My Email to APM (American Public Media) and Emily's response

Emily Hanford APM

Contact Name: Michel Luqman

Contact Email: luqmanm2002@yahoo.co.uk

September 2017 

Dear Sir,

I read your article 'How American schools fail kids with dyslexia dated 11.9.2017 with great interest.
I have been teaching so-called 'dyslexic' kids for more than 13 years and I am convinced that illiteracy levels can be reduced drastically if kids are taught properly. I have the answers. Do you have the ears to listen?

In chapter one of ‘Equipped for Reading Success’ by Dr.David Kilpatrick it is said:

i.                                     In a large study conducted by scientists from the State University of New York at Albany, researchers were able to reduce the number of children who require ongoing remediation from the national average of 30% down to about 2%.

ii.                                   A study by researchers at Florida State University showed how the most severely reading disabled students could reach grade level- and stay there- using a surprisingly brief intervention programme.
The above two examples question the inevitability of widespread reading failure.
Please ask yourself as to how kids who could not read could be brought to grade level and made to stay at grade level with a little intervention.
Ask yourself as to why these kids were put into intervention classes in the first place.
Why are studies like the above and my research on this matter over 13 years not being accepted by the American public?
Please respond for a discussion on how to alleviate the illiteracy level around the world.
Thank you and kind regards,

Luqman Michel 

https://www.apmreports.org/story/2017/09/11/hard-to-read

Here is the response from Emily Hanford,

Hanford, Emily 

To:luqmanm2002@yahoo.co.uk

15 Sep 2017 at 19:52

Michel,

Thanks for writing.

Yes, you raise many relevant and important points. Unfortunately, there are no satisfying answers as to why the research is being ignored. The documentary seeks to provide some explanations and history, and to point out how important it is that schools start paying attention to the research.

Have you heard the full hour long radio documentary?

It’s on our podcast. https://www.apmreports.org/educate-podcast

You can also listen from the web page here: https://www.apmreports.org/story/2017/09/11/hard-to-read

Best,

 Emily

To be continued…