Kids shutting down (Part 2)

Let’s start with a Twitter thread I read yesterday, 30.10.24, morning. Many parents and teachers complain about kids who fail to read at grade level. Unfortunately, they don’t accept simple solutions. Let us read their comments as a preliminary to ‘Kids Shutting Down’.

 

This is a long post but will prove that teachers worldwide are having kids in grades 4 and above reading at grade one level. Many teachers who are still employed dare not comment as they have been warned by powers that be.

The following was the post commented on.

Beanie @Beanie0597

A 4th grader who can’t read because he wasn’t taught properly doesn’t need “accommodations” to make his illiteracy easier. He needs specific interventions that teach him to read. Otherwise, he’ll just become an illiterate middle & high school student with “accommodations”.

Kids Shutting Down – (Part 1)

The Dyslexia Con continued

The people with a vested interest have been conning the world with many things that people swallow hook line and sinker.

One thing teachers/researchers/parents have believed and is difficult for me to convince otherwise is teaching letter sounds with extraneous sounds. This is perpetrated by the big boys in many ways including teaching kids the wrong sounds of letters broadcast, purportedly for toddlers, in more than 100 countries. 

Why do kids shut down from learning to read?

 

Recently I posted a video broadcasted in over 100 countries that teaches the wrong sounds of the letters. Many toddlers listening to this video will shut down/disengage from decoding and blending. Those promoting this video claim it to be an entertainment video.

You can find the video here. LINK

I made a comment

According to some, this is an entertainment programme, not an educational one so it does not matter. These clowns have made many believe that kids can differentiate between what is entertainment and what is academic.

Is this how to teach the sounds of the letters? The British are the main culprits in creating 'dyslexic' kids.

Suri Charles commented as follows:

My thoughts on Dr. Gwendolyn's post

 

Here is a post by Dr. Gwendolyn and my thoughts. LINK.

Dr. Gwendolyn:

Can we wait until third grade to address reading gaps when we know that early intervention is effective? Research consistently demonstrates that the sooner we intervene, the better chance we have of closing these gaps before they widen and become more challenging to manage.

 

My thoughts:

I agree. I’ve often questioned why we wait until fourth grade to identify students who aren’t reading at grade level, and I haven’t received a satisfactory answer. This notion that we must wait until fourth grade seems to be perpetuated by those with vested interests. Just think about how many intervention and remediation services would be impacted. Another unanswered question is how we can identify children likely to struggle with reading by the end of first grade right at the beginning of that year.

Disinformation circulated by dyslexia advocates

 

I refer to a LinkedIn post by Ethan Lynn where he said:

Truth: "Dyslexia is a language-based learning disorder which refers to a cluster of symptoms that result in people having difficulties with specific aspects of language, particularly phonological processing and/or orthographic processing in the area of reading."

I commented as follows:

Ethan Lynn, PhD again you are repeating what you have been saying without bothering to understand what we had discussed.

Teachers teach kids letters with extraneous sounds and then complain that they cannot blend because of phonological processing disorder.

Many children get confused and shut down from learning to read when they can't blend cuh ah tuh for the word cat. How do you expect them to blend duh ah guh for the word dog?

Did you read my post at LINK

Which part did you not understand?

Difference between dyslexia and struggling readers

 

This is a LinkedIn thread from Ethan Lynn's post

Luqman Michel 

Tell us what the difference is between people 'with dyslexia' and kids who can't read. How do you teach a kid 'with dyslexia' and a kid who can't read?

Note: Ethan did not answer.

Dr. Gwendolyn Lavert, PhD (She/Her) • 1st

International Literacy Trainer of Leaders and Teachers, Writer/Researcher, Coaching, Mentoring, Cognitive Mediator

Luqman Michel, Dyslexia and struggling readers differ in their underlying causes and instructional needs. Dyslexia is a neurological disorder affecting reading, writing, and spelling skills, despite average or above-average intelligence, requiring specialized multisensory instruction, phonics-based approaches, and assistive technology. Struggling readers may face challenges due to lack of exposure, limited vocabulary, poor instruction, or environmental factors, benefiting from targeted interventions, small group instruction, reading recovery programs, and vocabulary building. Shared strategies include patient support, progress monitoring, individualized instruction, confidence-building, and collaboration with specialists. Effective teaching involves identifying underlying issues, using evidence-based methods, providing consistent support, fostering growth mindsets, and celebrating progress.

Note: This person is an international Literacy Trainer and researcher.

Jordana Hunter Education Program Director

 

Jordana, like many others from Australia, seems to have a misunderstanding of the situation. Let’s take a closer look at her article. LINK

 

Jordana Hunter:

Australia faces a reading crisis, with one-third of children unable to read proficiently. In a typical classroom of 24 students, eight struggle with reading. This represents a failure in our educational system, and it’s a tragedy that could be prevented. The article suggests that the primary reason for this issue is inadequate teaching methods.

