How to Know What to Teach Next in Orton-Gillingham

If you are trying to use Orton-Gillingham at home, you may already know the hard part is not just doing practice. It is figuring out what comes next.

Maybe your child can read one pattern accurately on Monday, then forgets it by Thursday. Maybe you are wondering whether to keep reviewing short vowels, introduce blends, or try longer words. When you are unsure, it is easy for practice to become random.

This guide will help you figure out what to teach next in Orton-Gillingham so home practice stays structured, manageable, and more useful for your child.

Start with mastery, not boredom

A common mistake is moving on too fast because a child seems tired of the current skill. But in Orton-Gillingham, the next step should come from mastery, not from wanting variety.

Before adding something new, ask:

• Can my child read this pattern accurately in words, not just in isolation?
• Can they spell a few words with this pattern?
• Can they do it with only a small amount of help?
• Can they still do it a day or two later?

If the answer is mostly yes, they may be ready for the next step. If not, more review is probably the better choice.

Mastery does not mean perfect every time. It means your child is showing enough consistency that a new skill will not knock everything apart.

What if my child is getting some words right and some wrong?

That usually means they are in the middle, not ready to jump ahead but not stuck either.

In that case, do not add a completely new concept yet. Instead, tighten the current lesson focus. For example, if your child is working on short vowel CVC words and reads map, sit, and top correctly but misses bed and rug, the issue may not be the whole skill. They may just need more contrast practice, slower blending, or fewer words at one time.

A good rule is this: if errors are still frequent on the current pattern, the next thing to teach is usually more secure use of the same pattern, not a brand-new one.

That can look like:

• practicing fewer words with more repetition
• mixing in oral sound work before reading
• reviewing one sound that keeps breaking down
• using decodable text with that same pattern

Follow a simple skill path

Parents often get stuck because they are choosing from too many possible skills. A simple path makes this easier.

In general, the next thing to teach should build directly from what your child can already do. That means moving from simpler, more controlled patterns to slightly more complex ones.

For example, a parent-friendly progression might look like this:

1. letter sounds
2. blending simple CVC words
3. beginning and ending blends
4. digraphs like sh, ch, th
5. common spelling patterns and syllable types
6. longer multisyllable words

You do not need to rush through this list. The key idea is that each new step should rest on something your child can already use.

If a new skill feels like a leap instead of a stretch, it is probably too soon.

How do you know when to review instead of move on?

If your child starts guessing, melting down, or forgetting a pattern they seemed to know, that is often a sign they need review before new content.

Review is the right next step when:

• accuracy drops fast when support is removed
• spelling is much weaker than reading
• your child can do the skill in drill but not in words or text
• old patterns fall apart as soon as a new one is added

This does not mean progress has stopped. It usually means the foundation needs to be steadier.

A lot of parents worry that review means going backward. It does not. In structured literacy, review is part of how children move forward without becoming overwhelmed.

A real-life example

Let’s say Maya is in fourth grade and has been practicing short vowels and consonant blends at home. Her mom wants to teach digraphs next because Maya has seen sh and ch in books.

But during practice, Maya still reads stop as spot, skips sounds in flag, and spells jump as jup. That tells us the next thing to teach is not really digraphs yet. The better next step is helping Maya become more solid with blending and tracking every sound in the word.

So instead of moving on, her mom spends one week doing short word chains, quick spelling with letter tiles, and short decodable reading with blends. After that, Maya is more accurate and less frustrated. Now adding digraphs makes sense because the earlier skill is holding.

This is often what good next-step teaching looks like. It is less about doing more and more about building in the right order.

Practical tips for deciding what to teach next

If you are unsure what to do in your next practice session, try these simple filters:

1. Pick one skill to watch closely

Do not judge the whole lesson. Watch one thing, like short vowel accuracy or whether your child blends all the way through the word.

2. Look for consistency across two or three sessions

One good day does not always mean a skill is secure. See whether your child can do it more than once.

3. Check both reading and spelling

A child may look ready in reading but still be shaky in spelling. If spelling is falling apart, more review can help lock the pattern in.

4. Move in small steps

Instead of asking, “What big skill comes next?” ask, “What is the next smallest useful step?” That question usually leads to better teaching decisions.

When in doubt, smaller is better

If you are torn between reviewing and moving on, choose the smaller step. Small steps help children with dyslexia feel successful, and success makes it easier to keep going.

You do not need to create the perfect lesson sequence every time. You just need to make the next step logical, manageable, and connected to what your child can almost do independently.

You might also find this helpful: How to Pace Orton-Gillingham Lessons at Home

When you know what to teach next, home practice feels calmer for both of you. It becomes less about guessing and more about noticing what your child is ready for.

If you want extra support, ReadGenie gives children structured reading practice with systematic phonics, repetition, and decodable passages designed to build real progress step by step. You can explore it here: App Store and Google Play.