Wilson Program Lesson 1

Barbara Wilson developed the Wilson Reading System based on her training at Massachusetts General Hospital in the multisensory Orton-Gillingham method and her personal teaching experience. The original Wilson program was designed for struggling readers in grades 2 through 12 and adult education, and later added a program targeting younger learners. The Wilson Reading System teaches reading and spelling, or decoding and encoding, through logically sequenced lessons with a special emphasis on multisensory activities.

Finger tapping, the signature Wilson activity, uses touch to help students learn to read words by associating each sound with a finger. For example, the teacher spells out the word 'bat' on the table with letter cards. She then asks students to tap the index finger to the thumb while saying the 'b' sound, the middle finger while saying 'a,' and the ring finger while saying 't.' Finally, students drag the thumb from the index to the ring finger while connecting the sounds to say 'bat.' Alternatively, students tap the finger for each letter on a table and tap all the fingers at once to blend them into a word.

Barbara Wilson developed the Wilson Reading System based on her training at Massachusetts General Hospital in the multisensory Orton-Gillingham method and her personal teaching experience. The original Wilson program was designed for struggling readers in grades 2 through 12 and adult education, and later added a program targeting younger learners.

The Wilson Reading System teaches reading and spelling, or decoding and encoding, through logically sequenced lessons with a special emphasis on multisensory activities. Finger tapping, the signature Wilson activity, uses touch to help students learn to read words by associating each sound with a finger.

Wilson Program Lesson 1 10

For example, the teacher spells out the word 'bat' on the table with letter cards. She then asks students to tap the index finger to the thumb while saying the 'b' sound, the middle finger while saying 'a,' and the ring finger while saying 't.'

Wilson Program Lesson 1 6

Finally, students drag the thumb from the index to the ring finger while connecting the sounds to say 'bat.' Alternatively, students tap the finger for each letter on a table and tap all the fingers at once to blend them into a word.