Ravinia Reading Center & Orton Gillingham

The instructional methods conceptualized by neurologist Samuel Orton and the educator Anna Gillingham who turned Orton’s ideas into a curriculum, have made a tremendous impact on the lives of struggling readers worldwide. Orton laid much of the groundwork that connected the neurosciences to reading and teaching practices. Ravinia Reading Center Director Holly Shapiro, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is privileged to have studied Orton-Gillingham under some of its best, most notable practitioners including Jean Osman and also the late Paula Dozier Rome who actually knew Orton.

In 1999 Dr. Shapiro achieved the highest certification available from the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators. Dr. Shapiro was the only Orton-Gillingham Fellow in the state of Illinois at the time, and one of fewer than 150 in the entire world.