What is Multisensory Instruction?
Many parents hear the term Orton-Gillingham and wonder how it relates to multisensory instruction. The two are closely connected, but they are not exactly the same thing.
Multisensory instruction refers to a teaching approach that engages multiple senses, such as seeing, hearing, touching, and movement, to strengthen learning and memory. Orton-Gillingham is a structured literacy approach that uses multisensory techniques as one of its core teaching principles.
In other words, multisensory instruction is a teaching tool, while Orton-Gillingham is a comprehensive instructional framework that combines multisensory learning with explicit, systematic, and sequential reading instruction. Many evidence-based reading programs, including Orton-Gillingham-based approaches, use multisensory activities to help students build strong connections between letters, sounds, spelling patterns, and language, such as our PASP (Phonological Analysis with Synthetic Phonics).
Science
Regions of our brains work together to process information. A multisensory approach to learning activates multiple brain areas at once, allowing information to be encoded reliably and retrieved quickly. Additionally, researchers propose that children have different learning styles. Instructors can tailor multisensory tasks to align with their students’ strengths.
Benefits of Multisensory Instruction
Studies show that children with stronger reading abilities have more interaction between brain regions. These findings indicate that reading involves the whole brain and requires different sensory processing centers to communicate with each other. Reading is a multisensory act: readers must link visual information (printed letters) with speech sounds. For this reason, multisensory learning can strengthen neural connections and, therefore, early literacy skills. This mode of instruction can also provide learners with alternative ways to absorb information as well as improve reading comprehension and critical thinking.
At Colorado Reading Center, we incorporate multisensory teaching within structured literacy lessons to help students with dyslexia, reading challenges, and language-based learning differences build lasting reading skills.
Sources:
- Multisensory Learning Strategies For Teaching Students How to Read – Waterford.org
- What are Multisensory Instruction Techniques for Teachers and Parents?Learning Center for children who learn differently, their teachers and parents in Dubai, Middle East (lexiconreadingcenter.org)
- Multi-Sensory Activities in the Classroom: 5 Activities to Use | IMSE – Journal
