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.

Kelly HobbsAuthor Admin

Who didn’t answer the questions you asked.

Luqman Michel

Sally Shaywitz. I commented on the post she wrote on the Yale website. I disagreed with her saying that phonological awareness deficit is the cause of dyslexia. She did not respond for a few years until she decided to take down her post and my comments. This is highly irresponsible of her.

Before you retort please read a few of my articles/comments from 2010 onward on the internet. Please Google LINK

That theory lasted for > 35 years until it was debunked in 2017. The obvious follow-up question should be: If PAD is not the cause of dyslexia then what is? Anyway, she is not the only one. I wrote to more than 30 universities, 30 professors and 30 dyslexia associations.

Kelly Hobbs, do you have an answer to my question? For many years the Dyslexia Association duped the world into believing that phonological awareness deficit is the cause of dyslexia. Now that it has proven not to be, I request you to let us know what is the cause of many kids being unable to read.

Note: Yes, Sally Shaywitz was one of those who wrote extensively stating that it is phonological awareness deficit that is the cause of dyslexia.

Here are a few extracts from Sally’s book and my comments:

 

Overcoming Dyslexia: Second Edition, Completely Revised and Updated Hardcover – Illustrated, March 24, 2020

by Sally Shaywitz M.D. (Author), Jonathan Shaywitz MD (Author)

Overcoming Dyslexia:

Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder on the planet, affecting about one in five individuals, regardless of age or gender. Now a world-renowned expert gives us a substantially updated and augmented edition of her classic work: drawing on an additional fifteen years of cutting-edge research, offering new information on all aspects of dyslexia and reading problems, and providing the tools that parents, teachers, and all dyslexic individuals need.

The following is what David Boulton and Andrew Johnson said recently in a discussion with Andrew Johnson:

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.

Shaywitz is not a reading instructor. She's a neurologist she's a medical person and she has her research where she takes one or two kids into the laboratory and they look at parts of their brain that do light up and don't light up and Stephen Straw says okay once you give a kid adequate instruction the dyslexic use that term and quote whose part of the brain didn't light up does light up so it's not a brain-based disorder. LINK

Overcoming Dyslexia:

This book is about reading – an extraordinary ability, peculiarly human and yet distinctly unnatural.

A substantial number of well-intentioned boys and girls – including very bright ones – experience significant difficulty in learning to read, through no fault of their own. This frustrating and persistent problem in learning to read is called dyslexia.

My comment:

This is how she and the Dyslexia Association con the world into believing about 20% of kids are dyslexic when in fact they are instructional casualties. Read an article here that argues that reading is an innate ability. LINK

Overcoming Dyslexia:

I want to make it very clear that it is now possible with a high degree of accuracy to screen for and then identify children with dyslexia early on and treat and remediate their difficulties, helping them learn to read.

Now, however, men and women with dyslexia can point to an image of their brain’s internal workings made possible by new brain imaging technology and say, Here, look at this, this is the root cause of my problem. We know now exactly where (and how) dyslexia manifests in the brain.

In an era when we can image the brain as an individual reads and literally see the brain at work, it is unacceptable to have children (and adults) struggle to read without the benefit of what this modern neuroscience has taught us.

We now know that dyslexia is a very common problem, affecting one out of every five children – 10 million in America alone. In every neighbourhood and in every classroom worldwide, there are children struggling to read.

While some cases are recognised when the child can’t learn to read, perhaps in the first or second grade, currently the majority of cases of dyslexia are not identified until at least 3^rd grade.

My comment:

Unfortunately, many distraught parents believe what these so-called experts say. But all her fraud is slowly being exposed. Truth shall prevail.

It won’t be long before parents will wake up and ask: What has happened to all these neuroscience?