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Preventing Academic Failure: An Orton Gillingham Approach

What's All the Hype?

By: Jennifer Smalley

Phonics instruction is crucial in the development of reading and language skills. Preventing Academic Failure (PAF), by Phyllis Bertin and Eileen Perlman is an Orton Gillingham based mulit-sensory program targeting grades one through four. Using the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic modalities simultaneously, the PAF curriculum systematically and unequivocally teaches the skills required for the successful acquisition of reading, writing, and spelling. The program includes a curriculum sequence (level 1 through 245) that provides a complete language lesson with each new skill taught. The level of difficulty determines the length of time necessary for each new skill. Assessment is proficiency and sequentially based.

The PAF program is coordinated with the Merrill Linguistic Reading Program, Explode the Code, and Megawords. PAF is a highly structured program, appropriate for all children including and especially those identified with dyslexia and learning disabilities.

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