How to reduce the number of kids requiring intervention

 

I have asked the following question on social media several times and have not received a response. However, when I give them the answers I received from the experts – my students – they refuse to accept them. They do not have an answer and yet refuse to accept answers from the experts. Therein lies the problems with the Reading Wars that have gone on for decades.

Here is the question without an answer from teachers/educators on social media.

'...if many children can read after a short period of intervention, how do we prevent such kids from requiring intervention?'  

Answer/s to this question may be able to reduce illiteracy.

Ukraine - My blog readers

In 2020 and 2021 the 2^nd most number of readers of my blog was from Ukraine. When I met a Ukrainian on a dyslexia blog I asked her why there were many from Ukraine who visited my blog and she told me that the standard of English was poor.

Unfortunately, since the war between Russia and Ukraine, the number of readers from Ukraine has reduced to zero.

According to the Daily Express Report today, 30.8.2023, Unicef cited survey data which found around half of teachers reporting a deterioration in students’ Ukrainian language proficiency. Enrollment data showed only one-third of children were learning fully in person, with a third learning completely online.

I am not quite certain of those learning online as I don’t see even one reader from Ukraine on my blog.

I hope UNICEF will get a few copies of my book - Teach your Child to Read - for the teachers teaching kids to read English.   

 

 

 

My 2019 project in Australia

In 2019, I dispatched a few copies of my book to a teacher in Australia and she got a few of her friends to teach kids to read. Unfortunately, Covid 19 prevented my project from being continued.

The following is a video of a dyslexic kid who was taught to read. This video shows him reading the Dolch words from the first 4 chapters of my book.

 

Union Reception - Neuroscience news - Part 3

 

This is my final email to Prof. Taeko. All 3 of my emails did not receive a reply from her. Some professors in the past, prior to 2017, told me that they stand on what they had published but in the case of Prof Taeko there has been no reply at all. 

Dear Professor,

Let me think aloud on a few more points on phonological awareness being the cause of DD.

In the reports you sent it was reported:

 

Makita first claimed through his nationwide survey that, in Japan, less than 0.1 % of children had a reading disability.

Significantly, in Japan, there are very few reported cases of children with reading impairments only.

 

Are Dr. Sam Bommarito and the other educators that naive? Part 2

 

If anything is deemed offensive in my post yesterday on Dr.Sam Bommarito, it is intended.

He and many so-called educators have been stating things that are obviously misleading.

Sam mentioned David Boulton in his blog post. I commented on David Boulton’s LinkedIn post back in 2015 and stated that one of the main reasons why kids disengage from learning to read is due to the fact that teachers teach the sounds represented by letters wrongly as in the 2 videos that David recommended for viewing. He disagreed with me and blocked me and yet removed the 2 videos immediately thereafter.

In 2015, Andrew Johnson and I had several email discussions where I told him that phonological awareness deficit is not the cause of kids being unable to read. He asked me for evidence and research reports and cut me off saying that I don’t have the credentials to talk with him on this subject.

This was the same with Timothy Shanahan who ignored my comments in 2015 and made an about-turn in 2017.

I have been blocked by many so-called educators for no reason at all since 2010 when I started being active on social media. 

Are Dr. Sam Bommarito and the other educators that naive? Part 1

 

I don't believe that Dr. Sam is that naive not to be able to think for himself.

Here are tweets by Dr. Sam Bommarito and my responses.

And Andy Johnson has started a respectful conversation with someone from the "other side". They are doing a series of YouTube posts on this. That's the way science should operate- both sides respectfully listen to each other and then talk about the issue. Hope Andy's example is the start of a trend. This one is the third in the series.  So even though they disagree with each other they are both talking and listening to each other.

Luqman Michel

Did you actually listen to their dialogue? Andrew thinks there is no reading crisis because the graph shows a flat line from 1972 to 2022. David says that NAEP shows that about 60% read below proficiency level.

To me, it appears absurd that one can say there is no reading crisis.

Should the parents of dyslexic learners worry about teacher shortage

 

Yesterday, I read a post at LINK titled:

‘Should the parents of dyslexic learners worry about teacher shortages in California?’

The website says: Unlocking learning challenges in California. Dive into the debate around teacher shortages and their impact on students, especially those with dyslexia.

