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July 8, 2025

Multisensory Approach to Teaching Vocabulary

If you’ve been following this multisensory series, you’ve probably started to see the pattern: when students move, see, feel, hear, and say the content—we spark real, lasting learning. 

This time, we’re unlocking a powerful way to boost student comprehension across all subject areas—through intentional, multisensory vocabulary instruction.


Why Vocabulary Matters (in Every Classroom)

Whether a student is reading a short story, solving a math problem, analyzing a science experiment, or studying a historical event, vocabulary is key. If a student doesn’t understand the words being used, they can’t access the content—plain and simple.

Yet vocabulary instruction often gets boxed into the ELA block, leaving content-specific words in math, science, and social studies not accessible to students (especially if they have a language deficit or limited background knowledge).

But here’s the truth: Vocabulary belongs everywhere—and multisensory strategies can help us teach it anywhere.



Vocabulary that Sticks: Multi-Modal Strategies

Here are practical, brain-friendly strategies you can use in any subject area to help students understand, remember, and use vocabulary with confidence:

🎨 See It

  • Visual Word Maps: Use Frayer models, concept webs, or word squares with sections for definition, picture, sentence, and example/non-example. Great for science, math, and ELA! Check out this FREE vocabulary graphic organizer by clicking here, or clicking the picture below!


  • Color-Coding: Highlight prefixes, roots, and suffixes in different colors to break down word parts visually. (Ex: “transport”—prefix trans = across.)
  • Symbol Drawings: Have students create a visual symbol for the word. For “evaporate,” they might draw a puddle turning into steam.

🎤 Say It

  • Echo and Choral Reading: Say the word, then have the class echo it. Try different voices—robot, whisper, opera singer—for added fun. Check out these 24 different silly voice ideas by clicking the image below, or clicking here!


  • Use It in a Chant or Song: Turn tricky words into tunes! Math words like commutative or denominator come alive when set to a beat.
  • Partner Vocabulary Talks: Pair students to use the word in a sentence or explain it in their own words to each other. Speaking solidifies understanding!

🖐 Touch It / Build It

  • Word Building: Use magnetic letters or cut-out roots and affixes to physically build words. Great for teaching morphology across subjects.
  • Tactile Vocabulary Writing: Write new words in salt, sand, or shaving cream while saying them aloud. Especially powerful for younger or sensory-seeking learners.
  • Act It Out: Have students gesture or act out the meaning of words. (Ex: For “rotate,” spin in place. For “conquer,” strike a victory pose.)  Check out these two free games: Vocabulary Rock & Roll and Vocabulary Quick Draw!



💡 Think It

  • Word Associations: Ask students, “What does this word make you think of?” Encourage creative connections. For “erosion,” a student might think of a crumbling sandcastle.
  • Analogies & Word Relationships: Link words together through analogies or category sorting. (Ex: “Evaporate is to water as melt is to ice.”)
  • Student-Generated Definitions: After hearing and seeing a word in context, have students write their own definitions in kid-friendly language.


📚 Use Vocabulary Across the Day


Let’s make sure vocabulary isn’t just a one-and-done!
  • In math, post a “Word of the Week” and use it during problem-solving aloud.
  • In science, label diagrams with vocabulary terms and highlight them in lab directions.
  • In social studies, have students act out historical terms or create comic strips using key words.
  • In PE, review movement verbs or health vocabulary through motion.
  • In music, teach terms like tempo, forte, or rhythm using both words and actions.
  • Using word banks in every subject area
  • Prompting students to “Say it, Show it, Sketch it”
  • Including vocabulary goals during small groups or centers
Vocabulary is the gateway to comprehension and academic language—and when we teach it intentionally, students begin to unlock so much more than just definitions. They gain access to ideas, content, and confidence.  If you are interested in an explicit routine for teaching vocabulary, check out this previous blog post.  Or if you are interested in effective ways to practice vocabulary, click here!


Keep sparking those minds, teachers!

June 19, 2025

Multisensory Approaches to Teach Encoding

If you've been journeying with us through this multisensory series, you already know the magic that happens when we teach with more than just our voices and whiteboards. We’ve explored how movement, sound, texture, and visual cues help young learners build pathways in the brain that stick. 

