10/13/2026
What if the student isn’t the problem? What if we need to change the way we teach? Nearly a century ago, educator Beth Slingerland was asking that very question.
As a classroom teacher at Punahou School in Honolulu in the 1930s, Mrs. Slingerland noticed something important. Some of her students were bright, capable, and eager to learn, and yet they struggled with reading and writing. She knew they weren’t lazy. They weren’t unmotivated. They needed something different.
Mrs. Slingerland went on to train directly with Anna Gillingham and Bessie Stillman, learning the structured, multisensory approach to literacy instruction now known as Orton-Gillingham. But she had another idea.
At the time, this instruction was typically provided one-on-one. Mrs. Slingerland believed its powerful principles could be adapted to reach an entire classroom of students. With the support of Gillingham and Stillman, she developed what became the Slingerland® Approach, a structured, multisensory approach incorporating seeing, hearing, speaking, and writing.
Beginning in 1960, Mrs. Slingerland began training teachers through intensive summer courses. More than 65 years later, educators are still learning the approach through that same comprehensive summer training model. And every day at Hamlin Robinson School, her belief lives on: When a capable student is struggling, we don’t ask them to simply try harder. We ask how we can teach them differently.
Hamlin Robinson School was founded as a demonstration site for the Slingerland Literacy Institute and two years later, became its non-profit organization. However, we continue to have the Slingerland® Approach at the core of our school program.
