Bessie Stillman Explained

Bessie Whitmore Stillman (1871-1947) was an educator and contributor to the Orton-Gillingham teaching method for students with disabilities in reading.

Career

Stillman was a teacher at the Ethical Culture School in New York when she met Anna Gillingham.[1] She began collaborating to further develop the teaching procedures of Samuel Orton, devised to help readers with dyslexia.[2] Gillingham and Stillman completed a remedial program called "The Alphabetic Method," which taught phonemes, morphemes and spelling rules through multisensory techniques.[3] Gillingham published "The Alphabetic Method" in 1936. This later became known as the Orton-Gillingham method.[4]

During this time (1935-1937) Stillman worked and studied with Gillingham at the Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii.[5] [6] [7] There they trained and collaborated with Beth Slingerland,[8] who adapted the Orton-Gillingham method also called the Orton-Gillingham-Stillman Method,[9] for use in classrooms. The method involves teaching dyslexics with a multisensory approach.[10]

Stillman worked with Gillingham until her death in 1947.[11]

Publications

In 1922, an essay by Stillman titled "School Excursions" was published in volume 22 of The Elementary School Journal.[12] Stillman's first book, Training Children to Study; Practical Suggestions, was published in 1928.[13] The first edition of The Gillingham Manual: Remedial Training for Children with Specific Disability in Reading, Spelling, and Penmanship, (originally "The Alphabetic Method") was written by Gillingham and Stillman, and published in 1936.[14] This is the manual through which the Orton-Gillingham method is still largely taught today,[15] with the 8th edition published in 1997.[16] In the preface of later editions, Gillingham noted that certain sections were largely the late Stillman's work, to the point that she could not bring herself to edit them.[17]

Notes and References

  1. McClelland . Jane . 1989 . Gillingham: Contemporary After 76 Years . Annals of Dyslexia . 39 . 1 . 34–49 . 10.1007/BF02656899 . 23769351 . 24233470 . 27304782 . 0736-9387.
  2. Book: Stillman, Bessie W. (Bessie Whitmore) . Training children to study;practical suggestions . 1928 . Boston, New York [etc.] D. C. Heath and company . The Library of Congress.
  3. Web site: 2000 . ORTON-GILLINGHAM-BASED AND/OR MULTISENSORY STRUCTURED LANGUAGE APPROACHES . International Dyslexia Association.
  4. Colony . Bonita . History Of Orton-Based Multisensory Structured Language Methods . Clinical Studies of Multisensory Structured Language Instruction . 16–19.
  5. News: 1936-05-25 . Punahou to open remedial work department in fall . 5 . Honolulu Star-Bulletin . 2022-10-29.
  6. News: 1937-09-04 . Remedial program will be continued . 28 . Honolulu Star-Bulletin . 2022-10-29.
  7. News: 1937-05-31 . Psychological Dept . 13 . The Honolulu Advertiser . 2022-10-29.
  8. News: King . Lucinda . 1981-11-07 . Punahou's dyslexia experts . 11 . The Honolulu Advertiser . 2022-10-29.
  9. News: 2018-04-11 . Trivia bits . C5 . Detroit Free Press . 2022-10-29.
  10. News: Klages . Carol . 2016-07-03 . Engage all senses for best response to learning delays . D06 . Victoria Advocate . 2022-10-29.
  11. Childs . Sally B. . 1974 . 2. The Anna Gillingham I knew . Bulletin of the Orton Society . en . 24 . 1 . 50–54 . 10.1007/BF02653529 . 144992846 . 0474-7534.
  12. Book: Stillman, Bessie W. . School Excursions . 1922-02-01 . The Elementary School Journal . JSTOR.
  13. Book: Stillman, Bessie W. (Bessie Whitmore) . Training children to study;practical suggestions . 1928 . Boston, New York [etc.] D. C. Heath and company . The Library of Congress. Reviews for Training Children to Study
  14. Book: Gillingham . Anna . Remedial Training for Children with Specific Disability in Reading, Spelling and Penmanship ... . Stillman . Bessie Whitmore . Sackett, & Wilhelms lithographing Corp., Long Island City . 1936 . 1st . en . 4960137.
  15. News: Schereschewsky . John . 1965-03-09 . Good silent reader has oral trouble . 17 . Hartford Courant . 2022-10-29.
  16. Book: Gillingham . Anna . The Gillingham manual : remedial training for students with specific disability in reading, spelling, and penmanship . Stillman . Bessie W. . Educators Pub. Service . 1997 . 0-8388-0200-1 . 8th ed., rev . Cambridge, MA . 42672423.
  17. Book: Gillingham . Anna . The Gillingham Manual: Remedial Training for Children with Specific Disability in Reading, Spelling, and Penmanship . W. Stillman . Bessie . Educators Publishing Service . 1997 . 0-8388-0200-1.

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