Finally, an intelligent question - Chicken or the egg

 

I telephoned someone on some important matter and after that was settled he asked me a point-blank question:

The book – Teach Your Child to Read – was published only recently yet the testimonial is dated before the publication, please explain.

Those who have been following my blog will not have asked that question. Anyway:

I wrote more than 100 articles since 2010 disagreeing with the more than 35-year-old theory that phonological awareness deficit is the cause of dyslexia. That theory was debunked in 2017. You may read some of the articles in 2010 by Googling.

Nonsense perpetrated by Head nerd of a community of education Nerd - Holly Kerby

 

Holly Korbey @HKorbey

Journalist and author of BUILDING BETTER CITIZENS. Head nerd at The Bell Ringer, a community of edu-nerds!

On 28.9.2023 she posted the article below and then tweeted the following.

‘…the majority (80%) struggle due to a problem with phonemic awareness.’

Two Thirds of American Kids Can’t Read Fluently

Phonics may be a popular way to teach reading, but it fails too many children.

The article was written by Marion Blank, a psychologist known for her work on language, both spoken and written. 

Who defines bad teachers – A Tweet by Jeff McDougall

                                                      

Here is a tweet by ‘The Madwoman in the Classroom’ @heymrsbond

As a teacher, I call out bad teachers and bad teaching because those people and practices make my life harder.

Some of us are working our asses off to build more sustainable school systems and some people are undermining us at every turn.

Jeff McDougall

Who defines bad teachers?  You?  What research do you do to make this definition?  All teachers work their asses off is a better way to start.

I have seen many such tweets asking some serious questions but the Tweeter does not respond to replies. But, I decided to reply anyway.

How schools are dealing with the ongoing teacher shortage

 

I commented on a post on LinkedIn yesterday on the ongoing teacher shortage. I read many Tweets by teachers complaining about the bad behaviour of students leading to their resigning from the schools.

The author of this article is talking about how to solve the symptom and I tried to share with her how to help reduce bad behaviour in the future. She was courteous in responding to my comments.

From my experience of having taught more than 80 kids who were unable to read when they came to me for tuition and from reading extensively on this subject, I understand that most of the misbehavior stems from kids avoiding shame due to not being able to read like a majority in their classes. This is also what was discovered by the Children of the Code researchers. LINK

Memorisation goes on in the right brain – Rod Everson

                                                      

The following is another misleading Tweet I read yesterday.

Rod Everson @OnTrackReading

The problem with sight word teaching is that the memorization goes on in the right brain whereas the left brain is used for efficient reading. 6-year-olds construct their own right-brain mnemonics to recall the words. Needless to say, they're not always the most reliable mnemonics.

 

This is the kind of disinformation spread by many teachers which is believed by parents and teachers without thinking.

Sell whatever products you want to sell but surely not by spreading misinformation which will prevent kids from learning to read.

The things Strategic Advisors say - Nora Marketos

                                             

This is a follow up to my post yesterday.

Nora Marketos profile says:

Strategic Advisor, Board Member, Facilitator Education, EdTech, Refugees, Migration, Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships

She commented the following on a post on LinkedIn in response to my comment.

There is an extensive set of research showing that learning how to read is not naturally acquired like learning how to speak. This article explores the question of whether this learning process is better in the mother tongue, and there seems to be quite promising evidence for this claim.

Learning to read in a language children understand - World Bank

                                                             

Here is an article dated September 19, 2023  by the World Bank I read yesterday. LINK

Learning to read in a language children understand

Authors: Jason Weaver, Alison Marie Grimsland, Fatim Lahonri Diabagate

There are many things I would like to comment on in the article above but decided to ask just one question based on the first paragraph. This is simply because of my experience of writing comments on blogs that are left under moderation or removed. My post yesterday may explain. LINK

To the best of my recollection, the following is what I commented in the morning and by afternoon it was removed.

Science is not good at seeing outside of its box - David Boulton

 

This is another small part of the discussion between David and Andrew.

Oppenheimer is another example of Paradigm Inertia in science. One of his students at Caltech by the name of David Bohm proposed an alternative theory for quantum mechanics and at that time Oppenheimer called a conference of the world’s leading physicists without inviting Bohm to it and sad, we are going to do everything we can to disprove him and if we can’t disprove him we are all going to ignore him. The same kind of paradigm inertia paralyses science. So science is an instrument that can be trusted when it's looking inside of a space that we kind of can agree on but it's not very good at seeing outside of its box and the history of scientists is full of examples of this Paradigm inertia which is at the heart of what's going on in the reading Wars and in The Sciences of today.

This is interesting coming from two guys who ignored my comments.

I have said this before and I say it again there are puppeteers who are pulling the strings of many of these educators.

