Slingerland Method

The Slingerland Method is a classroom adaptation of Orton-Gillingham developed by Beth Slingerland for general first-through-fourth-grade instruction with particular effectiveness for students at risk for dyslexia. It is taught principally through certified teachers rather than purchased as a boxed curriculum.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Multisensory structured language (Orton-Gillingham-derived)
Worldview	Faith-neutral
Grades	K-6, with strongest application in grades 1-4
Formats	Print manuals and materials; teacher-led; certification courses for instructors
Cost tier	Standard (materials) / Premium (certification training)
Parent intensity	5 (if a parent attempts to teach it without certification); variable (if a certified tutor delivers)
ESA-common	No (private tutoring may qualify under enrichment categories in some states)
Accredited	No
Established	First teacher-training class delivered 1960; Slingerland Institute nonprofit founded 1977 in Bellevue, Washington
Website	slingerland.org

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	5	Research-aligned multisensory structured language with decades of classroom data
Ease of teaching	2	Method requires certified training; parent-only implementation is demanding
Content quality	4	Manuals are thorough; materials assume a trained teacher reading them
Flexibility	2	Method has a prescribed pace and sequence; deviating weakens outcomes
Value for money	3	Materials moderately priced; certification courses are a significant investment
Worldview scope	5	Secular, usable across every family
Visual/design	3	Functional instructional materials; not designed as consumer products
Support resources	4	Slingerland Institute offers training, certification, and tutor directory

Who the publisher is

The Slingerland Method was developed by Beth Slingerland (1900–1985), a California-born educator who studied under Anna Gillingham and Bessie Stillman, themselves direct collaborators with neurologist Samuel Orton, and began adapting the Orton-Gillingham remedial approach for classroom use while serving as director of the lower school at Punahou School in Hawaii from 1938 to 1945. In 1960, she delivered the first teacher-training class of what would become the Slingerland Adaptation, and in 1977 she founded the nonprofit Slingerland Institute for Literacy in Bellevue, Washington. The Institute, now the Slingerland Literacy Institute, has trained over 16,000 teachers according to its published figures.

The Institute's mission is explicitly teacher-facing rather than parent-facing. Its primary offerings are certification courses, multi-week intensive trainings that certify instructors at two levels: Certified Slingerland Teacher (CST) and Certified Slingerland Intervention Teacher (CSIT). The Institute does not publish a self-guided homeschool kit in the manner of All About Reading or Logic of English. Homeschool families using the Slingerland Method generally either (a) hire a certified tutor, (b) enroll a child in a Slingerland-model private school, or (c) less commonly, complete the certification training themselves to teach their own child.

The method's home in the homeschool market is therefore distinctive: it is a program most often reached through a professional rather than a retailer. This shapes almost every aspect of how the method reads on a homeschool rubric.

The core pedagogy

Slingerland teaches reading, spelling, writing, and handwriting as one integrated subject. Students learn phonograms, decoding patterns, and spelling rules in a prescribed sequence, with each lesson cycling simultaneously through visual (seeing the letter), auditory (hearing and producing the sound), and kinesthetic (tracing and writing the letter) channels. This triple-channel reinforcement is the heart of Orton-Gillingham and its derivatives, and Slingerland is among the purer adaptations.

A typical daily lesson has three parts. A written-recall portion opens the session: the teacher dictates previously taught phonograms and patterns, and the student writes them while saying the sounds aloud. A learning-of-new-material portion follows: the teacher introduces a new phonogram, rule, or pattern explicitly, with a specified script. A reading-application portion closes: the student reads from a connected text using the accumulating skills. Across grades 1 through 4, the sequence moves from single-letter phonograms through multi-letter graphemes, into syllable types, and eventually into morphology.

Signature mechanics: (1) Simultaneous multisensory encoding, the student never sees, says, or writes a phonogram in isolation; every encounter combines all three channels. (2) Teacher-driven pacing with prescribed sequence, unlike programs that allow the student to set pace, Slingerland moves at a rate the certified teacher calibrates to the student's mastery of prior material. (3) Handwriting as part of the reading program, handwriting is not a separate subject but a channel through which reading is taught, using specific manuscript and cursive letter formations.

A day in the life

A first-grader working with a certified Slingerland tutor for a forty-five-minute session begins with written recall (the tutor dictates fifteen to twenty phonograms and short words; the student writes each while vocalizing the sound). Then new-material instruction: the tutor introduces one new phonogram or rule, demonstrates it, and has the student produce it across all three channels. Then reading, a short passage using recently taught patterns, read aloud with the tutor correcting errors in real time. Sessions typically run three to five times per week.