 

Thinking is hard

 

I have copy-pasted a post by Dr.Shalini Ratan 1st Founder & Chief Knowledge Facilitator, NIRVAN Life Sciences which appeared on LinkedIn 2 weeks ago.

"Why do we become Believers and not Thinkers?"

Follow others, accept what is told to you, don't question, and don't apply your mind.

The mind gets programmed Not to Think. So, when the mind is not used it loses its capacity to dig and know, it turns lazy. It follows without effort and becomes Belief, rather "Blind Belief".

To Think is a Mind exercise. Unless the mind is challenged with counter thoughts, conflicting opinions, and multiple ideas it will not build itself.

That's why we like Conformed opinions; they soothe the mind.

Understanding Human Perception and Bias

 

After 14 years of arguing/discussing with many educators/researchers on social media, I have discovered that the human mind's tendency to cling to accepted ideas can serve as both a protective mechanism and a barrier to growth.

The human mind is a complex and fascinating entity, often resistant to change once it has settled on a particular understanding or belief. This phenomenon can be likened to the biological processes of reproduction, where the human egg has a protective mechanism that allows only one sperm to fertilize it, effectively shutting out others. Similarly, once our minds accept a plausible explanation, it can become a framework through which we interpret all subsequent information.

Examining Martin Bloomfield/Julian Elliott interview (Part 3)

 

At minute 29.18 of the interview, Dr. Martin Bloomfield said/asked:

Have you found or maybe have you debunked that certain reading interventions don't work with some kids and that these may be the kids that would previously have been called dyslexic or something that they need specific interventions or is that not?

Examining Martin Bloomfield/Julian Elliott interview (Part 2)

 

"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)

I listened to the whole interview of Julian Elliott with Martin Bloomfield which spoke about things everyone knows. Where is the solution to reducing illiteracy? LINK

Examining Martin Bloomfield/Julian Elliott interview

 

For those who have not listened to the interview you may listen to it here.

Julian Elliott:

Kids who struggle to learn to read have a difficulty based on many factors many of which we have no idea about, none at all they're not something you can easily measure. So, we should talk about individual children's special educational needs.

My comment:

Just because Martin and Julian do not know or bother to know does not mean no one else knows. I know and now many teachers around the world know.

I quit working in 2004, at the age of 52, to research why an intelligent kid who had gone to school for 2 years could not read even a single sentence. After about 2 years, I took in more similar students to learn why these smart kids could not read. I then discovered that most of them could read in Malay and those who went to vernacular schools could read in Pinyin.

After 6 years of teaching these kids, I was sure that the theory that had existed at that time that phonological awareness deficit is the cause of ‘dyslexia’ couldn’t be true. I wrote extensively citing my reasons why phonological awareness deficit can’t be the cause of ‘dyslexia’. LINK

Response to Dr Martin Bloomfield’s comment on LinkedIn

 

Dr Martin Bloomfield:

Professor Elliott is extraordinarily well-researched, and it would do you good to pay attention to his, and others', voices.

 

I have paid attention to Professor Elliott and many other researchers. In 2010, I told Professor Elliott and Durham University that I disagreed with what was said about dyslexia. I requested that he read my posts on my blog. He replied that he would.

Then in 2014, he published his book. He either did not understand my blog posts or he did not read them.

If he had researched ‘dyslexia’ (kids who can’t read) for more than 50 years, how does he not know what causes kids to disengage from learning to read? 

How Can We Educate Educators Who Struggle with Critical Thinking?

 

Learners generally fall into two categories: approximately 80% of children accept what their teachers present without question, often learning to read through patterns and analogies. In contrast, about 20% are logical thinkers who question everything they encounter. When their lessons conflict with prior knowledge or fail to make sense, these children may shut down or disengage from the learning process. This was already discovered by Thorndike in 1913 (More than 100 years ago). LINK

Most ‘Dyslexics’ Are Created by Misguided Teaching

 

 

I recently shared some thoughts with Ethan Lynn regarding a pervasive issue in education: many educators struggle to understand why some children cannot read. They either don’t understand or refuse to accept that the reason is confusion caused by teaching consonants with extraneous sounds.

 

This brings to mind a response I received from some ‘experts’ in Australia in 2020 regarding phonics instruction. You can read more about it here. LINK

Questions awaiting a reply from Ethan Lynn or anyone else (Part 2)

 

The following is extracted from Part 2 of being unable to read. LINK

Sounds represented by letters

I requested Ethan to listen to the sounds of the letters by kids who can’t read in grade 4. Let us see what he finds out.

This ‘research’ would be simple for any teacher to carry out. Get kids in grades 4 who cannot read, to sound out the letters, say, c, f, m, l and s. See if they pronounce them with extraneous sounds – cuh, fuh, muh, luh, suh. I’ll bet that is how they will pronounce these letters.

Questions awaiting a reply from Ethan Lynn or anyone else

 

Question from: The root cause of children being unable to read - Part 1

Why can't we find out the kids who can't read at grade level by the end of grade 1?

