Dyslexia, Disengagement, or Poor Initial Instruction? A Candid Discussion on Reading Failure, Orthographic Mapping, and Rapid Recovery

 

Here is an on-going discussion with a lady who is very knowledgeable and open to discussion.

Cynthia Shevel CALT /TCRS Therapy

Cynthia:

As a Certified Academic Language Therapist, Wilson Practitioner, and Intervention Specialist, I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how dyslexia is identified and supported here in Ohio—and what families actually experience through the process.

For clarity, the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) defines dyslexia as a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language and are often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.

 

Stop Blaming Kids' 'Poor Phonemic Awareness' — It's the Wrong Letter Sounds, Stupid!

 

Here are extracts from a Facebook comment on a post I read today.

Emma Hartnell-Baker

It’s difficult as most have poor phonemic awareness and phonological working memory.

My thoughts:

Here they go again. They teach the wrong sounds of letters and then claim that kids have poor phonemic awareness. Read one of many posts on this at: LINK

The Graduation Gap: US Edition – and Lessons for Malaysia

 

A new analysis by Chad Aldeman for The Collaborative for Student Success reveals a stark “Graduation Gap” across US states: high school graduation rates remain high, yet math proficiency lags dramatically behind.

Examples include Florida (90% graduation vs. 44% proficient in Algebra/Geometry), Connecticut (89% vs. 31% college-ready on SAT math), Rhode Island (84% vs. 23%), Washington D.C. (86% vs. 15%), and Tennessee (92% vs. 29%). Gaps are wider in math than reading, larger with externally validated tests, and especially pronounced for low-income students, English learners, and those with disabilities.

Talk Shows Won’t Fix Education — Early Literacy Will

 

Here are extracts from the talk-show by YB Khairy Jamaluddin.

Malaysia’s grade inflation debate misses the deeper crisis: failing to identify and support intelligent children who struggle with reading early on. Until literacy reform takes priority, more A’s will mean less progress.

We are getting more A’s but our international Benchmarking is getting worse.

Is it because of grade inflation?

These are all views and comments that we hear but no one is incentivized to touch this because parents, students, teachers and the education industry, we have a huge tuition industry, everyone is incentivized to just continue to churn As, and not actually sit down and say, ’Hey, wait a minute, more A’s but Benchmark Internationally we are still doing badly’.

The Joy of Reading and the Scandal of Child Illiteracy by Dr Marlynne Grant, March 31, 2026

 

Original article link

 

As usual, here are extracts and my comments:

The Pike Effect, ISA Shadows, and Why Malaysia Struggles in PISA

 

I recently reached out to Enc. Khairy Jamaluddin for a Zoom meeting after listening to the latest Keluar Sekejap podcast. In that episode, he and Enc. Shahril Hamdan highlighted a striking contrast: more than 13,000 students scored straight A's in SPM 2025 — yet Malaysia's PISA scores continue to fall badly. The discussion raised uncomfortable but necessary questions about whether our education system is delivering real excellence or just an illusion of success.

The Pike Effect in Malaysian Education

 

Why We Read, Watch, and Stay Silent — Even When the Glass Barrier Is Gone

Recently, the popular podcast Keluar Sekejap (hosted by Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan) sparked an important discussion: In SPM 2025, more than 13,000 students achieved straight A's — a number that looks impressive on paper. Yet Malaysia's PISA scores continue to decline. The episode asked a pointed question: Is our education system truly producing excellence, or are we creating an illusion of success? Many of us watched or read about that episode (and similar critiques). We nod in agreement privately. We share the concern about "shut-down kids," rote learning, dyslexia being overlooked, and students who master exams but struggle with real-world application and critical thinking. But how many of us actually comment publicly on Facebook, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), or even in the comments section? Very few!

 

Here is the video link to Keluar sekejap: https://x.com/i/status/2040334125614383385

"The Paradox of Stealth Dyslexia" by Melinda Karshner on Substack

 

You may read the Substack post here. LINK

The article explores stealth dyslexia in twice-exceptional (2e) children — kids who are both highly gifted and dyslexic. Their intelligence allows them to compensate so effectively that their reading difficulties are often hidden, making them appear “fine” on most classroom measures.

