Welcome to the final post in our series on the Orton-Gillingham 3-part drill! In earlier posts, we covered the visual drill and auditory drill. Today, we’re focusing on the blending drill, a simple but powerful strategy to help your child decode words and build reading fluency—especially helpful for children with dyslexia.

What is the Orton Gillingham Blending Drill?

Blending is the process of smoothly combining individual sounds (phonemes) to form words. For many struggling readers, blending can be a challenge. The Orton Gillingham blending drill helps children practice combining sounds, which boosts their ability to decode words quickly and naturally. Essentially, the blending drill provides students with explicit decoding practice of previously learned graphemes.

Why is Blending Important for Dyslexic Students?

Dyslexic children often struggle with breaking down and combining sounds in words. The blending drill helps them move from isolated sounds (like “/b/ /a/ /t/”) to a full word (“bat”). This practice builds fluency and confidence, making it easier for them to tackle unfamiliar words.

How to Do the Orton Gillingham Blending Drill at Home

Here’s a simple, step-by-step guide to help you implement the blending drill with your child:

1. Sort grapheme cards: Begin by sorting your grapheme cards (cards with letters or letter combinations) into three piles: beginning sounds, medial (middle) sounds, and ending sounds.
2. Tap under each card: Have your child tap under each card and say the sound aloud for each grapheme. For example, for the word “cat,” they would tap and say “/k/,” “/æ/,” and “/t/.”
3. Sweep under the whole word: Once each sound has been identified, have your child sweep their finger under the entire word while saying the whole word aloud. They should blend the sounds together smoothly, like “cat.”
4. Change one card: To practice flexibility, the instructor (you) will change just one card in the stack, creating a new word. It could be a real word, like changing “cat” to “bat,” or a nonsense word, like changing “cat” to “rat.” This helps the child understand how small changes in sounds can create different words.
5. Repeat steps 1-4. Continue changing one card at a time and having students repeat the process of tapping and sweeping the words until you’re finished. 

Note: The grapheme cards included in the drill will grow and evolve alongside your child.: As new skills and sounds are explicitly taught, (i.e. digraphs, silent e, vowel teams, etc.) new grapheme cards will be incorporated over time. This evolving card pile provides repeated practice, which is essential for building fluency and reinforcing the concepts your child is learning.

Tips for Success

• Be patient: Progress takes time, so celebrate each small victory.
• Keep it short: Aim for 3-5 minute sessions to avoid overwhelming your child.
• Focus on effort: Praise your child for trying, not just for getting the correct answer.
• Repetition is key: Consistent practice is essential for building fluency.

Final Thoughts (& a FREEBIE)

The blending drill is a powerful tool in the Orton Gillingham method, helping struggling readers, especially those with dyslexia, turn individual sounds into recognizable words. With consistent practice and patience, your child will build the skills they need for confident, fluent reading.

As the card pile grows alongside your child’s reading development, the blending drill will evolve to offer continued practice, ensuring your child remains engaged and supported at every stage. Thanks for following along in this series! Be sure to revisit the earlier posts on the visual and auditory drills to keep the momentum going. You’ve got this!

If you are looking for a quick and easy literacy assessment you can give your child at home to pinpoint their literacy strengths and areas of challenge – be sure to grab our freebie here.