Grace Maxwell Fernald (November 29, 1879 – January 16, 1950) was an educational psychologist and influential figure in early twentieth century literacy education. Fernald established "the first clinic for remedial instruction in 1921 at the University of California, Los Angeles". Tracing tactile learning tendencies back to Quintilian, Séguin, and Montessori, Fernald's kinesthetic spelling and reading method prompted struggling students to trace words. Years of research culminated in 1943 with her classic work, Remedial Techniques in Basic School Subjects. The popular kinesthetic method anchors modern instruction in the areas of special education and remedial reading. Kinesthetic learning is also included as one of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences. Fernald's notion of incorporating the physical with the auditory, verbal, and visual elements of reading instruction, now known as "VAKT", multimodal learning, or multisensory imagery, continues to guide educators today. Early years and education Grace Maxwell Fernald was born on November 29, 1879 in Clyde, Ohio. Following a youth spent in New York and New Jersey, Fernald graduated from high school and then attended college at Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr. In 1907 she received her doctorate in psychology from the University of Chicago. By 1911 Fernald had accepted a position at UCLA. She eventually became head of the Psychology Department and Laboratory at the State Normal School. It was at the UCLA clinic where her research into the reading and writing processes gained fame. Early research of the Fernald method The 1921 Journal of Educational Research contains Fernald's foundational study of four boys who learn to spell and read by her kinesthetic method. This method influenced other researchers working at the same time in the field of reading difficulties. Notable examples include Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham. The article in the Journal of Educational Research, "The Effect of Kinaesthetic Factors in the Development of Word Recognition in the Case of Non-Readers", outlines five phases of the kinesthetic method. With an emphasis on student choice, focal words are generated by the students during the first stage. Each word is introduced by the teacher who writes it on the chalkboard. The student repeats the word while tracing it on the board. When the student is confident that he knows the word, he attempts to write it while saying each syllable. Successful word study is followed by phase two where sentences are created in a similar fashion. The third step incorporates a student-selected book where words