Summary
Structured literacy applies reading research through explicit, systematic instruction that helps students with dyslexia develop foundational and comprehension skills.
Key takeaways
- Structured literacy is an instructional approach rather than a specific program, making it important to evaluate how well curricula and interventions reflect its research-based principles.
- Students with dyslexia often need greater instructional intensity, including more explicit teaching, guided practice, feedback, and opportunities to apply foundational skills.
- Strong structured literacy implementation consists of high-quality materials, data-informed instruction, targeted intervention, ongoing professional learning, and consistency across classrooms and grade levels.
Dyslexia means a student has a greater difficulty learning how to read and spell words, requiring more explicit and intensive instruction. Structured literacy offers a research-based approach to help students build the foundational skills necessary for reading and writing.
To better understand structured literacy for dyslexia, we spoke with Dr. Tiffany Peltier, President of the Board for the Center of Effective Reading Instruction. Her work focuses on teacher training, dyslexia, and helping educators understand and apply research-based reading practices.
What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning disability where a student has a greater difficulty learning to read words than their peers despite otherwise effective instruction. In other words, a student may receive the same reading instruction as classmates, attend school regularly, and have opportunities to learn, yet still need additional support to develop reading skills.
Although dyslexia is widely discussed, misconceptions about the learning disability persist. In the following video, Peltier explains how researchers define dyslexia and addresses common misunderstandings that can make the disability seem more mysterious or different than it actually is.
Because of these misconceptions, clear and accurate terminology matters. This is part of why researchers and organizations like the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) revised how dyslexia is defined to align with current research and improve understanding.
What is structured literacy?
Structured literacy is an approach to reading instruction grounded in research on how students learn to read. Peltier puts it this way: if the science of reading is the body of research that explains how students learn to read, then structured literacy is how that research is applied to teaching.
Structured literacy is not a specific program or curriculum. Rather, it translates the science of reading into instructional practices that help students become skilled readers.
If the science of reading is the body of research that explains how students learn to read, then structured literacy is how that research is applied to teaching.
President of the Board for the Center of Effective Reading Instruction
The International Dyslexia Association and structured literacy
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the understanding of dyslexia and promoting evidence-based literacy instruction. The organization played a key role in defining structured literacy.
How the International Dyslexia Association defines structured literacy
The International Dyslexia Association’s structured literacy definition describes it as a research-based approach to reading instruction. At its core, structured literacy summarizes what decades of research tells us about the most effective ways to teach students to read.
According to the IDA, structured literacy addresses multiple aspects of literacy development, including phonology, orthography, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Structured literacy also includes the language comprehension skills students need to understand, interpret, and learn from what they read, supporting both accurate reading and meaningful comprehension.
Why the International Dyslexia Association recommends structured literacy
The IDA recommends the structured literacy approach for dyslexia because it aligns with what research has shown about how students learn to read. Dyslexia affects word recognition, or the ability to decode words.
Structured literacy provides the systematic, explicit instruction and practice that students with dyslexia often need to develop foundational reading skills. At the same time, the approach supports broader literacy development by also helping students build vocabulary, language knowledge, writing skills, and reading comprehension.
Research supporting structured literacy for dyslexia
Decades of reading research have contributed to the development of structured literacy. For example, the Report of the National Reading Panel (2000) has shown that students with dyslexia benefit from explicit, systematic instruction that develops foundational reading skills such as phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
The Simple View of Reading by Hoover and Gough also demonstrated that reading comprehension depends on both word recognition and language comprehension. Effective literacy instruction should include opportunities to build vocabulary, background knowledge, writing skills, and comprehension alongside foundational skills. These findings are a part of a broader body of research that continues to shape how structured literacy supports the development of reading skills.
Key components of the structured literacy approach for dyslexia
Structured literacy emphasizes the explicit, systematic instruction in the foundational skills that support accurate and fluent reading.
These structured literacy components include:
- Phoneme awareness: Understanding how to recognize and manipulate the individual sounds with spoken words.
- Sound-symbol correspondence: Understanding how speech sounds connect to the letter and letter combinations that represent them in print.
- Orthography: Understanding the spelling patterns, conventions, and written structures used in a language.
- Morphology: Understanding how meaningful word parts, such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots, contribute to word meaning and structure.
- Syntax: Understanding how words and phrases are arranged to create grammatically correct sentences.
- Semantics: Understanding the meanings of words, phrases, and texts and how those meanings relate to one another.
The role of assessment and progress monitoring
Assessment and progress monitoring help educators determine whether instruction is meeting a student’s needs and whether additional support is necessary.
