If you spend any real time around reading instruction or structured literacy, Orton-Gillingham eventually comes up.

Not in a flashy way.
More like, “This is what actually works.”

The teachers I talk to who are familiar with it sing its praises.
Parents hear about it after something else hasn’t helped.
It tends to show up when guessing has gone on a little too long, and everyone knows it.

As I learned more and more about the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading, I kept thinking:
Yes. This makes sense.
And also: Why doesn’t this have a single, reliable reading tool attached to it?

Not a curriculum.
Not another program.
Just something solid that could carry part of the load.

Why Orton-Gillingham Feels Right in Practice

Orton-Gillingham starts where a lot of reading difficulty actually begins: sound.

It doesn’t assume kids will just “pick it up.”
It doesn’t let context do the heavy lifting.
It’s careful. Structured. Cumulative (hallmarks of effective phonics-based instruction).

And most importantly, it doesn’t treat guessing like a moral failure.

It understands that when sound isn’t stable, kids (and adults) naturally compensate.
They look at the picture.
They grab the first letter.
They fill in the rest with meaning.

That’s not laziness.
That’s a reading system under load doing the best it can with what it has.

OG sees that clearly and responds with structure.

Where Things Still Get Tricky

Here’s what I started noticing, though, especially outside of perfectly controlled instructional settings.

Orton-Gillingham is a robust teaching approach for phonemic awareness and decoding.
It works best when:

• the instructor is fully trained

• the sequence is followed closely

• feedback is constant

• attention stays high

And when all of that is in place, it can be incredibly effective.

But a lot of real reading happens outside those conditions.

At home.
In short sessions.
With tired adults.
With kids who already know how to sound like readers.

In those moments, sound can quietly slip back into decision-making.

The child knows the rule.
They’ve heard the explanation.
But they’ll still guess, because guessing is faster and often “good enough.”

The instruction is right.
The decoding system still isn’t fully stable.

The Difference Between Explaining Sound and Making It Unavoidable

As I absorbed the principles behind sound-based reading instruction, here’s the thing I kept coming back to:

Automatic word recognition doesn’t happen because a child understands phonics. It happens when sound becomes trustworthy enough that it doesn’t need help. It's why phonemic awareness plays such a foundational role in sound-based reading development.

That requires practice and repeated experience, not explanation.

Specifically, experience where:

• only one sound changes at a time

• letters don’t crowd each other

• pictures and context can’t step in

• guessing simply doesn’t work

In those conditions, kids don’t have to be told to slow down.
They do it naturally.

Because the structure of the task demands it.

What Word Nuts Is (and Isn’t)

Word Nuts is in no way an attempt to replace Orton-Gillingham.
Nor is it an OG program in disguise.

It doesn’t focus on teaching rules.
It doesn’t require training.
It doesn’t correct mistakes.

What Word Nuts does is far simpler, and more physical.

It creates a situation where:

• sound has to be tracked

• phonemic changes are visible and spaced

• guessing doesn’t pay off

The object itself enforces what effective phonics instruction is always aiming for.

You don’t have to say, “Listen more carefully.”
The setup of the reading device makes careful listening unavoidable.
When the time comes, it helps reading rules click.

Aligned, Not Attached

I’m proud to say that Word Nuts lines up closely with Orton-Gillingham and the broader structured literacy movement.

They agree on the fundamentals:

• sound matters more than speed

• practice matters more than tricks

• reading stabilizes from the bottom up

Where they differ is in where the burden sits.

Orton-Gillingham places the burden on instruction.
Word Nuts places it on structure.

That’s why they work well together, but don’t depend on each other.

You can use Word Nuts inside OG instruction.
Alongside it.
Or completely on its own as a sound-first reading tool.

The goal is the same either way:
sound that’s reliable enough that contextual guessing can stop propping things up.

Why This Matters in the Real World

A lot of kids have already been taught phonics.
What they haven’t had is enough time where sound was allowed to lead, without being rescued by guessing — and without enough practice building phonemic awareness.

When that finally happens, the change is obvious.

Reading slows down, but feels much easier.
Accuracy improves without pressure.
Confidence looks quieter, but more real.

That’s usually the turning point.

Not when a child learns one more rule…
but when they no longer need a workaround.

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Michael Land is an education designer focused on early literacy, phonemic awareness, structured literacy tools, and sound-first reading systems. His work centers on reducing cognitive load and creating conditions where guessing becomes unnecessary.