The Slingerland Approach

There are several basic principles which serve as the foundation for the Slingerland Approach. These include:

• Simultaneous Multisensory Presentation and reinforcement of information which strengthens the students' strongest learning modalities; including visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

• Beginning with a Single Unit of sight or sound or thought, and preceding to the more complex.

• Teaching Through the Intellect...never relying on repetitious or memorization based learning. Emphasis is given to understanding the basic concepts and developing effective learning strategies.

• Ensuring a Successful Performance by the child, by structuring developmental and learning experiences in a positive environment. This is a success oriented approach, in which the instructor assumes responsibility for the appropriateness of the task, provides needed pre-instruction, gives the necessary guidance to assure the student's success, reinforces the successful development and provides opportunities for practice in carrying skills to functional use.

• Assisting Youth in Carrying Skills to Functional Use. Dyslexic youth often have difficulty in the association and generalization of information. It is important therefore that when information is given, that it is given in isolated fragments, however that each part be tied and connected to the greater whole.