all 3 pathways are activated. Children with dyslexia benefit from a multi-sensory approach, but so do all learners.

When we use our fingertips to trace, write, or manipulate tokens as we see and say, messages are sent to our brain. This activation reinforces learning and maintains attention.

Curious what multi-sensory tools are in my toolkit? Let’s take a peek at 3.

1. Tokens or chips

• Great for blending, segmenting, and manipulating sounds as we develop phonemic awareness skills

• Useful for segmenting sounds and then naming letters, as we orally spell (tokens hold a spot for the sounds & support working memory)

2. Bumpy boards, scrubbies, and screens - oh my!

• Supports letter formation, handwriting, and sound - symbol correspondences

3. Rice, sand, or shaving cream

• Write in sand and build sound - symbol connections (pop it in tupperware with a sparkly paper on the bottom for a pop of color)