SLP in Orton-Gillingham classroom

In the O-G program, there is a list of sight words organized by frequency in the English language that are introduced at the end of a lesson if time permits. These words are introduced as words that cannot be read out sound by sound. To indicate that, the words are presented on a red card to stop students from decoding them.

According to the simple view of reading, Word Recognition + Language Comprehension = Reading Comprehension. Under skills that are important for Word Recognition (click to view a graphical representation), sight words recognition involves a quick and automatic mapping of orthography (i.e. word shape) onto the semantic system. Repeated exposure to the sight words will strengthen this sight word reading pathway. I frequently review old sight words at the end of my lessons. Since some of the sight words occur very frequently in the English language (e.g. should, could, would), I often try to find/develop mnemonics to help children learn the spelling of the sight words.

How important are sight words?

Based on research by Dr. Dolch, he identified 220 words that frequently occurs in children’s book. One-third of these words are sight words and cannot be decoded. Read about the Dolch 220 words here: http://www.progressivephonics.com/about/articles/high-frequency-dolch-words

What does the literature say about sight word and phonics training?

According to McArthur et al., 2015, they found that a combination of phonics and sight word training resulted in the largest gains in children with dyslexia. They also found no evidence that suggests the teaching of sight words (i.e. whole word recognition) limited the development of letter-sound association in these children. This study points to the need of a program that teaches a combination of both reading techniques.