But today, we’re diving into a skill that’s often misunderstood or even skipped over: encoding. While decoding gets lots of instructional love (as it should!), encoding—the process of hearing a word and writing it down correctly—is equally important.

In fact, students who encode well have a stronger grasp of phonics, a deeper connection to print, and greater writing confidence.


What is Encoding, and Why Does It Matter?

Encoding is not just "spelling." It’s the reverse of decoding. Instead of looking at letters and reading a word aloud, the student hears or thinks of a word, breaks it into sounds (phonemes), and then maps those sounds to letters (graphemes). It requires solid phonemic awareness, an understanding of phonics patterns, and—let’s be honest—a good bit of practice.

Encoding strengthens:

  • Sound-letter correspondence
  • Phonological memory
  • Orthographic mapping
  • Writing fluency

Just like we explored in our posts on phoneme-grapheme mapping, multisensory instruction can make all the difference when building encoding skills



Let’s Break it Down: A Multisensory Routine for Spelling Words


Here’s a simple, brain-based routine to help students think through the encoding process—not just guess and go:
  1. Say the word aloud. (“Cat”)
  2. Segment the sounds using your fingers. Start with the left hand: touch your thumb and say /k/, then your pointer for /a/, and your middle finger for /t/. Slide your finger across the tips to blend the word.
  3. Analyze the word: What’s the first sound? What vowel sound do you hear? What’s the last sound?
  4. Air-write the letters on your palm while spelling aloud.
  5. Write the word on paper while naming each letter.
This engages speech, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, and visual systems—all working together to support encoding.

Fun, Multi-Modal Ways to Practice Encoding


Below are some tried-and-true strategies that go far beyond “write the word three times.”

💥 Move It

  • Jump rope, bounce a ball, or jump on a trampoline while spelling aloud.
  • Stomp for vowels and thrust arms forward for consonants.
  • Snap and clap (snap for vowels, clap for consonants).

🖐 Feel It

  • Write in salt, pudding, shaving cream, or sand with fingers.
  • Use carpet squares or sandpaper letters for extra texture.
  • Skywrite words in the air or trace them on a partner’s back.

🎨 See It

  • Highlight vowel teams in one color and consonants in another.
  • Illustrate the words or use mnemonics to create mental images.

🧠 Think It

  • Break words into patterns (e.g., -at family: cat, bat, sat).
  • Use silly mnemonics: “A rat in the house might eat the ice cream” for “arithmetic.”
  • Link spelling to meaning: “You hear with your ear” helps with "hear."

🎤 Say It (With Style!)

  • Make up songs, cheers, or jingles for tricky words.
  • Mispronounce words to highlight spelling patterns (Wed-nes-day).
  • Chant words with exaggerated intonation or whisper-shout patterns.
  • Try using silly voice cards!  


🧩 Sort It and Solve It

  • Categorize by spelling patterns, number of syllables, or word function.
  • Put words in ABC order 
  • Create riddles, root word puzzles, or sentence challenges using spelling words.
  • Use word sorts 

Multisensory instruction doesn’t just make spelling more fun—it makes it more effective. By linking motor movement, visual cues, touch, and sound, we’re helping our students build strong, flexible neural connections that support both reading and writing. In short, we’re giving them the tools to think, spell, and express themselves with confidence.

Keep sparking those minds, educators! 💡

January 26, 2025

Multisensory Approaches to Teaching Comprehension

Reading comprehension is a fundamental skill that serves as the cornerstone for academic success and lifelong learning. To enhance this skill, educators can use multisensory, also known as multi-modal, techniques that engage multiple senses, creating a more robust and memorable learning experience for their students. 


According to a meta-analysis by Torgesen (2004), multisensory approaches significantly enhance decoding and reading comprehension skills among struggling readers.  What teacher doesn't want that?  

While multisensory approaches are often associated with phonics and decoding skills (read about that here), they are equally valuable in enhancing reading comprehension.  So, how do you make understanding text multi-sensory?  Check out some of the ideas below!


Graphic Organizers

Visual tools like graphic organizers help students map out the structure of a text, identify main ideas, and understand relationships between concepts. For instance, story maps can outline the setting, characters, problem, and solution, providing a clear framework for comprehension.