These guys cannot be that stupid to disagree with me about phonological awareness deficit not being the cause of dyslexia. Why did many of the researchers/educators want research reports from me to support what I wrote to them? Can’t they think for themselves? LINK

Knowledge vs Wisdom

 

I have listened to both David Boulton and Andrew Johnson several times and must say that both of them are a wealth of knowledge but both of them are like the human egg in that they are not receptive to things that are contrary to what they have learned. 

It was David who blocked me on LinkedIn in 2015 when I told him that his two recommended videos would cause kids to disengage from learning to read. LINK.

Andrew Johnson cut me off stating I don’t have the credentials to discuss with him. He asked me for research reports to support my findings that phonological awareness deficit is not the cause of dyslexia. He continually asked me for evidence.

Here is Andrew Johnson's cocked-up view on phonics. LINK

Here are further excerpts from the discussion between David and Andrew and my comments. LINK

Reading is natural - A second look

 

"The task is not to see what has never been seen before, but to think what has never been thought before about what you see every day." -- Erwin Schrödinger (1887 - 1961)

Please read my blog post on Tim Rasinski and his tweets before continuing with this. LINK

Tim Rasinski says that reading is not natural and he bases his argument on what David Boulton and his team have depicted in Children of the Code.

Sally Shaywitz and her book – Overcoming Dyslexia

Kelly Hobbs the Admin of Dyslexia Tutors & Support Group, I am a member of, posted a link to Sally Shaywitz’s book – Overcoming Dyslexia – and said

This is a must read! Does anyone else agree?

I replied:

She did not answer the questions I asked her on the Yale website. My question was left there until her post was removed by her. She is a scientist and not an educator.

My credentials/achievements

 

Many of the educators on LinkedIn and Twitter ask me for my credentials. So, I thought it best to write and refer them to my post instead of explaining each time I am asked. 

I wonder if what is in the image above can be part of my credential in that I am able to think what has never been thought before about what we see every day. 

It must be part of my credentials as even when I explain it to others they are unable to see it.

To date many educators who read my book Shut Down Kids which describes why kids are unable to read is still not understood. 

Code Read Network- Dyslexia Advocates

 

I have written several posts on the Dyslexia Association. In 2010/2011 I wrote to more than 30 Dyslexia Associations around the world and they did not respond. The answer is simple, they are into making money and nothing more.

Recently I Tweeted in reply to @CodeReadNetwork - A National Dyslexia Network for adults and children.

Its Twitter profile says: Visit our website for dyslexia info and resources and to find out how you can get involved.

Similar to all other Dyslexia sites I have commented on, I was immediately blocked.

As I have said for more than a decade, dyslexia is big business. 

There are no special education needs kids - Jason Kennedy

 

Here is a Tweet I read this morning and my comments.

Jason Kennedy | Stop Teaching & Design Learning! @letsquitteachin

Now that school's settling in, remember there are NO:

SPED kids, 504 kids, EIP kids, RTI kids, Tier kids, Low kids, Those kids, This kid or______ kids.

They are ALL kids who can learn at high levels. Treat them that way.

The second you slap a label on them, you treat them otherwise.

In 12 hours he had more than 5,000 views and 30 re-posts.

I replied to his Tweet and I do not expect a response as he definitely does not know why there are intelligent kids who are unable to read. The ego of the Westerners prevents them from asking for an explanation. 

Tweets to Dana Goldstein and New York Times

 

Here is a tweet on 11.9.2023 from me to the following:

For attn of:

@AbigailShrier

,

@DanaGoldstein

@nytimes

,

@FordhamNYC

,

@educationgadfly

@SkyNewsAust

Your views please.

 

You may want to get a copy of my book which will definitely help kids with reading problems. LINK

 

Dr. Jennifer Hawkins noticed my Tweet and tweeted the following:

 

Dr. Jennifer A Hawkins  #SupportUkraine #eduFFB

@jenhawk6248

·

Sep 11

 

English is a rich confusing language-I recommend this book-it takes a mixed method practical approach to teaching English reading. Dolch system based, it combines the phonic & whole word methods to develop & establish 'reading for meaning' & inspire further effort

 

For those from India and Malaysia you can order your book from here. LINK.  

 

Previously I had sent Tweets to Dana Goldstein and New York Times but have never received a reply. Your guess as to why they do not respond is as good as mine. LINK

YouTube discussion between David Boulton and and Andrew Johnson

                                                          

Here are extracts from a discussion between David Boulton and Andrew Johnson and my comments. LINK

 

At minute 34.30 - dyslexia is an inability to learn to read which is of Unknown Origin. It impacts usually depending on the researcher three to five percent of the population. Unfortunately, it's become such a big thing politically and profitably that they push that three to five percent which I kind of agree with to almost 15 to 20 percent because there's a whole lot more opportunity to intervene. 

