My Approach
The EBLI Difference
Key ways EBLI Differs from Orton-Gillingham and Other Methods
Sounds First!
EBLI starts with what students know (speech sounds) and then apply the possible spellings that make up those sounds in words. This is a "sound first" approach.
Reduced
Cognitive Load
EBLI focuses instruction on the essential skills rather than wasting time and energy on the memorization of rules or other inefficient methods.
Authentic Lessons
More time with "eyes on print!" EBLI moves quickly from decodable to authentic texts, exposing learners to additional concepts and allowing learning to happen in context.
Fast Paced Lessons.
Fast Paced Results.
EBLI utilizes a spiraled approach with interleaved practice, meaning skills are not taught in isolation. Implicit learning & self-teaching is built into this method so that learners can easily apply skills to their day-to-day lives.
Lessons Covering the FIVE Essential Components of Reading...plus MORE!
The EBLI method is literacy instruction on steroids!
At the start of services, I administer a series of assessments to determine a learner's current skill level and any gaps in learning. From there, I typically meet with the student twice weekly for approximately 3 to 6 months. During EVERY lesson, learners work on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, along with handwriting, spelling, and writing mechanics. Lessons are conducted one-on-one, with explicit instruction covering the essential components that are the foundation of the English alphabetic code; this allows for implicit learning to take place. Once learners have a strong understanding of how the code functions, they can transition more quickly to implicit learning or self-teaching. This type of instruction accelerates the acquisition of these critical literacy skills, making up for lost time and bring learners up to grade level standards or higher.
I work with learners of all ages, from kindergarten to high school and beyond.
Guiding Principles
There are five guiding principles & three main techniques behind every
Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction lesson
EBLI is a Structured Linguistic Literacy (a.k.a. "Speech to Print") approach to teaching the five essential components of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, along with handwriting, spelling, and writing mechanics. Instruction is highly structured, sequential, and uses interleaved practice that lends itself to faster results, helping struggling readers make up for lost time as quickly as possible.
Letters Spell Sounds
Taking a "sound first" approach
EBLI (Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction) takes a "sound first" approach, with an emphasis on sounds -- not letters -- when learning to read, write, and spell. This approach aligns with the natural ways humans process language, prioritizing spoken sounds rather than letter names, making learning more intuitive and efficient by starting with something the student already knows - spoken sounds - and then connecting those sounds to the corresponding letters on a page. This is also known as a "speech-to-print" approach.
1, 2, 3, or 4 Letters
Can Spell One Sound
Sounds in context
The English language consists of approximately 44 sounds that are represented by the 26 letters of the alphabet. In EBLI, learners are quickly exposed to the concept that one, two, three, or up to four letters can spell a single sound; then learners focus on the patterns and tendencies of those sound spellings and apply them to words. Sounds are taught in the context of words, rather than in isolation.
Multiple Spellings Can Represent the Same Sound
Same sound. Different spelling.
One of the core instructional strategies in EBLI is the practice of exposing learners to spelling patterns for a particular target sound: for example, the long “a” spelling in the words “day,” “cake,” “main,” and “break.” This is a research-based method for developing automaticity in reading and spelling. Sorting words by spelling patterns focuses the learner’s attention on those patterns and builds their ability to apply this knowledge to their reading and spelling based on these spelling patterns and tendencies.
The Same Spelling Can Be Pronounced Multiple Ways
Same spelling. Different sound.
Another core principle of EBLI is the emphasizes on breaking down words into individual sounds, allowing students to understand that the exact same letters can also represent different sounds depending on the word, such as the spelling <ea> in the following words: tea, bread, steak. This method leads to a deeper understanding of sounds and spellings and reinforces the concept of set for variability in which readers flex the possible pronunciation of a word based on the spellings they see and the possible sounds those spellings represent.
Set For Variability
Flex it! An error correction strategy
Set for variability is a reading strategy good readers use by pulling from stored word and vocabulary knowledge to correct the mispronunciation of decoded words. Experienced readers use this skill to adjust their pronunciation of a word when it doesn't match their knowledge of how the word is pronounced.
Set for variability is a strong predictor of word reading ability and can help learners develop flexibility when reading unfamiliar words.
Interleaved, Spiraled Learning
Retained Learning. Faster Results.
Each lesson consists of several activities that are presented in a cyclical nature, covering all areas of essential literacy instruction. These activities include a focus on handwriting/printing, writing mechanics, sound-spelling sorts, reading and spelling multi-syllable words, building vocabulary, reading authentic texts to build fluency, writing passage summaries of these texts, and more.
Rather than focusing on the mastery of one skill or spelling rule before moving on to another, EBLI’s cyclical nature of instruction provides frequent review of past concepts so that learning and acquisition of skills can continue to progress at a faster pace.
Reduced Cognitive Load
Brain power and energy aren't wasted on memorizing countless inconsistent rules and exceptions to rules.
Cognitive overload can be caused by factors like information overload or learning concepts that are too advanced for current understanding. Many other literacy instruction methods include too many linguistic details that are beyond the scope of the learner's understanding or are unnecessary for the task at hand. EBLI eliminates the unnecessary information and added details like catchy rule names and things only English majors need to know, then strongly emphasizes the key components of literacy acquisition. This, in turn, lends itself to accelerated results and retained learning.
It's time!
Ready to soar?
Contact me today so we can work together to boost your learner's confidence and quickly find their path to success!
EBLI vs Others
A quick overview of other methods
Literacy programs and methodologies have been around for many years, but terminology around the approaches has changed over time.
The most well-known may be "Orton-Gillingham." Orton-Gillingham is not a program, but is a method for teaching literacy skills. Many reading programs are based on the Orton-Gillingham (a.k.a. O-G) method. O-G is a "synthetic phonics" or "print-to-speech" approach, meaning the teaching focus is on the letters and letter names first and then sounds are applied to the letters. Skills are often taught in isolation, concepts are often taught to mastery before a new skill is introduced, and large amounts of additional information is provided to the student (such as rule names, exceptions to rules, syllable division tactics, names of language marks, etc.). This approach, especially for struggling readers, can lead to cognitive overload and to students being stuck on very basic concepts for prolonged periods, therefore taking years to catch up to their peers.
Recently, the term "Structured Literacy" has been used to refer to the broader approach to teaching reading and writing based on the science of reading, emphasizing systematic and explicit instruction.
EBLI is a specific type of Structured Literacy that utilizes a "sounds first" approach. EBLI is both a method and a program that is based on a "speech to print" approach. Other terms that refer to this reading instruction method are: "Linguistic Literacy," "Structured Linguistic Literacy," or a "sounds first" approach. These methods emphasize speech sounds over letter names, reduce cognitive load, are fast paced, and use a spiraled, interleaved approach to teaching concepts.
"Whole Language" and "Balanced Literacy" are two other terms you may have heard regarding reading instruction. Both of these approaches have been proven to be ineffective for most learners and are not rooted in the science of reading.
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