This case study describes an example of multisensory reading instruction implemented through a distance learning approach. The practitioner describes working with a first grade student with a diagnosis of dyslexia and significant reading difficulty. The use of video conferencing to support strategies like modeling, family coaching/support and game-based learning are described.

Lily is a seven-year-old, first grade student who has a diagnosis of dyslexia. She has been learning to read using a multi-sensory phonics-based approach with an intensive, direct instruction, fluency-based methodology. Lily had progressed from significant weaknesses in phonological awareness and almost no letter-sound knowledge to strong rhyming skills and the ability to decode at nearly the first-grade level in the five months since she began reading sessions.

Learning goals
Demonstrate knowledge of previously learned phonograms (letter sounds)
Demonstrate understanding of sounds by blending known sounds to read words
Learn the /ch/ sound and demonstrate knowledge by decoding words with that sound
Demonstrate increased fluency of letter sounds, decodable words, and passages
Correctly spell sounds, words, and sentences using previously learned letter sounds