What to Review Before an Orton-Gillingham Lesson

If your child seems rusty at the start of reading practice, you are not imagining it. Many kids with dyslexia need a short review before they can settle in and use what they know. Without that warm-up, the lesson can feel harder than it really is.

The good news is that the review does not need to be long or complicated. A few focused minutes before an Orton-Gillingham lesson can help your child feel more ready, more accurate, and less overwhelmed.

Why review matters before new reading practice

Orton-Gillingham works best when skills are taught in a clear sequence and revisited often. That review piece matters because many struggling readers do not hold onto a new pattern after seeing it only once or twice.

A short review helps bring older skills back to the surface before your child has to use them in words, sentences, or a decodable passage. It can also lower stress. When a child starts with something familiar, they are more likely to feel, "I can do this," instead of bracing for failure.

For parents, this is helpful too. It gives you a simple starting point instead of jumping straight into a harder task and hoping it goes well.

What should you review before an Orton-Gillingham lesson?

Keep the review tight and predictable. You do not need to reteach everything. You just want to wake up the skills your child is most likely to need.

Here are the best things to review:

1. Known sound cards

Go through a small set of sound cards your child already knows. Ask for the sound, not a long explanation. If one card is shaky, pause there for a quick reminder.

2. A few old word patterns

Pick 3 to 5 words with patterns your child has worked on before. These might be short vowel words, digraphs, blends, or a recent spelling pattern like silent e.

3. Red words or irregular words

If your child is learning red words, review only a few at a time. Choose words they have seen before but do not know automatically yet.

4. Oral blending or segmenting

Say sounds slowly and ask your child to blend them into a word. Or say a word and ask them to break it apart. This can help if they often freeze when moving from sounds to whole words.

5. One quick success item

End the review with something easy. A word list they can read well or two familiar words on a whiteboard can help them enter the lesson feeling capable.

How long should the review be?

Shorter is usually better. For most kids, 3 to 7 minutes is enough.

If the review runs too long, it can start to feel like the whole lesson. That can lead to fatigue before the real practice even begins. The goal is not to cover everything. The goal is to get your child ready.

A good rule is this: if the review helps your child start stronger, keep it. If it turns into a second full lesson, trim it down.

What if your child gets stuck during review?

This is where many parents accidentally make practice harder. If your child misses an item in review, you do not need to turn it into a quiz.

Instead, give a quick prompt and move on.

You might say:

• "This one says /sh/."
• "Let’s read that word together."
• "Try the sounds again and slide them through."

Review is meant to support recall, not measure performance. If too many items are shaky, that gives you useful information. Your child may need more practice with older material before adding something new.

A simple before-lesson routine parents can use

If you want an easy structure, try this:

1. Review 5 sound cards
2. Read 3 familiar words
3. Practice 2 red words
4. Do 1 oral blending word
5. Start the lesson

That is enough to create a smoother entry into practice without dragging it out.

You can also rotate the review based on what your child struggles with most. If blending is the sticking point, include more oral blending. If irregular words keep falling apart, keep those in the routine.

A real-world example

Let’s say Mia is in fourth grade and dreads reading time. When her mom begins with a new list right away, Mia guesses, stalls, and says she does not know anything.

So her mom changes the first five minutes. They flip through sound cards, read three old silent e words, and review the red words said and does. Then they orally blend m-a-k-e before reading it on the page.

Nothing dramatic changes overnight. But Mia starts the lesson calmer. She gets into fewer battles at the beginning. She needs less prompting to start. That is often what progress looks like first.

Practical tips for making review actually help

• Use the same order each time so the start of practice feels familiar
• Review fewer items, not more, especially if your child gets tired fast
• Keep known items in the mix so review does not feel like constant struggle
• Notice patterns in mistakes so you know what needs another round tomorrow

One helpful next step

You might also find this helpful: What to Do After an Orton-Gillingham Lesson at Home

That post pairs well with this one because strong reading support is often about what happens right before practice and right after it.

Conclusion

If reading practice starts rough, the answer is not always to push harder. Sometimes your child just needs a better runway.

A short, focused review before an Orton-Gillingham lesson can make the whole session feel more manageable. It helps your child reconnect with known skills, build early success, and begin with less stress.

If you want extra support at home, ReadGenie gives children structured, decodable reading practice built on Orton-Gillingham principles, the Science of Reading, and steady review. You can explore it here: App Store and Google Play.