Reading is the key to living and enriched life. Without efficient reading skills children are truly left behind. They may not graduate from school and have problems in employment. A method that will provide language skills in a systematic way can be helpful for those with reading disabilities. That's important because those with serious reading deficiencies are virtually doomed to a life of poverty and ignorance.nd ignorance.

The Spalding Method is an outgrowth of the Gillingham-Orton approach to reading that outlined language development progression through an organized system where the individual sees, says, and writes letter sounds, blending them into words whole meaning is introduced through the study of root words, suffixes and prefixes. It is a systematic way of developing reading skills that allow individuals to practice using the modality by which they learn best. Research from the International Dyslexia Society substantiates its effectiveness with many groups of children, adolescents and adults. Yet it is not widely used in public school programs that continue to fail in the teaching of reading to disadvantaged and learning disabled individuals. For that reason the Spalding Method deserves a serious look since it has the advantages of developing language skills that are based upon sound learning principles and that helps to build comprehension along with word attack skills. This method has even been used to successfully teach adult non readers and has helped high school students master skills that can allow transfer of learning to other subjects and ensuring the actualization of student potential.

Decades ago Samuel T. Orton discussed a pattern of disability that he called strepho-symbolia or twisted symbols. He searched for ways of understanding this disability while his wife worked on a program to help such individuals learn to read. June Day Orton was one of the first people in the United States to develop teaching materials for dyslexics. Her work continued with Anna Gillingham who taught at a prestigious preparatory school, called Punahou, in Hawaii. She teamed with Bessie Stillman, another reading specialist, to develop a program that was suited for teaching individuals as opposed to groups, using the multi sensory method that was developed for group use by Romalda Spalding.

The Spalding method is holistic in its approach to teaching language skills. It can be applied to any reading material from the Bible to Shakespeare. Individuals don't need basal readers or reading material that is high interest,low vocabulary, which for the most part is neither low vocabulary or high interest. Instead Spalding encourages people to read materials of interest: magazines, newspapers, novels, texts., The goal of the method is to develop skilled readers and writers because it combines reading with writing development. Individuals learn the sound of letters and groups of letters and how to approach the pronunciation of words by understanding phonemes, sound groups and letters, and blending skills. Spelling is taught systematically by grouping words into categories with similar sight-sound combinations, developing good listeners and speakers and writers who want to continue to learn, grow and develop their abilities.

In summary the Spalding method represents the type of system that can give parents encouragement that their child will learn to read and enjoy the process. An example of how Spalding was applied to a grade school in a disadvantaged area of the South demonstrates how it can make a real difference in developing the skills of children and influencing behavior and attitude towards learning.

John Winston was the principal of a school that was falling behind other elementary schools and that had serious behavior problems. Working with several teachers and reading specialists, he discovered the Spalding program and introduced it in the reading program of the school. Soon children were learning to read so well that they had programs where they demonstrated their learning success not just in front of parents but other members of the community. The success of the program that took place over two years to bring children from the lowest to the highest level of language skills in comparison with other elementary skills demonstrated how Spalding can be successful in helping children read and enjoy it.
Discipline problems disappeared. It was an exciting time for parents, administrators, children and the community as a whole, especially considering the struggles that had taken place before.

Since so many different groups have found benefit from learning to read from the Spalding Method it should receive serious consideration in applying its principles and methods to schools that are failing. Perhaps it is part of the solution of making sure that no child is left behind.

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