A homeschool family delivering the method without hiring a certified tutor faces a different day. If the parent has completed Slingerland training themselves, the session resembles the tutor session above. If the parent is working from the manual alone without training, the pace is slower, errors are more common, and outcomes are more variable, not because the method fails, but because the method is genuinely designed to be delivered by a trained teacher. A typical homeschool-parent implementation runs thirty to sixty minutes per day and requires consistent daily practice.

What they do exceptionally well

Evidence base for students with reading difficulties. The Slingerland approach has decades of classroom data supporting its use with first-through-fourth-grade students at risk for dyslexia. For a family whose child has been evaluated and shown to have a specific language-based learning difference, the method is among the most defensible options available, and it is frequently the method of choice in specialized private schools for students with dyslexia.

Integration of handwriting, spelling, and reading. Most reading programs teach reading, and families add a separate handwriting program and a separate spelling program. Slingerland collapses the three into one instructional stream. This can be more efficient for the student once the method is running well.

Professional infrastructure. The certification pathway provides two recognized credentials (CST and CSIT), a tutor directory, and a nationwide network of Slingerland-model schools. A family in a metropolitan area can often locate a certified practitioner within a reasonable drive, which is rare in the homeschool-adjacent space.

What they do poorly

Not designed for unsupported parent implementation. The method assumes a trained teacher in the room. A parent working from the manual without training can get some benefit, but the gap between trained-delivery and cold-read delivery is large. This is honest of the Institute, they do not market the method as a self-teaching kit, and families need to set expectations accordingly.

Training is a significant time and cost investment. Slingerland certification courses run multi-week intensives with substantial fees. A parent who completes certification solely to teach their own child is making a meaningful investment that is harder to justify than picking up a parent-friendly boxed program.

Materials can feel austere. Next to the visual polish of All About Reading or Logic of English, Slingerland materials look like what they are: professional reference tools for trained teachers, not consumer curricula designed to delight a parent browsing at a convention.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick the Slingerland Method if: your child has been evaluated for or shows signs of dyslexia; you can hire or access a certified Slingerland tutor; you value research-backed multisensory instruction delivered with fidelity; you're prepared to pursue certification yourself if you plan to teach the program without a tutor; you have tried other phonics programs and they have not worked.

• Skip the Slingerland Method if: your child reads easily and you want a straightforward mainstream phonics program; you want a consumer-friendly boxed curriculum you can open and begin using immediately; you are looking for digital delivery or self-paced video lessons; you live in an area without a certified tutor and cannot invest in certification training.

Cost honest assessment

Slingerland method manuals and materials are moderately priced; the primary cost is the training. Per the Slingerland Institute, certification courses vary in length and price, with intensive summer courses typically running several weeks. A family hiring a certified Slingerland tutor should expect hourly rates comparable to other credentialed reading specialists, commonly $60–$120 per hour in April 2026, varying by region. At three to five sessions per week, annual tutoring cost can run into four or five figures.

Compared to Barton Reading & Spelling System, a more homeschool-friendly Orton-Gillingham-aligned program designed for parent implementation without certification, Slingerland is costlier in time and training but has a stronger classroom-delivered evidence base. Compared to Wilson Reading System, another OG-aligned intervention model, Slingerland is similarly professional in orientation.

ESA eligibility notes

Because Slingerland is typically delivered as private tutoring rather than purchased curriculum, its ESA treatment depends heavily on the state program. Some states permit ESA reimbursement for tutoring by credentialed providers in specific circumstances, families in states like Arizona and West Virginia should verify with their program administrator whether certified reading-intervention tutoring qualifies as an approved expense. The Slingerland Institute's printed materials, when purchased directly, can often be categorized as educational materials under more flexible ESA rules. Families should document the provider's certification status when submitting for reimbursement.

Alternatives

• Barton Reading & Spelling System, a family would pick Barton over Slingerland because Barton is specifically designed for homeschool parent delivery without certification, comes in a boxed video-training format, and is widely used by families whose children have dyslexia.
• All About Reading, a family would pick All About Reading over Slingerland because AAR is Orton-Gillingham-informed, parent-friendly, and priced as a consumer curriculum rather than a professional training.
• Wilson Reading System, a family would pick Wilson over Slingerland if they already have access to a Wilson-certified specialist through a school system or private practice, since Wilson is the most common OG-derived intervention in American public school special-education settings.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed the Slingerland Literacy Institute's public materials at slingerland.org, including the History page, Who We Are section, and certification overview. We cross-referenced Beth Slingerland's biographical details with Wikipedia's Beth Slingerland entry. Tutoring rate ranges reflect typical United States private reading-specialist pricing as of April 2026 and vary by region.