This bundle includes 75 different graphic organizers that address metacognition, asking questions, inferences, predictions, main ideas and details, facts and opinions, vocabulary, story maps and text structures! 


Read-Alouds with Movement

Incorporate kinesthetic activities during read-aloud sessions. Encourage students to act out scenes or use hand gestures to represent different characters or events. This engagement of the body can deepen understanding and make the reading experience more dynamic.

Check out these five ways, from Brightly, to add movement to  your storytime.   

Sensory Storytelling


Enhance stories by involving the senses. Use sound effects, tactile materials, or scents related to the story's content. For example, if a story takes place in a forest, bring in pine cones or play forest sounds to create an immersive experience.

Check out this post from Paths to Literacy, which gives tips on how to make storytelling multisensory.  

Interactive Discussions


Facilitate discussions that encourage students to verbalize their thoughts and questions about the text. Pairing students for think-pair-share activities allows them to articulate their understanding and hear different perspectives, engaging both auditory and social learning modalities. 



Are you in need of ways to partner your students?  Check out this pack of over 30 different ways to group students!  


Visualization Exercises


Guide students to create mental images of the scenes they read. After reading a passage, ask them to draw what they envision or describe it in detail. This practice strengthens their ability to form vivid mental representations, aiding comprehension.

Quick Draw is a great game to illustrate vocabulary words, but it could easily be adapted for comprehension questions.  For example:
  • draw your favorite character
  • illustrate the introduction, climax, or resolution of the story
  • draw the setting 
  • use colors to illustrate the emotions/feelings in the story
  • create a symbol that represents the meaning of the story

Tactile Engagement with Text


Encourage students to use sticky notes to jot down thoughts, questions, or summaries as they read. This tactile interaction with the text can help them organize their ideas and monitor their understanding.  According to John Hattie's research, Visible Learning, underlining, and highlighting have the potential to accelerate learning (.44 effect size).  

Overall, implementing multisensory techniques in reading comprehension instruction offers two big advantages:

  • Enhanced Engagement: Students are more likely to stay engaged when multiple senses are involved, making learning more enjoyable.

  • Improved Retention: Engaging various sensory pathways helps reinforce memory and aids in the retention of information.

November 13, 2024

Using Multisensory Instruction to Teach Phonics

Research studies consistently support the efficacy of multisensory instruction in improving reading outcomes. Multisensory instruction, sometimes called multimodal instruction, is a teaching approach that engages more than one sense, or modality, at a time.   

According to a meta-analysis by Torgesen (2004), multisensory approaches significantly enhance decoding and reading comprehension skills among struggling readers. 

Furthermore, a longitudinal study conducted by the International Dyslexia Association found that students who received structured multisensory literacy instruction consistently outperformed their peers in reading fluency and accuracy (IDA, 2020).

So, how do you make teaching phonics multisensory? 


Teaching phonics, which involves the relationship between letters (graphemes) and their sounds (phonemes) can be effectively enhanced through multisensory instruction.  When a teacher directly and explicitly teaches phonics, the teacher is focusing a child's attention on the sequence of letters in printed words. This typically involves using manipulatives, gestures, speaking and auditory cues....so phonics instruction is naturally multisensory.  

Check out some some examples below!  Some strategies you may already be using, but others may be new and can be added to your instructional routines.


Sandpaper Letters:


  • Create letters using sandpaper or textured materials. Students can trace the letters with their fingers while saying the corresponding sound.
  • This activity combines tactile (touch) and auditory (sound) modalities, reinforcing letter-sound associations and kinesthetic memory.

Actions for Short Vowels:


  • Help students master the short sounds vowels make by teaching them a quick and simple action to go along the sound.
  • Check out the blog post, Mastering Short Vowels, for a free printable anchor chart and step by step directions for each vowel action!
  • This activity combines auditory (hearing the sounds), kinesthetic (actions to match vowel), and visual (seeing the vowel grapheme) senses, aiding in phonics skill development.


Letter Tiles or Magnetic Letters:


  • Provide students with letter tiles or magnetic letters. They can manipulate these tiles to form words while saying the sounds of each letter.
  • This approach integrates visual (seeing the letters), tactile (manipulating the tiles), and auditory (saying the sounds) senses, promoting phonemic awareness and word decoding skills.




