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
