The following are comments on a LinkedIn post by Dr Martin Bloomfield.
Emma Hartnell- Baker, whose profile states that she connects spoken and written English with ‘Phonemies’ from birth commented on the post by Dr Martin.
Here are extracts and my comments/questions.
Dr Martin Bloomfield Author - Relentless optimist
Unless you're taking kids through your programme who have never had a reading difficulty, you have an ideal opportunity to research based on kids who have a reading difficulty but received early intervention.
My comment now:
This is what I did from 2004 to 2019. I provided intervention for more than 80 similar kids who could not read in English but could read in Malay. Those who went to vernacular schools could read in Hanyu Pinyin and Malay. I quit working to research why intelligent kids couldn’t read in English.
Most of my students, some of whom were certified dyslexics, are now professionals. All that I wrote in my book Shut Down Kids are from my students, the experts in this subject.
Emma Hartnell-Baker
Dr Martin Bloomfield, Our school-age children all receive screening (and targeted intervention) before they start learning about the written code—before phonics, etc.—from day 1 of kindergarten/reception. We’ve identified our at-risk children by the end of week 3.
My comment:
This is something beyond me.
I identify why kids can’t read in English (primary one to primary 4 kids) by asking the parents of kids to get their kids to record the sounds represented by consonants. Here are two of many recorded examples. LINK and LINK.
Emma Hartnell-Baker:
We often have to ‘unteach’ a lot of children who have had poor phonics instruction in pre-school (for those children, the issue tends to be that they start school disengaged from anything they perceive as phonics).
My comment:
I have written about teaching my students to unlearn the wrong things they have learned. I have specified what they had learned wrongly. No one has disputed my findings. Yet, most of the so-called PhDs do not give their opinions. LINK.
Emma Hartnell-Baker:
Our kids can’t have a reading difficulty—they’re around 4 years old.
My comment:
I am not sure if I can accept this argument. Emma has not met such a kid. Many such 4-year-old kids when they attend preschool or kindergarten shut down/disengage from learning to read because what they had learned for years since they were toddlers confuses them.
Parents let these kids listen to videos and TV series where they teach consonant sounds wrongly. I complained about many such programmes which were subsequently terminated. Even David Boulton of the Children of the Code fame unfriended me on LinkedIn when I complained about the videos that he recommended. However, immediately after unfriending me he deleted 2 of the videos. LINK.
The Baby TV series is another series broadcasted in over 100 countries. It teaches sound represented by consonants wrongly. LINK.
Don’t forget that the human mind is like the human egg. Once a sperm gets in, the ovum creates a membrane preventing other sperm from getting in. Once an idea has been embedded in the mind new ideas will not be accepted by most minds.
Emma Hartnell-Baker:
And, with respect, if a child has a reading difficulty, it doesn’t matter what the early intervention was—the difficulty means it didn’t meet their needs.
My comment:
I ask the same question I have asked for more than a decade; how do about 80% of the needs of kids taught by the same teacher meet the needs? Why are the needs of about 20% of the kids not met?
Emma Hartnell-Baker:
Some say children have a learning difficulty or disability. I say that they are instructional casualties.
My comment:
I have said this since I started my blog in 2010. I have even identified what these kids have been instructed wrongly.
Emma Hartnell-Baker:
It becomes far harder to overcome those challenges the older the child gets. Think of the origins of the word dyslexia. It’s about difficulties learning to read and spell. So, stop teaching all children in the same way.
My comment:
Yes, that is why I don’t teach kids above grade 4.
What does Emma mean by ‘stop teaching all children in the same way’? This is echoing what others say. For decoding, we should teach all kids the correct pronunciation of consonants - the same way for all children. Fortunately, a majority somehow figure out how to read. Listen to two college girls in this post reading consonant sound with extraneous sounds and then reading nonsense words from Dr. David Kilpatrick's book with ease. LINK.
Note: I read both the books written by Dr. David Kilpatrick at least 3 times before the books went for printing. The following is on the acknowledgment pages on page xxi. 'Luqman Michel, a reading tutor in Malaysia, read nearly the entire manuscript and contributed countless improvements.' LINK.
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