Word Building with Phoneme Segmentation:


  • Use manipulatives like counters or chips to represent phonemes in words. For example, for the word "cat," place a counter for each sound (/k/ /a/ /t/).
  • Students segment the sounds in words using tactile (handling the manipulatives), auditory (saying the sounds), and sometimes visual (seeing the word structure) senses, reinforcing phonemic awareness and decoding skills.

Interactive Whiteboards or Tablets:


  • Utilize interactive whiteboards or tablets with touchscreen capabilities. Students can drag and drop letters to form words, listen to audio feedback, and trace letters.
  • This method engages visual (seeing the letters and words), tactile (interacting with the touchscreen), and auditory (listening to feedback) senses, enhancing letter-sound correspondence and word recognition.

Phonics Songs and Chants:


  • Sing songs or chants that emphasize phonics patterns or letter-sound relationships. For example, chants that focus on specific phoneme blends (e.g., "ch," "sh") or vowel sounds.
  • Singing or chanting involves auditory (hearing the sounds), kinesthetic (moving to the rhythm), and sometimes visual (seeing lyrics or gestures) senses, aiding in phonics skill development.

Multi-sensory Games and Activities:


  • Play games that involve physical movement and phonics practice with games like Roll, Read and Color,  Slap Words or Color by Codes.
  • Games like these incorporate kinesthetic (movement), auditory (saying the sounds or words), and sometimes visual (seeing the game setup) senses, making phonics learning interactive and engaging.

Structured Phonics Lessons with Gestures:


  • Incorporate gestures or hand motions that represent phonemes or phonics rules. For example, make a "sh" sound while holding hands in a shushing motion.
  • Using gestures adds a kinesthetic (movement), visual (seeing the gestures), and auditory (saying the sounds) component to phonics instruction, reinforcing memory and understanding.

The multisensory techniques listed above not an exhaustive list....there are LOADS more!  However, the strategies do cater to different learning modalities which enhances the effectiveness of phonics instruction by engaging multiple senses simultaneously.  Make it a goal to provide varied sensory experiences in order to support students in developing strong foundational skills in decoding and reading.

If you are looking for some additional ideas, check out the YouTube channel Dyslexic Labs which has a robust library of  Multisensory Monday videos!

October 16, 2024

Using Multisensory Instruction to Teach Phonological Awareness

Research studies consistently support the efficacy of multisensory instruction in improving reading outcomes. Multisensory instruction, sometimes called multimodal instruction, is a teaching approach that engages more than one sense, or modality, at a time.   

According to a meta-analysis by Torgesen (2004), multisensory approaches significantly enhance decoding and reading comprehension skills among struggling readers. 

Furthermore, a longitudinal study conducted by the International Dyslexia Association found that students who received structured multisensory literacy instruction consistently outperformed their peers in reading fluency and accuracy (IDA, 2020).

Follow along with my latest blog series as I break down each component of reading and provide ways to make your reading instruction multisensory.  

Let's start with the foundational skill of phonological awareness. 


Phonological awareness is the broad skill that encompasses identifying and manipulating all parts of oral language.  This is a crucial skill teachers need to directly and explicitly teach their students, as it lays the foundation for learning to read. 

Think of phonological awareness as an umbrella which has skills like rhyming, identifying final, medial and initial sounds, syllabication, etc. all housed underneath.  


Phonemic awareness is often confused with phonological awareness.  In fact many people use these two terms interchangeably, yet they are not the same.  Phonemic awareness is one of those sub skills under the phonological awareness umbrella.

Now that we have an understanding of the definition, lets dive into how a teacher makes teaching phonological awareness multisensory. 

Check out these ideas below: 


Phoneme Segmentation with Manipulatives:


  • Provide students with small objects (e.g., buttons, counters) and a set of picture cards representing words with different phonemes.
  • As students segment the sounds in each word (e.g., cat -> /k/ /a/ /t/), they place a manipulative object for each sound segment.
  • This activity combines visual (seeing the objects), tactile (handling the objects), and auditory (saying the sounds) senses, reinforcing phonemic awareness.

