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

 

I observed my students and asked them questions, and realised that they had shut down/disengaged from learning to read due to confusion. I then wrote a book detailing the causes of kids disengaging from learning to read. LINK

The main factor kids struggle to read is confusion due to teachers teaching the wrong sounds of the letters. This is confirmed by many researchers which I have stated in my blog post you may read HERE.

 

Julian Elliott:

You see a kid and you drill down and try to find the problems these kids have got. Here's a child who's struggling to learn to read, okay so let's try and think about the kid’s skill set. Do they know the sounds of all the letters?  Can they blend words?

 

The answer to this question is obvious. Most children don’t know the sounds of the letters. They can’t blend, not because they have a phonological/phonemic deficit problem but because they cannot make sense of what is taught. No one can blend fuh ah tuh to form the word fat or duh aah guh to form the word dog.

Many kids figure out how to read but the kids predisposed to shutting down disengage from learning to read and are then classified as dyslexic. The dyslexia advocates have conveniently classified all kids who can’t read as dyslexics. 

 

Julian Elliott:

What you get is reduced motivation from a child who struggles to learn to read. It's really hard and they try and they can't seem to get the hang of it.  Then other kids start laughing at them in the classroom saying you're stupid you're thick and self-worth protection kicks in so therefore what kids will do is they prefer not to try hard and fail they'd rather not try at all and fail because one brings guilt and one brings shame and shame is much harder for the child. So, you get teachers who say well he doesn't make any effort he doesn't try. It is his damn fault but that is a consequence of their problem not the origin of their problem. So, the idea that you know I found they've got a processing problem.

 

Yes, I have written a post on shame avoidance. Researchers have known this for more than a decade. LINK

Yes, Julian has pointed it out correctly as have researchers of the Children of the Code. It is a consequence of their problem and not the origin of their problem.

Yes, kids have a processing problem – they can’t blend letters with extraneous sounds. Fortunately, many of them figure out how to read. The solution is simple, teach them the correct sounds of the letters and their processing problem will disappear.