 

I have said the same thing for the past over a decade.

Dyslexia - A multi-billion US dollar business written in August 2010. LINK

My e-mail to Dyslexia Scotland part 2 written in September 2010. LINK

Phonological Awareness Deficit is not the cause of dyslexics being unable to read fluently - A Myth Busted written in October 2010. LINK

There are many other posts I wrote over the years.

I believe the % of kids who may fall into the dyslexic category are no more than 2%. Even if we accept the 3 to 5 % as mentioned by David above that leaves a lot more who are unable to read due to ‘Dysteachia’.

Sharon Vaughn - helping kids with reading problems

 

The following are from the blog post by Kathryn Solow that I posted yesterday.

All of this advice applies to college professors as well. We have to remember that professors are people too.

So what does this mean in practice?

It means that we have got to stop shaming and blaming professors for what they do not know and were never taught. Many of these professors started out as classroom teachers. They took the same reading methods courses that the teachers did. They completed the same projects. They learned from the same professors. They are just as much victims of a broken educator prep-system as classroom teachers are.

My comment:

YES! Professors are people too. However, these professors/educators/researchers should think and be responsible for what they write. They should be willing to admit a mistake and move on. I have far too many examples of this but will, for now, give just a few examples.

Teach your Child to Read

 

My book is now finally available in Malaysia. The delay was because there were no printers available to print 8.5 X 8.5 size. I did not expect the price to be as high as RM50.90. This is the lowest price allowed by the publisher Notion Press. 

Please share this link with your friends. 

On the top right corner click the Malaysian flag to get to the Malaysian site. LINK.

Those from India please click on the Indian Flag. LINK

The book should be available in Singapore by the end of next week. Click on the Singapore flag on the link above.

For those from the US please use the following LINK. 

For those from the UK please use this LINK.

Professors are teachers too

 

Here is a blog post entitled ‘Professors are teachers too’ that I read yesterday. It is a very well thought out post and should be read by anyone interested in education. As usual, I have copied a few extracts and added my comments. This is one of the very few blogs where comments appear on the blog without being moderated and removed after being left under moderation for months. 

 

Ask and empower teachers to tell their stories.

Educational Intervention Part 2

 

Here are a few extracts of the discussions with researchers I dealt with since 2010.

I quote part of one of the encouraging emails I received from Dr. Joe Torgesen in 2010:

 

I'm not sure why your observations are so different than others--perhaps you need to collect some objective evidence on your students, including good assessments of their phonemic awareness, grapho-phonological knowledge, phonemic decoding ability, sight word knowledge, and reading fluency before, during and after your interventions.  If you did that over a period of a year, you might be able to build up a solid database from which to make your arguments, particularly if you had parallel data for those learning to read in English and other languages.

Educational Intervention

 

Here is a tweet I read this morning, 7.9.2023 and my reply.

Brad @BradleyKBusch

Dear lovely Twitter people, can you help?  (Yes I am talking directly to you dear reader). I am trying to create a list of education interventions that were popular, but in hindsight were built on correlational not causation studies.

Does anything come to mind?

England’s special educational needs crisis ‘out of control’

 

The following are Tweets by Simon Knight @SimonKnight100 on 3.9.23 and my replies. His Twitter profile says he is currently preoccupied with Special School Headship and all things SEND (Special educational needs and disabilities).

His Tweet was linked to an article titled:

England’s special educational needs crisis ‘out of control’ amid record complaints. LINK

Teaching correctly

 

For many years now I have said that many intelligent kids disengage from learning to read due to teachers/schools teaching the wrong sounds represented by letters.

The obvious questions to ask me, which have never been asked, are:

i.                    Why are there kids unable to read in schools teaching systematic synthetic phonics like the school in which Sue Lloyd is teaching?

ii.                  How are a majority of kids who are taught sounds represented by letters wrongly, that is teaching letters with extraneous sounds, able to read?

The human mind is like the human egg.

 

Let us begin with a tweet directed to Dr. Sam Bommarito and his reply.

To my following tweet on 14.8.23:

I wrote emails to both of them (David Boulton and Andrew Johnson) in 2015. Both refused to accept what I discovered and wanted research reports to support what I discovered. Dr. Sam, do we need research reports for everything? Can't we think logically anymore?

 

Dr. Sam Bommarito @DoctorSam7 responded as follows:

In the world of research, there is the issue of replication. You have to be able to replicate results for them to be significant, replication requires formal studies.  One of the key issues here is. If you use your methods on other children and from other places will they still progress? So the answer is if you want other people from other places to consider your (approach) yes you do have to do research.