Here are a few extracts from the article which made me comment. As usual, my comment was removed. I do not know why comments that may be helpful are removed but this has occurred ever since 2010 when I started blogging. 

Learning to Read – what started going right?

 

This morning I read an article on Thinking Reading. 

By Dianne and James Murphy August 22, 2023.

I commented and it says that my comment is awaiting moderation.

This time around, I decided to copy my comment.

Luqman Michel says:         August 23, 2023, at 12:00 am   

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Excellent article. This is exactly what I have been saying since 2010, six years after teaching my first student to read.

I then taught more than 80 similar kids and wrote extensively on social media that I disagreed with the theory, at that time, that kids were unable to read due to phonological awareness deficit.

Please Google ‘phonological awareness deficit Luqman Michel’ and read some of the articles/comments in blogs I wrote since 2010.

That theory was debunked in 2017.

Why do children run into reading problems? Beverley Sinton

 

Here are conversations on LinkedIn that those not in the thread may benefit from.

Beverley Sinton (she, her) 1st degree connection 1st President at ADHD, ASC & LD Belgium, Ambassador at Neurodiverse Brains @ Work, & Advisory Board at PWI (Brussels) asked the following question:

Can I ask about the 40% who pick reading up - does that trait continue for the rest of their lives? Or do (some of them) they stumble later on and need help with decoding then?

…. what happens to those 40% after they are 7 or 8 and most people have been taught how to read? Do they continue being able to read (despite being self-taught) - or does their early 'brilliance' fade, and they run into reading problems?

Note: Bear in mind Beverly’s ‘some of them’. Not all but only some of them, and to reduce illiteracy, these are the kids we should be concerned about.

Here is my answer to the question above:

Union Reception - Neuroscience news - Part 2

 

Here is my email to Professor Taeko Wydell after reading the 5 research reports she forwarded to me. I hope she will respond soon.

Dear Professor Taeko Wydell,

Thank you very much for the 5 research reports you forwarded. I read them all and have a few comments which I hope you can clarify.

In a number of the reports, you have spoken about phonological awareness as the single most potent variable in literacy acquisition. 

Union Reception - Neuroscience news - Part 1

 

I happened to read an article on Neuroscience news and decided to write to the press office.

 

The following day I received the message below:

Union Reception <Union.Reception@brunel.ac.uk>

We at the Union do not know who the author of the article is so unfortunately cannot help with your query.

Sorry about this.

Test ideas and theories from observations

The following are tweets on critical thinkers I read on 18.8.23.

Ravi Sama @ravisama5:

When we know what we are looking for, we are more likely to find it. And when we ask the right questions, we are more likely to get the answers we need.

So let's all be critical thinkers and ask the right questions.

Let's question authority and test ideas.

Let's make the world a better place by thinking for ourselves.

Most Twitters have a herd mentality and wear blinkers

 

Here is a tweet I commented on and was questioned and my replies:

Evan Robb @ERobbPrincipal Aug 15

To have a great team you must surround yourself with like-minded people!

@MichelLuqman

Where do I find people who can think?

Most of the educators on Twitter have a herd mentality and wear blinkers. They base everything on research reports and rarely think. Read what Daniel Kahneman said about research reports. LINK 

Note:

Since 2010, I have been questioned on my credentials and asked for research reports when common sense should prevail. This over-reliance on research reports as if they are the gospel truth is one of the main problems facing education. 

Tim Rasinski - his tweets and my response

 

Firstly, Tim Rasinski need to learn the art of reading before talking about teaching reading. He has to learn that before replying tweets he must read the tweets he intends to reply. Secondly he needs to listen to what others have to say with an intention to understand what others, who may know the science of decoding, have to say.

Here are tweets between Tim and me on 11.8.2023.

Luqman Michel @luqmanmichel

 

Children whether taught phonics or not will be able to read nonsense words. The brain has an innate ability to read.

 

Tim Rasinski then tweeted something from the Children of the Code. LINK

Phonics screening

                   

Yesterday, 11.8.2023, there were the following tweets and my comments.

londonjohn@londonjohn9:

Some schools in England start preparing children in January to reach the target of 80% of the class getting 32 out of 40 correct responses to alien and real words in the June test (sorry, Screening Check!).

