Structured Literacy Programs

Structured literacy is an umbrella term for comprehensive approaches to reading instruction that incorporate all the elements research has identified as essential for teaching dyslexic readers: explicit phoneme awareness training, systematic phonics, fluency building, vocabulary instruction, and reading comprehension strategies — all delivered in a specific, logical sequence with built-in practice and assessment. These approaches have the strongest evidence base for dyslexic learners and stand in contrast to less structured methods that rely on incidental learning or whole-language approaches.

Defining Features of Structured Literacy Programs

Regardless of the specific branded program, effective structured literacy approaches share these characteristics:

Explicit instruction: Nothing is left to inference. The teacher directly shows and explains each new concept, rather than hoping students will discover patterns through exposure.

Systematic and cumulative: Concepts are introduced in a logical sequence, building on previously mastered skills. Each lesson assumes competence with what has been taught before, and each new skill builds on that foundation.

Multisensory: Effective instruction engages multiple sensory pathways simultaneously — visual (seeing letters), auditory (hearing sounds), and kinesthetic-tactile (tracing letters, tapping phonemes on fingers, using letter tiles). The multisensory approach builds stronger neural representations than single-modality instruction.

Explicit phoneme-grapheme links: Students learn the correspondences between sounds and their written representations explicitly and bidirectionally — decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) are taught together.

Diagnostic and responsive: Teachers assess continuously and adjust instruction based on what students demonstrate they know and don’t yet know. There is no fixed pace; instruction moves at the student’s actual learning rate.

Repetition and review: New skills require many successful practice repetitions to become automatic. Structured programs build in systematic review to ensure that learned skills are consolidated before new ones are introduced.

Orton-Gillingham

The oldest and most influential approach is the Orton-Gillingham (OG) method, developed in the 1930s by Samuel Orton and educator Anna Gillingham. OG is not a single program but a set of principles for multisensory, sequential, phonics-based instruction. It is delivered one-on-one or in very small groups. Many contemporary structured literacy programs describe themselves as “OG-based” or “OG-influenced,” meaning they incorporate the core features Orton and Gillingham developed.

OG-based instruction typically:

• Begins with an assessment of the student’s current skills
• Starts at the level of single phoneme-grapheme correspondences and builds systematically
• Uses tactile materials (sand trays, letter tiles, textured cards)
• Addresses reading and spelling simultaneously
• Requires extensive teacher training for effective delivery

Wilson Reading System

The Wilson Reading System (WRS) is one of the most widely used and rigorously studied OG-based programs. Developed by Barbara Wilson, it is structured around a 12-step scope and sequence that addresses the full range of English phonics patterns, from simple CVC words through complex multisyllabic words and morphology.

Key features of Wilson:

• Targets students who have not responded to earlier phonics instruction and have significant decoding deficits
• Designed for students in third grade and above (or adults)
• Structured around a consistent daily lesson format with a sound card routine, word card routine, spelling, dictation, and connected text
• Requires 90 minutes of instruction per day for intensive intervention students
• Small groups of 4–5 students maximum for group delivery; 1:1 for highest-need students
• Certified Wilson instructors must complete extensive professional development

Intensity Requirements

Research on intervention effectiveness consistently shows that intensity matters. To produce meaningful gains for students with significant reading deficits, intervention should include:

• 90 or more minutes daily of structured literacy instruction (often in addition to general classroom literacy instruction, not instead of it)
• Small groups of 4–5 students maximum to allow for adequate response opportunities and immediate feedback
• Continuous progress monitoring (at minimum every 4–6 weeks) to verify that the student is responding to instruction and to catch non-responders early
• Highly trained instructors — the quality of delivery is as important as the quality of the program

Why General Reading Programs Are Not Enough

Many schools provide reading support through general reading enrichment groups, leveled reading programs, or reading comprehension curricula. These approaches may benefit typical learners but are insufficient for dyslexic students, because they do not address the phonological deficit at the root of the reading problem. A student with dyslexia who reads books slightly below their current level in a small group is not receiving the targeted phoneme-level instruction that their brain needs. The appropriate intervention is qualitatively different, not just more of the same.

Based on “Overcoming Dyslexia” by Sally Shaywitz, M.D. (2020 edition)