Questions by Suri Charles and my responses

 

“Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible.” Carl Jung

 

Suri Charles

Luqman Michel You’ve mentioned that the children you came across and/or worked with couldn’t read because they 'shut down,' yet you also stated that you taught 80 dyslexic children from 2004 to 2019.

1. How do you reconcile these two positions?

2. Are you suggesting that these 80 children had both emotional or psychological shutdowns as well as dyslexia, or were they misdiagnosed as dyslexic?

The Dyslexia Debate – A Re-examination

 

 

Advocates for dyslexia persist in asserting that individuals with dyslexia face a literacy issue. How stupid does one have to be to believe this nonsense?

Those who benefit from this narrative often block me on social media.

 

Consider this for a moment:

How did David Chalk manage to read in just 11 days at the age of 62?

Why was he unable to read until then?

What led David Corcoran and Tom Cruise to leave school as functional illiterates?

How did they learn to read after their formal education ended?

Unlocking the Potential of China's Dyslexic Students (Part 2)

 

This article was written in 2018 and the situation is still the same. It will never improve as China is barking up the wrong tree.

Here are extracts from Sixth Tone and my thoughts.

Sixth Tone:

How Dyslexia Remains Invisible in Chinese Schools

The need for recognition of the learning disability in China is pressing: An estimated 11 percent of the country’s primary school students have dyslexia, a total of about 10 million children, according to research published in 2016 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Despite this staggering number, there is little understanding and barely any support for dyslexic students on the Chinese mainland — the Weining center, located in southern tech hub Shenzhen, is one of few organizations dedicated to the cause. Dyslexia is well-known and well-researched in many Western countries, but awareness of the disability remains low across the Chinese mainland; without support, those affected are unable to compete in school, stifling their future potential.

Xiaogu could not understand why he struggled so much in something his peers could easily master. His aversion to schoolwork grew. Eventually, he stopped trying altogether, submitting blank exam papers even though he could have answered some of the questions.

Unlocking the Potential of China's Dyslexic Students (Part 1)

 

Global Times:

Since 2010, a campaign has been afoot in Chinese schools to improve children's literacy, as educators have warned that young people are increasingly having problems writing and reading Chinese due to their extensive use of electronic devices. LINK

My Response to Savannah's Comment

                                                                Savannah Jackson NGO

'Great work requires being stubborn about your goals but flexible about your methods. The best people I know stick relentlessly to what they want to achieve, but quickly adapt how they'll achieve it when they see a better way. Most people do the opposite - they cling to their methods even when better options appear.'

I recently posted an article quoting Siegfried Engelmann's statement that there is a procedure for teaching reading that can reach virtually 100% of children. Savannah, a teacher, responded with her own experience:

The South China Morning Post - Disinformation

 

I read an article in The South China Morning Post entitled ‘Zhuyin sounds key to children learning Mandarin as a second language.’ LINK

I emailed South China Morning Post as follows:

Luqman Michel <luqmanmichel@gmail.com>

Dec 15, 2024, 10:22 AM

Dear Sir,

I read an article in your papers.

It said the following:

‘However, no method is better than the other, and – more importantly – there is never a perfect method to learn Mandarin. Even so, there is always a perfect combination that suits your child’s Mandarin learning journey.’

 

What combination is the author talking about?

Thank you and kind regards,

Luqman Michel

South China Morning Post – 翻译成中文

 

South China Morning Post – 翻译成中文

A prelude to my post tomorrow

Founded in 1903, SCMP is headquartered in Hong Kong, where it is the city's newspaper of record. Our teams span across Asia and the United States, working together to connect with news consumers around the world. We are committed to informing and inspiring through journalism of the highest standards.

They claim:

‘Our vision is to “Elevate Thought”, and our mission is to “Lead the global conversation about Hong Kong, