A post by Debbie Meyers and my comments

Here is a well written article by Debbie Meyer with a lot of thought provoking questions to which I believe I have the answers.

One key to successful advocacy is having the confidence that you know your kid and being able to back up what you are saying with research.

My comment: I have the confidence which is the result of my observation and ‘interview’ of the more than 70 kids, many of whom were certified dyslexic, I have taught since 2004 on a one on one basis.

Do we need research to back up what I have learned from my students that consonants should not be taught with extraneous sounds?

So how is it possible that at the same time, 1 of every 6 kids are dyslexic and yet so little is known about how to teach them?

My comment: Very little is known as the scientists are doing the same thing for decades expecting different results. They do not appear to have an open mind to suggestions by someone with the experience of having taught kids who could read in two other languages but unable to read in English. It has been claimed for a long time now that it is 1 in 5 kids who are dyslexic. A majority of these kids are in fact instructional casualties. 

Did Debbie Meyer ask as to who are the ones who are propagating such dubious statistics? It is the dyslexic advocates who have raised the percentage of dyslexic kids from 10% in 2004 to 20% in 2019.

I found a lot of literature on poverty and illiteracy, but none correlating the illiteracy to ineffective instruction. I found a lot of information on school disconnectedness, illiteracy and school dropout rates, but again, nothing connecting this to instruction.

Is poverty the cause of illiteracy? One can easily figure this out by investigating kids who are unable to read at grade level in grades 1 and 2. 

By the time the kids from rich families who were unable to read in grades 1 and 2 reach grade 5 they are able to read because of tuition and intervention whilst the poor kids are left behind. As such, it is poor instruction and not poverty that is the cause of kids being unable to read at grade level?

The school dropout rate is due to wrong instruction. This is what my blog posts is all about. Debbie should read my blog posts and then question me if she is serious about wanting to reduce the number of kids ending in mass incarceration.

Debbie said ‘I found a lot of literature on poverty and illiteracy, but none correlating the illiteracy to ineffective instruction’. 

In the ‘Children of the Code’ website where 160 scientists took part there are many scientists who have said that most of the kids who are unable to read are instructional casualties.

Because I was involved in ending mass incarceration, I researched the correlations between dyslexia, illiteracy and prison. It was clear—if you were not taught to read, you didn’t have many options. In the United States, about half of all prisoners are functionally illiterate due to dyslexia and poor instruction. I decided I wanted to look at this as an equity issue, and an instructional leadership and teacher preparation issue. How can teachers teach what they don’t know?

‘…, about half of all prisoners are functionally illiterate due to dyslexia and poor instruction.’

Is it because of dyslexia or because of poor instruction? This can be easily determined. 

‘How can teachers teach what they don’t know?’ Good question. Tell them what they don’t know. Tell them that the pronunciation of consonants should not be taught with extraneous sounds. This will reduce the number of kids being incarcerated.

Ask teachers to read my blog posts and then question me on any of my posts and let us reduce illiteracy if not eradicate it.