Phoneme Blending with Sound Cards:


  • Use sound cards or letter tiles representing individual phonemes.
  • Ask students to blend the sounds together to form words. For example, with cards for /c/, /a/, /t/, students can blend them to say "cat".
  • This approach engages visual (seeing the letters), tactile (manipulating the cards), and auditory (saying the sounds) senses, helping students learn to blend phonemes accurately.

September 16, 2024

Using Multisensory Instruction to Teach Reading

Research studies consistently supports the efficacy of multisensory instruction in improving reading outcomes. Multisensory instruction, sometimes called multimodal instruction, is a teaching approach that engages more than one sense, or modality, at a time.   

According to Lessons Learned from Research on Interventions for Students Who Have Difficulty Learning to Read, a meta-analysis by Joseph Torgesen, multisensory approaches significantly enhance decoding and reading comprehension skills among struggling readers. 

Furthermore, a longitudinal study conducted by the International Dyslexia Association found that students who received structured multisensory literacy instruction consistently outperformed their peers in reading fluency and accuracy (IDA, 2020).

So, with all of those AMAZING benefits, teachers who teach students how to read are probably asking the question:

How do you teach reading using a multisensory approach? 



First, we need to understand what multisensory instruction means.

By definition multisensory instruction is when a teacher utilizes different sensory pathways (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell) during instructional delivery.  By doing this, the teacher is creating robust and memorable learning experiences for their students.

Keep reading for a list of instructional reading ideas by each sense (visual/sight, auditory/sound, kinesthetic/ large movement and tactile/small movement).  Please note the goal is to engage two or more senses during instruction.   



Visual (sense of sight)

  • Word Walls: Create word walls in the classroom where key vocabulary words are prominently displayed with large, clear print and accompanying images or symbols to aid in recognition and memory. This is a print to speech tool
  • Sound Walls: Similar to a word wall, but instead of hanging up vocabulary words, this display is comprised of the sounds (phonemes) and letters/letter combinations that beginning readers will encounter as they develop language skills. This is a speech to print tool. 
  • Graphic Organizers: Utilize graphic organizers such as story maps, Venn diagrams, or charts to visually represent the structure of a story, compare and contrast characters or events, or outline the main ideas and details of a text.
  • Highlighting Text: Teach students to use highlighters or colored pencils to mark important information in the text, such as main ideas, key vocabulary words, or details that support the main idea. This visual coding can aid in comprehension and retention.
  • Visual Cues for Phonics: Display posters or charts that illustrate phonics rules, letter-sound relationships, and sight words using color-coded visuals or pictures that correspond to the sounds or letters being taught.
  • Interactive Whiteboards: Use interactive whiteboards to display text, where you can highlight words, draw attention to specific sentences or phrases, and annotate directly on the text as you discuss it with students.
  • Reading Aloud with Visual Aids: When reading aloud, use props, real objects, or digital images to bring the story to life and help students visualize the events, settings, and characters described in the text.
  • Mind Mapping: Encourage students to create mind maps or concept maps to organize and connect ideas from their reading visually. This technique helps them see relationships between different pieces of information.
  • Visual Timelines: Construct timelines using pictures or symbols to sequence events in a story or historical events from a text, helping students understand chronological order and the passage of time.
  • Textual Analysis with Infographics: Have students create infographics summarizing key information from a text, including main ideas, supporting details, and statistical data, presented in a visually engaging format.




Auditory (sense of sound)

  • Read-Alouds: Conduct regular read-aloud sessions where the teacher reads aloud to the students, emphasizing intonation, expression, and pacing to model fluent reading and convey the meaning of the text.

  • Audiobooks: Use audiobooks or recordings of texts so students can listen to fluent reading by professional narrators, enhancing their auditory comprehension and ability to follow along with the text. A great FREE resource is Storyline Online!  Professional actors narrate popular books with video!

  • Echo Reading: Have students echo or repeat sentences or paragraphs after you, focusing on correct pronunciation, intonation, and expression to improve their fluency and comprehension.

  • Listening Centers: Set up listening centers with headphones where students can listen to stories or passages read aloud, following along in the text to strengthen their auditory processing skills.

  • Podcasts: Introduce educational podcasts related to literature or informational texts, allowing students to listen to discussions, interviews, or readings that deepen their understanding of the topics. Check out this list of 25 learning podcasts for the classroom by Common Sense Education. 