Screening for dyslexia is often the first step in this process. Using universal screeners, schools can identify students who may have dyslexia by evaluating foundational literacy skills closely associated with reading development.
Assessment does not end once a student is identified as needing additional support. Ongoing progress monitoring helps educators determine whether instruction is providing the level of support students need and whether changes are necessary. By regularly measuring literacy skills, teachers can track student growth over time and make data-driven instructional decisions.
The relationship between the Orton-Gillingham approach and structured literacy
Developed by physician Samuel Orton and educator Anna Gillingham, the Orton-Gillingham approach is known for its explicit, multisensory, sequential, and prescriptive instruction. It is often used with a one-on-one teacher-student instructional model that addresses students’ individual strengths and areas of improvement.
“Orton-Gillingham is one method of structured literacy,” Peltier explains, “but structured literacy refers to the large body of evidence around how to best teach and assess reading.” In other words, while structured literacy refers to the research-based principles that guide effective reading instruction, Orton-Gillingham is a specific approach that applies many of those principles to support students with dyslexia.
Structured literacy principles for classroom implementation
Structured literacy offers a research-based approach to teaching reading, but schools need the right systems and support to implement its principles consistently in daily practice. Consider the following:
Prioritize high-quality instructional materials
High-quality instructional materials help translate research into daily practice by providing lessons, texts, and instructional routines that support literacy development across grade levels.
Use assessment data to guide instruction
Assessments should inform instructional decisions. Universal screening, progress monitoring, and formative assessments help educators identify student needs, adjust instruction, and determine when additional intervention may be necessary.
Provide targeted intervention when students need additional support
Students who continue to need additional help may require intervention beyond grade-level instruction. For students with dyslexia, this often includes more intensive support in foundational reading skills.
Invest in ongoing professional learning
Many educators receive limited formal training in dyslexia and evidence-based reading intervention during teacher preparation programs. Peltier notes that misconceptions about dyslexia can persist when educators and school leaders are not given sufficient opportunities to learn about it during their preparation. Ongoing professional learning by a knowledgeable provider helps bridge that gap by deepening educators’ understanding of structured literacy and dyslexia and strengthening their ability to apply research-based reading practices effectively.
Support consistent implementation across classrooms
Structured literacy is most effective when instructional practices are aligned across classrooms, grade levels, and intervention settings. Consistency helps ensure that students receive coherent reading instruction and that educators share a common understanding of how literacy skills are taught and supported.
6 structured literacy strategies for dyslexia
Structured literacy outlines how reading skills are best taught, but translating those principles into classroom instruction requires evidence-based strategies and consistent practice. Here are some dyslexia reading strategies:
1. Matching phonemes to graphemes
Students break a spoken word into its individual sounds and connect each sound to the letters that represent it. For example, when mapping the word ship, students identify the sounds /sh/, /i/, and /p/ and match them to the graphemes sh, i, and p.
2. Continuous blending
Students read a word by identifying each phoneme from left to right while “keeping their voice box on” to pronounce the whole word. For example, a student might read map by saying /mmmmmmmmaaaaaaaap/, blending the sounds to read the word.
3. Word chains
Word chains challenge students to change one sound at a time to create a series of connected words, such as cat → cot → cop → cap → map. As students make each change, they practice analyzing how individual phonemes affect a word’s pronunciation and meaning.
4. Decodable text reading
Decodable texts are carefully designed passages that primarily contain phonics patterns students have already learned. After learning a new spelling pattern, students immediately apply that knowledge in connected reading rather than isolated word lists.
5. Morphology study
Students analyze meaningful word parts such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots. For example, students might explore how the prefix pre– changes the meaning of words like preview, predict, and prepare.
6. Multisyllabic word analysis
Students learn how to break longer words into manageable parts by identifying syllable patterns, syllable types, or familiar word parts. For example, students might divide the word sunflower into sun and flower or identify syllable boundaries in more complex words before decoding them.
Structured literacy programs for dyslexia
While structured literacy provides the instructional framework, schools often rely on curricula, intervention programs, assessment systems, and professional learning resources to put those principles into practice.
What to look for in a structured literacy program
Because structured literacy is an approach rather than a specific curriculum, schools should evaluate whether a program meaningfully reflects the research and instructional goals. Schools should look for programs that support foundational literacy development while helping students become proficient readers who can understand, analyze, and learn from text.
