Students with learning disabilities often have difficulty with word recognition, decoding and spelling. These fundamental difficulties impact reading comprehension. Research indicates that scaffolded, multi-sensory programs are successful in teaching students with learning disabilities the fundamentals of language and reading.  At Cottonwood Day School, we integrate a multi-sensory approach across all academic content area subjects. Incorporating these approaches involves presenting new material and reviewing previously learned material using visual, auditory and kinesthetic (see glossary) methods. Not every child encodes information the same way, some are more visual, some more auditory and others are kinesthetic learners. Encoding and processing language are essential components of learning to read.  Learning academic content this way ensures retention of presented information. We incorporate Orton-Gillingham instruction as the foundation of our reading program and Touch Math as the foundation of our math program.