Dr Richard Selznick comments on my post

 

I received an email from Dr Richard Selznick commenting on my post yesterday.

Here is a little about him extracted from a website.

Dr. Selznick is a psychologist, a nationally certified school psychologist, and a graduate school professor. As the Director of the Cooper Learning Center at Cooper University Hospital (www.cooperlearningcenter.org), he oversees a program that assesses and treats a broad range of learning and behavioral problems in children. The Cooper Learning Center is the leading program in its region, offering not only assistance with children but also parent and teacher training programs.

Dr. Selznick also functions as a school consultant, and throughout the year he speaks to numerous parent groups, schools, and regional conferences on topics such as dyslexia, parenting, and ADHD. He strives to offer parents and teachers practical strategies to help children with academic problems. A native of Staten Island, New York, Dr. Selznick lives in Haddonfield, New Jersey. He can be reached through email Selznick-r@cooperhealth.edu. For more information on the Shut-Down Learner, go to www.shutdownlearner.com

  

             

This is his email received yesterday. 28.11.24.

I enjoyed your blog.  A few points:

 

1.  I agree with you that many kids who are called "dyslexic" or "learning disabled," may, in fact, not have been taught properly.

 

2.  However, a couple of important points.  I would say to you that perhaps 95-99% of the time when I find a child having mild, moderate, or severe reading problems, one or the other parent (typically the father) struggled when they were children.  The parent may or may not have been formally tested, depending on their circumstances, but the parent (the dad) will say something like, "That was exactly what I was like as a kid." So, it seems to me that there is a familial pass down.  That isn't saying anything is wrong with their brain, rather it's familial predisposition.  What is also interesting about this is when the family has more than one child, almost never, and I mean never, does the other child show the same issues.  (Please keep in mind that my sample size is incredibly large at this point, as I have evaluated thousands of children.)

 

3.  I think your method of teaching reading to struggling readers is sound.  From my point of view, it is similar to the Orton method. They teach sounds properly, explicitly, and very directly in the way that you describe.  They also treat sight words similarly.  I think the way you reinforce it with spelling the words is also very important.

 

4.  One thing I tell parents related to point #2.  I tell parents that about 70-80% of the children "learn to read by osmosis."  That is, nothing was done especially with them. They were given the typical preschool books, and then on to kindergarten and first grade.  The light bulb goes off and these kids are on the bike and riding.  Again, there was nothing done special - sounds weren't taught in the way you describe, but it just clicks in - by osmosis.  It's the other group who you give them the same exposure and it doesn't click in by osmosis. This group comes in mild, moderate, and more severe packages.  I believe they are predisposed and have also not been taught properly. 

 

My thoughts:

Regarding point # 2, I have also noticed that in parents who send their kids to me for tuition. My nephew’s daughter couldn’t read and I volunteered to teach her via WhatsApp. After a few lessons, my nephew told me that he too was like her and he learned to read when he was in grade 6. He disagreed with me teaching her the correct sounds of letters saying that he too was taught the way his daughter was. It is now over 6 years since I attempted to teach her. Unfortunately, she can’t read at grade level. Recollecting now, my nephew’s father was a school dropout.

 

As for point #4, I don’t know about reading by osmosis but I have read that some children start reading early and surprisingly beyond their expected ability. My daughter started reading Enid Blyton’s books when she was six. These kids could very well be those kids who have not been influenced by the wrong teaching of letters that often confuse kids. They could be kids taught by their parents or could have gone to play schools or kindergarten where teachers taught them correctly.

As I have mentioned several times in my blog, most children are confused when taught to blend letters with extraneous sounds (consonants taught with vowel sounds). About 20% shut down/disengage from learning to read. These are the kids who are predisposed to shutting down. 

Most of the rest somehow figure out how to read at a later stage. These are the kids who have to overcome problems with vocabulary and comprehension they have missed because of their inability to read when in grade one or two.

The important thing is for them to continue to read better. They have as much chance to succeed in school as their classmates who started reading earlier.

Some later readers may have to wait until some physical challenges like poor vision are addressed.