For students at-risk for or with dyslexia, this means paying close attention to how a program addresses word recognition. Since dyslexia is specifically associated with difficulties in reading words accurately, programs should provide explicit instruction and frequent opportunities to respond to the skills that contribute to decoding, spelling, and reading fluency. It’s important to note that structured literacy encompasses all aspects of reading, so strong programs also help students build vocabulary, background knowledge, and other skills that contribute to reading success.
Key features of effective structured literacy programs
Although structured literacy programs for dyslexia vary in format and design, effective programs typically consist of:
- Explicit instruction in foundational reading skills, including phonology, orthography, morphology, syntax, and semantics.
- A cumulative sequence of learning that connects new concepts to previously taught skills.
- Frequent opportunities for guided practice, feedback, and application across reading and writing tasks.
- Data-informed instruction that uses assessment results to identify needs and adjust support over time.
- Integrated support for language comprehension to develop skilled readers who can accurately read and understand text.
- Built-in opportunities for differentiated instruction that allow educators to intensify support for students with dyslexia and other reading difficulties.
Questions schools should ask when evaluating programs
When evaluating a structured literacy program for dyslexia, school leaders may consider questions such as:
- Does the program provide explicit and systematic instruction in decoding, spelling, and fluency?
- Is instruction organized in a logical sequence that builds on previously taught skills?
- Does the program include assessment and progress-monitoring tools that support data-informed instruction?
- Are there resources for instruction to be differentiated or intensified for students who need additional support?
- Does the program address language comprehension, vocabulary, and knowledge building alongside foundational reading skills?
- What professional learning and implementation support are available to help educators use the program consistently?
These questions can help schools determine whether a program aligns with structured literacy principles and meets the needs of students with dyslexia.
How Read 180 supports structured literacy-aligned intervention
For schools looking for a structured literacy-aligned intervention, HMH’s Read 180 combines teacher-led instruction, adaptive technology, independent reading, and ongoing assessment within a single intervention model. Designed for students reading below grade level in Grades 3–12, the reading intervention program provides Tier 2 and Tier 3 support while helping educators personalize instruction based on student needs and progress.
Read 180 incorporates instructional practices that are also associated with the Orton-Gillingham approach, including explicit, systematic, and multisensory foundational skills instruction. Through scaffolded lessons and practice opportunities, students strengthen foundational skills while continuing to develop the language and comprehension skills needed for reading success.
Benefits of structured literacy beyond dyslexia
While structured literacy is often associated with dyslexia support, its benefits extend to a much broader range of learners, including beginning readers, multilingual learners, and striving readers.
“We can find benefits from research for students in any part of the spectrum,” Peltier explained, whether reading “comes naturally and easy to them or if it comes really difficult.” In the following video, she describes research showing that students benefit from different instructional approaches based on their existing reading skills and needs.
Building stronger readers through structured literacy
Structured literacy offers a research-based approach to helping students with dyslexia and other striving readers develop the skills they need for reading success. By grounding instruction in evidence and responding to student needs through assessment, intervention, and ongoing support, educators can help more students become confident, capable readers.
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Frequently asked questions about structured literacy and dyslexia
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Do all structured literacy programs use the Orton-Gillingham approach?
Not all structured literacy programs use the Orton-Gillingham approach. Orton-Gillingham is one instructional approach that aligns with many structured literacy principles, but it is not the only one. Structured literacy is a broader framework grounded in reading research, and a variety of programs and instructional approaches can reflect its principles.
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Can students with dyslexia benefit from additional intervention even when structured literacy is used in core instruction?
Yes, students with dyslexia can benefit from additional intervention. While structured literacy can strengthen core reading instruction for all students, students with dyslexia still need additional intervention. Targeted support can provide more intensive instruction and practice in foundational skills.
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Can structured literacy be used with older students who have dyslexia?
Yes, structured literacy can be used with older students who have dyslexia. Dyslexia does not disappear with age, and older students with dyslexia continue to benefit from structured literacy instruction. While instruction may look different in middle school and high school, explicit teaching of foundational skills can be combined with support for vocabulary, morphology, comprehension, and content-area reading.
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How often should students with dyslexia receive structured literacy instruction?
Students with dyslexia should receive structured literacy instruction as often as needed based on their individual learning needs and assessment data. Students with dyslexia benefit from consistent, ongoing instruction and require additional intervention sessions beyond core classroom reading instruction.
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How can technology support structured literacy instruction for students with dyslexia?
Technology can support structured literacy instruction for students with dyslexia by providing personalized practice, immediate feedback, and progress monitoring tools. When used alongside teacher-led instruction, digital tools can reinforce foundational reading skills, support fluency development, and help educators track student growth over time.
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