Meet Your Fellow

Deb Morris, M.Ed., ATF/OGA

Deb Morris is the founder of Orton-Gillingham Nation, which offers online tutoring, as well as training at the Classroom Educator, Associate, Certified, and Fellow levels. She is an Accredited Training Fellow of The Orton-Gillingham Academy and serves on its Standards Committee. She holds a Master’s degree in Literacy Education and is a licensed Secondary English teacher and Reading Specialist.

Deb’s formative years in education were shaped by her passion for equity, which led her to an innovative high school in Providence, Rhode Island that used the real world as a learning lab. In her role as Literacy Coach, she provided 1:1 and small group Orton-Gillingham instruction to students. Additionally, she facilitated Orton-Gillingham training for staff members, as well as for community volunteers who completed their practicum experiences with her students.

In 2016, she left the classroom to be the Orton-Gillingham Specialist/Curriculum Developer for a non-profit organization in Massachusetts that specializes in providing Orton-Gillingham training. In this capacity, she assisted in training and supervising teachers at the Classroom Educator, Associate, and Certified levels in the New England area.

Deb revisioned her practice in 2020, returning to her first love - empowering students by teaching them to crack the code for reading, spelling, and writing. However, as demand for online, remote Orton-Gillingham training grew, Deb began working with individuals and school districts ready to bring the science of reading into the classroom.

Teachers and administrators steeped in the science of reading are the key to providing a legacy of literacy to future generations.

The Orton-Gillingham Approach

Orton-Gillingham (O-G) is a scientifically-based reading research (SBRR) approach that employs multi-sensory strategies to teach reading, spelling, and writing. Following an initial assessment, students are taught concepts to automaticity - they over-learn them before new material is integrated. Every lesson is diagnostic and prescriptive, which means that students are not rushed forward before they are ready for new information.

O-G focuses on phonics, syllables, and lower-level spelling rules first, and gradually evolves to include morphology (prefixes, roots, and suffixes). The O-G approach is structured and sequential; however, it's also flexible - which means that students' needs are addressed as they arise. Students will never be taught a concept because that's what's next. Students are taught what they need, when they need it.

Orton-Gillingham is the gold standard for tutoring individuals with dyslexia.