  • Rhyming and Rhythm: Explore poems, nursery rhymes, or songs that emphasize rhyming patterns and rhythmic cadence, helping students develop phonemic awareness and an ear for the flow of language.

  • Storytelling: Encourage students to participate in storytelling activities where they orally retell a story they have read, focusing on sequencing, main events, and character development, while practicing oral communication skills.

  • Dialogue Practice: Engage students in role-playing activities where they act out dialogues from texts, focusing on tone, emotion, and context to deepen their understanding of characters and plot dynamics.

  • Audio Recordings: Have students record themselves reading passages or stories aloud, allowing them to listen back to their own reading to self-assess and improve their fluency and expression.

  • Read and Discuss: Facilitate group discussions where students take turns reading passages aloud and discussing their interpretations, predictions, and reactions to the text, promoting active listening and critical thinking skills.





Kinesthetic (sense large body movement)


  • Scavenger Hunts: Hide an instructional concepts (high frequency words, phonics pattern, vowel patterns, morphemes, etc.) around the classroom or outdoor space. Students search for the concepts and do an activity with them (read them, define them, generate list of words, etc.) when found, engaging their physical movement.

  • Interactive Word Walls: Create a movable word wall where students can physically arrange and rearrange vocabulary words or thematic words to build sentences or make connections.

  • Sentence Building with Manipulatives: Use sentence strips or word cards with Velcro backing. Students physically move the words around to construct sentences, focusing on sentence structure and grammar.

  • Role-playing and Reader's Theater: Act out scenes from stories or scripts. Students take on the roles of characters and read their lines aloud, emphasizing expression, tone, and understanding of the text.

  • Movement-Based Phonics Games: Play games that involve physical movements corresponding to phonics rules or letter sounds. For example, students jump or clap when they hear a certain sound in a word.

  • Writing in the Air or on Large Surfaces: Have students practice spelling or writing words and sentences in the air with their finger, using large chalkboards, whiteboards, or paper taped to the wall for large-scale writing practice.



Tactile (sense fine motor movement)


  • Word Sorting: Provide students with word cards or magnetic letters that they can physically manipulate to sort into categories such as by phonics pattern, parts of speech, or word families.
  • Texture Cards: Create texture cards with different materials (sandpaper, fabric, velvet, etc.) glued onto cards with letters or words. Students can feel the textures while tracing the letters or words to reinforce recognition.

  • Tactile Letter Formation: Provide students with materials such as clay, playdough, or tactile letter cards where they can mold or trace letters to learn letter shapes and formations.

  • Sensory Storytelling: Use sensory bins filled with items related to a story (e.g., small toys, textured objects). As students read or listen to the story, they can explore the sensory items to enhance comprehension and engagement.

  • Raised Line Paper: Provide students with raised line paper where they can feel the lines as they write letters, words, or sentences. This helps students practice letter formation and spacing.

  • Tactile Word Building: Use magnetic or textured letters that students can arrange on a tactile board or surface to build words. This reinforces spelling and phonics skills through hands-on manipulation.

  • Manipulating Phonics Tiles: Use phonics tiles or letter cards that students can feel and manipulate to build phonetic patterns, blend sounds, and create words.=

  • Literacy Centers with Hands-on Activities: Set up literacy centers with activities like building words with letter blocks, creating sentences with puzzle pieces, or using playdough to form letters and words.
  • Text Annotation with Symbols: Teach students to annotate texts with physical symbols or gestures (e.g., underlining with different colored pencils, circling unknown words, drawing arrows to indicate connections), which reinforces active reading strategies.


Taste and Smell 


Taste and smell can be a bit more challenging to incorporate into instructional delivery--but not impossible!  

As students are working with manipulatives their sense of smell can be activated by using scented shaving cream, whipping cream or pudding.  Or, as students are writing they can used scented markers!

Engaging the sense of taste is usually a big hit with kids!  Who doesn't love a chance to snack. :)   For this sense you can give students individual portions of letter shaped crackers, cookies, cereal or pudding to spell words.   Or, you can utilize snacks as markers for games.  

The BIG takeaway is multisensory instruction not only enhances engagement but also fosters academic success for students.  When you intentionally plan for sensory integration in your reading  lessons, you are setting your students up for an opportunity to thrive academically! 






