An Evaluation of the Dyslexia Training Program: A Multisensory Method for Promoting Reading in Students with Reading Disabilities

The development of reading and spelling skills in students with dyslexia, by definition, is delayed and often remains delayed despite years of instruction. Three qualities are thought to facilitate reading development in these children: the provision of a highly structured phonetic-instruction training program with heavy emphasis on the alphabetic system, drill and repetition to compensate for short-term verbal memory deficits, and multisensory methods to promote nonlanguage mental representations. The Dyslexia Training Program, a remedial reading program derived from Orton-Gillingham methods, embodies these qualities. Following their 2-year program, students displaying dyslexia demonstrated significantly higher reading recognition and comprehension compared with a control group. The two groups did not differ in spelling. In addition, the degree of improvement in reading demonstrated by students who received the Dyslexia Training Program by videotape and by those who received it live from instructors did not differ.