Why Your Child Still Struggles with Reading After Orton-Gillingham: What You Haven’t Been Told
You did everything they told you.
You found the program. You paid for the tutor. You followed every suggestion.
But here you are.
Months, maybe even years, later.
And your child still struggles to read.
If that sounds familiar, please know something important:
You’re not alone. And it’s not your fault.
The Method Isn’t Always the Miracle
Orton-Gillingham. It’s a name that comes up again and again. It’s been around for decades. People talk about it like it’s the gold standard.
But what happens when it doesn’t work?
Because for a lot of kids... it doesn’t.
Not completely. Not consistently. Sometimes, not at all.
You may have heard:
“Just give it more time.”
“Every child moves at their own pace.”
“It’s evidence-based.”
But time keeps passing. And your child is still stuck on the basics.
So now what?
Why Doesn’t It Work for Every Kid?
Let’s talk about the method for a second.
Orton-Gillingham focuses heavily on phonics, breaking down words, rules, patterns.
And sure, that works for some learners.
But not all.
Some kids don’t learn best by memorizing dozens of rules with dozens of exceptions.
They don’t need more drills. They need clarity. Something that makes actual sense.
There’s a moment where parents start to notice...
“My child can say the sounds out loud, but they still can’t read the word.”
Or...
“They practiced this all week, but today it’s like they’ve never seen it before.”
It’s not that your child isn’t trying. It’s not that they’re lazy. It’s not that you’re not doing enough at home.
It’s that the approach doesn’t match how their brain learns.
There’s Another Way
Instead of starting with letters and trying to force sounds onto them...
What if we started with spoken language?
That’s what speech-to-print methods do.
Kids already know how to talk. They understand sounds. They use them all day, every day.
So when reading instruction connects to what they already know, the confusion fades.
We stop giving them 10 different spelling rules they can’t remember.
We stop asking them to memorize sight words that don’t follow the rules.
We just teach them how the code works, in a way that’s actually usable.
Why So Many Kids Hit a Wall with Phonics Rules
Some kids can memorize 20 spelling rules and use them just fine. But others? They sit there staring at a word like “enough” or “could,” and nothing about it makes sense. That’s because phonics-heavy systems are often built around patterns and too often, English doesn’t follow those patterns. These kids try to remember the rules, then the exceptions, then the exceptions to the exceptions. And somewhere along the way, they just shut down. It's not because they’re lazy. It's because their brain doesn’t store and recall language that way. That’s why you may see your child read a word correctly one day and totally blank on it the next. They’re not forgetting. They never actually understood it in a way that stuck.
Speech-to-print helps remove that confusion by making the connection between spoken sounds and written letters much more direct. It’s not “memorize and hope”, it’s understand and apply. And that changes everything.
If You’re Feeling Tired, That Makes Sense
Parents don’t get told this stuff. Not in schools. Not in most tutoring centers.
You’re led to believe that Orton-Gillingham is the answer.
And if it’s not working, the problem must be with your child.
But the problem is the method doesn’t work for everyone.
And honestly? That’s okay.
No single program is perfect.
But you deserve to know there’s another option, one that’s simpler, quicker, and yes, often more effective.
The Warning Signs That It’s Not a Fit
If you’re not sure yet, pay attention to these things:
● Is your child making real progress, or just going through the motions?
● Do they dread reading time, even with help?
● Can they sound out words in isolation, but not in a book?
● Are they still guessing at words they’ve seen a hundred times?
If these sound familiar... trust your gut. You don’t need more time in the same system.
You might just need a better fit.
The Hidden Cost of Waiting
One of the hardest things to admit as a parent is that something’s not working. We don’t want to pull our child out of a program everyone else seems to trust. We don’t want to be the difficult one. So we wait. A few more months. Another semester. Maybe next year it will click. But all the while, your child is falling further behind and worse, they’re internalizing the struggle. They start thinking something is wrong with them. That they’re “not smart” or “just bad at reading.” That pain shows up later in school avoidance, low confidence, or even behavior changes.
And here’s the thing: the longer we wait, the harder it is to rebuild that self-trust. Yes, finding a better method takes effort. But staying in the wrong one comes at a cost too, one we don’t always see until it’s already deep. Acting now isn’t just about reading. It’s about preserving how your child sees themselves.
There’s Hope, Really
The most heartbreaking part is seeing how many parents blame themselves.
You wonder:
“Did I wait too long?”
“Should I be doing more at home?”
“Maybe my child just isn’t a reader.”
Please hear this:
You didn’t fail. And your child isn’t broken.
They just haven’t been taught in a way that clicks with their brain yet.
That can change.
Let’s Try Something That Actually Works
You’ve waited long enough.
If the rules and routines haven’t worked, if the flashcards feel endless, if your child is still stuck, you don’t have to keep going in circles.
There’s a better way.
We teach kids in a way that respects how they think, how they speak, how they understand.
And when that happens... things shift.
They stop resisting.
They start reading.
And maybe for the first time, they believe they can do it.
You don’t need years of tutoring. You need the right method.
Let’s talk. Fill out the contact form or send a message. We’re here when you’re ready.
👉 catherine@blossomingskillsreadingtherapy.net