References:

  • International Dyslexia Association (IDA). (2020). Structured Literacy Instruction. Retrieved from https://dyslexiaida.org/structured-literacy/
  • Torgesen, J. K. (2004). Avoiding the devastating downward spiral: The evidence that early intervention prevents reading failure. American Educator, 28(3), 6-19.
  • August 5, 2024

    An Educator's Guide for Implementing Multisensory Instruction in the Classroom

    Using multisensory methods during your instruction has many benefits!  If you aren't sure what those benefits are, check out this blog post.   Prepare to be amazed and motivated!

    Once you understand the advantages of engaging multiple senses during instruction, you immediately start asking yourself the question of how?!?

    How do I make my instructional delivery multisensory? 

    Read on teacher friends......


    Not every lesson HAS to include ALL of the senses, but it is important for teachers to be intentional about planning more than one way for students to engage in the learning.  In fact, research consistently supports the efficacy of multisensory techniques.  This efficacy is particularly true for young learners and those with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia.

     
    Studies have shown that when children are taught using multisensory strategies, they exhibit significant improvements in reading skillsphonemic awareness, and overall academic performance (Campbell, Helf, & Cooke, 2008; Snowling & Hulme, 2011).

    Below are instructional examples for each of the senses that you may wish to include during your instruction.  Try to incorporate two to three senses in each lesson!




    Examples: 

    • Visual aids (i.e. charts, diagrams, posters, graphs, maps, pictures, comic strips)
    • Videos to reinforce concepts
    • Text and/or pictures on paper 
    • Models
    • Color for highlighting
    • Flash cards with pictures
    • Graphic organizers 
    • Outlining passages
    • Visualization games and exercises
    • Timelines with symbols and images
    • Student created art, images, text, pictures, collages, power point presentations, photo essays, videos, graphs


    Examples:

    • Auditory cues through discussions, lectures, and audio recordings
    • Books on tape
    • Podcasts
    • Peer assisted reading
    • Paired reading
    • Computerized text readers
    • Video 
    • Music (song, instruments)
    • Speaking (rhymes, chants, and language games)
    • Performances (skits, role plays, panel discussions, interviews, poetry recitals, teaching a lesson)


    Examples:

    • Air writing (spelling words with large movements in the air)
    • Hands-on activities
    • Experiments
    • Interactive simulations that allow students to physically engage
    • Games involving movements paired with activities (i.e. clapping while, jumping while spelling, tapping while sounding out words)  
    • Any large movement (activity involving dancing, bean bag tossing, rhythmic recall, etc.)
    • Academic competitions such as quizzes, flash card races 
    • Role plays
    • Demonstrations
    • Field trips
    • Labs
    • Weighing & measuring
    • Skill demonstrations (i.e. cooking, musical performances, drama, simulations, treasure hunts, dance, charades)




    Examples:

    • Tracing shapes, letters, words on a textured surface (sand tray, sand paper, raised lined paper, rice trays, fabric, textured letters/numbers, etc.)
    • Tapping the sounds in words
    • Modeling materials (clay and sculpting materials)
    • Desktop whiteboards and colored markers.
    • Flip cards on metal rings
    • Magnetic boards and magnetic words/letters/images
    • Board games
    • Puzzles
    • Experiments
    • Manipulative materials to demonstrate number values and math concepts (coins, blocks, sticks, base ten blocks, tangrams, etc.) 

    Please note this is not an exhaustive list and there are many additional ideas not listed.   

    The BIG takeaway is multisensory instruction not only enhances engagement but also fosters academic success for students.  When you intentionally plan for sensory integration in your lessons, you are setting your students up for an opportunity to thrive academically, socially and emotionally! 


    If you are looking for some great ways to engage students check out Silly Voice Cards or Roll, Read and Color!  


    Silly voice cards are great for infusing multisensory into fluency practice!  Students can randomly draw (or you can select) a silly voice card and then re-read text, poems, lyrics or chants using the selected silly voice.  Not only do kids love these cards but they are engaging visual and auditory senses at the same time!


    Roll, Read and Color is a great resource to supplement an explicit and systematic phonics curriculum.  This meaningful activity has students engaging in visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile senses while they practice taught phonics skills!  Whoop!