Equipping the next generation of teachers and students since 1992.
Our Mission
To equip and train teachers in the use of the highly effective and proven research-based methods for instructing students to read, write, spell, speak, and comprehend oral and written language.
About Us
The Binghampton Fellowship Foundation created S.M.I.L.A. in 1992. S.M.I.L.A., an acronym for Simultaneous Multisensory Institute for Language Arts, is a teaching technique that helps all students succeed in the language arts. Rosemary Williams, a specialist in teacher training, has been the executive director of the program for thirty years. She and her team of instructors have taught thousands or students and hundreds of teachers using this technique for teaching students how to love reading and be successful in the language arts. Initially, S.M.I.L.A. was developed at Lester Demonstration School, a public school in Memphis, TN. In 1996, the program moved to Shelby Oaks Elementary School, another Memphis City School, which became our primary training location. In 2020, we began using distance learning when in-person instruction was impractical. Our Memphis training site is housed at Grahamwood Elementary School. This year, S.M.I.L.A. will offer online and on-site from our Grahamwood location.
Every summer, dedicated classroom teachers, speech pathologists, and school administrators spend three weeks at the Institute developing and enhancing their capabilities as language arts instructors. We know that it takes lots of determination to do summertime training. We think it’s worth it!
Our Principles
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Simultaneous, Multisensory
Instruction uses visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic modalities at the same time.
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Systematic and Cumulative
Content is presented in a logical, sequenced way and builds upon previously learned skills.
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Direct Instruction
Concepts are taught explicitly to students, which does not leave learning to chance as in many instructional methods.
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Diagnostic Teaching
Instruction is based upon a child's present level of skills. Custom-constructed lessons are designed to target needs.
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Synthetic and Analytic Phonics/Instructional Methodologies
Students are taught how to put components of words together and analyze/take apart components of words in order to read and spell.
Learn More About Us.
S.M.I.L.A. operates under the 501(c)(3) charter of the Binghampton Fellowship Foundation. Our mission is to equip and train teachers in the use of the highly effective and proven research-based methods for instructing students to read, write, spell, speak, and comprehend oral and written language. Accredited by the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC), S.M.I.L.A. strives to promote language development and literacy for students in the early elementary grades where research has shown it is most effective and, thereby, leads to a more successful educational experience throughout school.
The multisensory method of language arts instruction allows for teaching to all of the learning styles – visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic. Derived from the Slingerland® Approach, the program trains teachers to incorporate the students’ auditory, visual, and tactile/kinesthetic senses into instruction for learning language skills. Links are consistently being made between the visual (what we see), auditory (what we hear), and kinesthetic-tactile (what we feel) pathways in learning to read and write. This approach teaches children and adults to link the sounds of the letters with the written symbol and to feel how the letter or letters are formed. For instance, as students learn a new letter, they carefully trace, copy, and write the letter while verbalizing the corresponding letter name. Students then read and spell words, phrases, and sentences using these patterns. Teachers and their students rely on all three pathways for learning rather than focusing on a single method.
Current research shows that all students benefit from multisensory, structured, sequential, and explicit instruction. This approach is optimal for helping students learn and retain new information. While this approach is essential to students who have learning differences like dyslexia, it is beneficial to all learner types. Many students not receiving this kind of instruction fail to develop the skills they need. Students who fall behind in the early grades are likely not to catch up and perform well throughout the subsequent years of school unless they receive remediation at an appropriate time by a specially trained interventionist.
S.M.I.L.A. provides teachers with the knowledge of language development and the skills needed to help all students make satisfactory progress in oral and written language, reading, decoding and comprehension.
Accredited by IMSLEC and International Dyslexia Association