The nonsense words were; woid, ump, proy, luft, shrop etc.

My thoughts:

I have said it several times and I will say it again; I don’t agree with creating nonsense words as there are enough words in the English language to test kids. But, I thought this is another American or perhaps British invention to get teachers to continue arguing.

But all the same, I used a list of nonsense/pseudo words to prove that college students who were taught the pronunciation of sounds of letters wrongly could still read the nonsense words correctly and read fluently. How were they able to read the nonsense words correctly? This is what I asked our education guru Paul Thomas who told the world that he could navigate research to find out. That was 3 years ago. Does anyone know how a kid learns to read? Definitely not! Listen to the two college students who pronounced the letters with extraneous sounds but were able to read all the pseudo words.

Systematic Synthetic Phonics and Word-Callers

 

Here is a tweet by LondonJohn on 10.8.2023 and a tweet in reply by Dr. Sam Bommarito

 

@londonjohn9

I'm working with a parent whose child has had a year's systematic synthetic phonics teaching, can't read and doesn't want to go to school, especially as she failed the dreaded 'Phonics Screening Check'.

 

Dr. Sam Bommarito @DoctorSam7

There are many children exactly like that. Very often they are word callers. Word callers make up significant numbers of the kids doing poorly on tests. Glad there are folks like @londonjohn9 who provide kids who have needs like that with what they need.

 

Why is Dr. Sam Bommarito doing this to himself? Surely he should understand the meaning of word-callers after reading my post here. Why is he still referring to struggling kids as word-callers?

‘Stupid and uneducated’ people preferred' - Tunku Ismail

 

Here is a Tweet and comments I read this morning which started me pondering.

Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman (9.8.23)

When you're stupid, you think you know everything, without questioning and when you're intelligent, you question everything you think you know.

The wisest people are often those who are open to new ideas and perspectives, even if they challenge their own beliefs. @ravisama5

Ignorance boasts unwarranted confidence; intelligence thrives on relentless questioning. @FindTimK

Maybe I'm just smart enough to know that I am not smart enough to understand how one can be both stupid and intelligent simultaneously! @Naveen_Srini_

Word callers

 

“HUGE question- does the child remember or understand what they decode. If not, then the child is likely a word caller.” Dr. Sam Bommarito’s Tweet 8.8.2023.

It would appear the Dr. Sam has frequently used the phrase ‘word caller’ without actually understanding what it means.

Word callers are children who efficiently decode words but do so without comparable comprehension taking place, so that words are called out without an understanding of the meaning of the text. This was stated by Stanovich more than 30 years ago.

This word – Word Caller – is wrongly used by many teachers. 

A 7 year old in Perth, in 2019, who was unable to read.

 

In 2019, I dispatched a few books to a teacher in Perth. She and a few teacher's helpers decided to teach using my books to see its effectiveness in teaching kids to read. Here is the video of one of her helpers who taught a 7 year old dyslexic child to read.

Unfortunately we were unable to continue due to Covid 19. My planned trip to Perth in early 2020 was cancelled.

The first video is of the kid learning to read with pictures to help him to read.

Notes to my book - Teach your child to read - Part 4

 

Tracking

In reading instruction, tracking refers to readers watching the words on the page while someone else says them aloud. Tracking assures that the reader sees and hears the words simultaneously.

In this book, tracking starts with sounding out the letters and blending the sounds to form the words used in the lessons. The sounds must be without extraneous sounds and pronounced as in the video links provided.

The key is if a child looks at the words while he hears them, those words will go into his ears and his eyes and get locked together in his brain.

Scan the QR codes provided at the beginning of each lesson and listen to the video while following the words in the lessons.

Then, let your child read the lessons without listening to the video.

Your child will be able to learn to read with the least guidance.

I have seen many articles that say kids are unable to blend letter sounds. All such children will be able to blend letter sounds and become readers because of the way the letters are sounded in the videos accompanying the book.

I have asked several times; how do kids blend cuhahtuh to form cat and duhahguh for dog?

Extraneous sounds explained: This simply means adding vowel sounds to consonants – buh, cuh, duh, fuh, etc. Listen to videos here where the pronunciation of letter sounds is without extraneous sounds and videos with extraneous sounds.

Teach your child to Read will be out on the market by the end of this month.