Orthographic Mapping - Explained.

Learning about dyslexia means that we have a cadre of terms and "Big Words" that require a bit of explaining to understand...and this is one of them!

What is Orthographic Mapping? It is the mental process that readers use to remember words so that they don't need to sound them out."

As an adult fluent reader, we recognize 30,000 to 70,000 words instantly. Wowza!

For example...words have three forms. These forms are:

• sounds

• spelling, and

• meaning

To illustrate, lets take the word "pat."

It's sounds are p - a - t (say each letter sound).

It's spelling are the three letters p - a - t (say each letter name).

The meaning of pat is: "touch quickly and gently with the flat of the hand."

When we are mapping words, we are taking the known meaning and the sounds of the word and mapping them with the letters that make those specific sounds. The sounds the letters individually make are called phonemes and the individual letters we see are called graphemes.

Through orthographic mapping, children use the oral language processing center of the brain to connect sounds and letters. They become bound together as instantly recognizable words. Students have mapped a word when they can read the word easily and instantly without having to sound it out. It can take many exposures to a word to map it successfully. When a child sounds out a word and then cannot comes across the same word again two lines later and cannot recognize it and read it fluently, you know that they have not yet orthographically mapped the word (it's like meeting the word again for the very first time). More exposure and experiences with the word need to be had in order to result in successful mapping.

Can we have "orthographic lessons?" Well...no. Orthographic mapping is a process, not a mental skill. We can only teach the skills that result in the end goal of orthographic mapping. Those skills are phonemic awareness, letter/sound knowledge, and phonics decoding.

Phonemic Awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in words.

Letter Knowledge is knowing the letter(s) that make each sound.

Phonics Decoding is blending these sounds into words.

Once a student is proficient in all three of these skills, they are then able to consider the words "sight words." Contrary to popular belief, sight words (or "heart words") are NOT a segregated selection of words that cannot be sounded out. Sight words are ANY word that has been orthographically mapped solidly and can be recognized straight away.

In my work with students, the program I utilize has a variety of avenues in each lesson to see the types of words we are currently working with, from basic story-reading opportunities to reading and spelling words, phrases, sentences... for an abundance of repetition and practice. I incorporate games, both online and in-person for the best experience possible.

Being able to recollect instantly 30,000 to 70,000 words as a typical, literate adult is proof that mapping does happen successfully. If this same person runs across a new word in a medical journal let's say, it is unfamiliar and they will have to stop and sound it out. Once you see it a few times, you can then recall it instantaneously and the word is considered "mapped" by your brain.

Humans with dyslexia take a bit longer to acheive this end goal of successful orthographic mapping. Where a typical, non-dyslexic child needs to see a word 4 - 14 times to map it, a child with dylsexia needs to see it 14 - 200 times. Additionally there can be the propensity for low working memory at play, which falls under the catagory of executive function.

Having more time to learn is therefore essential to reading success for these children...an important accommodation for children with an IEP.

Orthographic mapping is not a task that you perform. It is a mental process that happens through the repeated use of activities that build that mental-process pathway. It is an end goal after much time and practice, especially for our students with dyslexia.

Did you know that I work with adults with dyslexia, too? Those of us that got our education in the 70's and prior did not have the ability to even truly recognize dyslexia, therefore address how to remediate it. For more information on my tutoring services, please contact me by going directly to my Contact Page on www.skywordtutoring.com .

I would be happy to talk with you and let you know how I can help!