Why Children Shut Down and Disengage from Learning to Read

 

For many bright, logical children—especially those labeled dyslexic—learning to read English can trigger a sudden mental shutdown. They sit in class, eyes open, but their minds check out. They hear the teacher but stop listening. What was once eager curiosity turns into blank resistance. This disengagement isn't laziness, defiance, or low intelligence. It's a logical mind protecting itself from what it perceives as nonsense.

Are Teaching Methods at Fault?

 

Are Teaching Methods at Fault?

For decades, dyslexia has been framed as a disability rooted in phonological deficits. Yet my years of teaching show a different reality: many bright, healthy children struggle not because of innate flaws, but because they are taught the wrong sounds of letters. This initial confusion snowballs. English’s inconsistent spelling system only makes matters worse, while these same children read fluently in Malay or Romanized Mandarin — proof that the issue lies in method, not mind.

Nancy Hennessy's Wisdom: The Majority of Struggling Readers Aren't Dyslexic – And We Are Failing Them Anyway

For years I have argued that most children labelled “dyslexic” in English-speaking systems are not truly dyslexic. They are bright kids who shut down because of confusion introduced by poor teaching—especially the extraneous vowel sounds added to consonants (“buh” instead of pure /b/) that make blending impossible. Remove that confusion with pure sounds, structured practice, and high-frequency word automaticity, and they read fluently. I have seen it in more than eighty children I taught personally.

From Torgesen to Today: Refining the Model – The Small Core vs. the Preventable Flood

 

In Parts 1 and 2, we examined real-world evidence that most children labelled “dyslexic” in English-speaking systems are not truly dyslexic in the neurobiological sense. Singapore's top PISA reading performance (543 points in 2022, OECD average 476; 89% at Level 2 proficiency or higher) and low reported dyslexia rate (~3.5% of Primary 3 students per MOE data from 2016–2019) show what happens when explicit, pure-sound instruction prevents confusion from the start. Cross-language cases (kids reading Malay or clean Pinyin fluently but struggling in English) prove the issue is often instructional—extraneous sounds (“buh” vs. pure /b/) create artificial blending failures and shutdowns, not an innate phonological deficit.

Cross-Language Proof: When Teaching Is Clean, “Dyslexia” Vanishes – Lessons from Malay, Pinyin, and Beyond

In Part 1, we saw how Singapore's consistent top performance in PISA reading (543 points in 2022, well above the OECD average of 476, with 89% of students at proficiency Level 2 or higher) aligns with a low reported dyslexia rate (~3.5% of Primary 3 students per MOE data from 2016–2019). Their explicit, systematic early instruction—pure sounds from the start, no extraneous vowels on consonants—prevents most confusion and shutdowns that lead to labels elsewhere.

The Preventable Majority: Why Most “Dyslexic” Kids Aren’t – And Singapore Proves It

 

For over fifteen years I have been saying the same thing: the vast majority of children labelled “dyslexic” in English-speaking countries are not dyslexic at all. They are intelligent kids who shut down because they were taught reading in a way that created confusion. Once the confusion is removed, they read. I have seen it happen with more than eighty children I taught one-to-one between 2004 and 2019.Yet every year the numbers keep rising. In the US, UK, Australia and many other places, 10 % to 20 % of children are now being told they have dyslexia. That cannot be right. A real neurobiological condition that affects the way the brain processes spoken sounds should not suddenly explode to one in five children just because we changed the way we label it.

Singapore shows us the truth. The Singapore Evidence:

Truth vs. Tone: Why Both Matter in Communication

 

The phrase “It is better to be a wolf that everyone hates than a donkey that everyone rides” sparked an interesting discussion on LinkedIn recently.

We often hear that “the truth speaks for itself.” But in practice, truth rarely travels alone—it arrives wrapped in tone, timing, and context. And while tone should never be used as an excuse to dismiss truth, it often determines whether truth is heard or rejected.

 

1. Truth is Necessary, but Not Always Sufficient

Facts are the foundation of progress. Without truth, cooperation collapses.

 

Yet human beings are not purely rational. We filter truth through emotions, status, and identity. If the delivery feels like an attack, people may resist—even when the content is correct.