Your answers to these questions will be the beginning of a constructive discussion.

This lie that kids who cannot read like most kids in a class cannot be detected by the end of grade one is ludicrous.

This lie was propagated by those with a vested interest.  Every other educator repeats it as if it is the Gospel truth. Would any teacher here tell us why kids who can’t read like most kids in a class can’t be determined by the end of grade 1? 

Dyslexia Debate - Martin Bloomfield with Julian Elliott (Part 3)

 

Martin Bloomfield:

Certain as it were certain reading interventions don't work with some kids and these may be the kids that would previously have been called dyslexic.

My response:

Many issues children face in their learning are inter-connected. It might be that a child is displaying concerning behaviour, and is falling behind academically, so each intervention needs to address each individual’s specific areas of need.

The root cause of children being unable to read (Part 7)

 

Ethan Lynn, PhD:

Luqman Michel thanks for sharing. I’m curious—what exactly is the method you’ve used with the 80+ kids you’ve taught since 2004? Could you walk me through how you diagnose and then teach them to read?

Luqman Michel:

In Malaysia, I used to talk with kids who were sent to me for tuition. This is to ensure they can speak English well. All my students could speak at grade level or higher.

I then asked them to read the letter names to make sure they knew the letters. All of them do this with ease.

Dyslexia Debate - Martin Bloomfield with Julian Elliott (Part 2)

 

Julian Elliott:

What I mean by that is let's return to the original meaning of this term which is a severe and persistent problem with reading and we can use that to discuss or describe children.

So, the whole dyslexia debate is only about changing squiggles to language and that does not require high IQ.

The root cause of children being unable to read (Part 6)

 

Ethan Lynn, PhD

Luqman Michel, I noticed you’ve mentioned diagnosing reading issues by having children sound out consonants. Doesn't that rely on phonemic awareness as a key skill? I'm curious because this seems to contradict a previous post where you downplayed phonemic awareness deficiency as a cause for reading struggles. Could you clarify your thoughts on this?

Dyslexia Debate - Martin Bloomfield with Julian Elliott

 

Please listen to an excellent interview by Martin Bloomfield with Julian (Joe) Elliott. LINK

Julian has explained many matters concerning reading difficulties explicitly.

I will write a post on this interview in the next few days. It would be useful if you listened to the interview above first.

The root cause of children being unable to read (Part5)

 

Luqman Michel

Excellent questions. Thank you. I don't have supporting research by others as no one does this research. What little was done has been suppressed by those with a vested interest. (Remind me later on this.)

NOTE: Here is my answer to ‘Remind me later’. Research has been suppressed. Why isn’t a study that costs taxpayers billions of USD not been widely disseminated? Interviews were conducted with more than 100 experts and many kids who could not read.

I asked David Boulton, the interviewer of Children of the Code, what is his conclusion after his interview of more than 10 years with more than 100 experts and his answer was:

Children of the Code avoided advocating solutions so as not to be dismissed as having an agenda other than learning deeper into the challenge. LINK

Having been informed by experts in the interviews that the main problem with kids being unable to read is teaching the sounds of the letters wrongly David Boulton went ahead and posted 2 videos teaching letter sounds wrongly.

When I questioned him about the videos, he immediately unfriended/blocked me on LinkedIn. 

Why did he then delete the two videos?

Read the comments on the link above.

Is there a puppeteer who is directing the puppets? (More on this later)

The root cause of children being unable to read (Part4)

  

Ethan Lynn, PhD

Thanks, Luqman, I appreciate your insight and fully agree that phonics and letter-sound correspondence are one important key to reading success.

However, I’m a bit unclear about the idea that kids can "figure it out" on their own if they don't have proper instruction.

From my experience, those who don’t receive proper early instruction still need targeted intervention later on to fully catch up. This can and should occur in 4th grade and beyond and focus on the instruction you mentioned in the audio clip.

Could you clarify whether you're suggesting that most kids who can't read well by fourth grade will learn to read without further intervention even if they've received poor instruction? Or if there’s still a role for additional instruction? I'd love to better understand how your approach applies to struggling readers.

Luqman Michel Author

Ethan Lynn, PhD Has any research been done on how many students who could not read in grade four could read by the time they are in grade 9?

Did anyone find out how they could read without any remediation/intervention?

A large % of kids learn to read when they somehow figure it out.

They learn to read in later grades by using patterns and analogies.

Had they been taught correctly at the onset; they would not have had to figure it out.

 

Ethan Lynn, PhD

Luqman Michel, I agree that early instruction needs to be done right.

I'm curious about your argument that some kids eventually figure out how to read without intervention. How do they do this, and is there research supporting it? What do you mean by using "patterns and analogies," and what percentage of students successfully make this turnaround?

 

Additionally, what about the students who don’t figure it out? Are you advocating for no intervention, or could intervention help teach kids the right way, making up for what they missed early on?

To be continued…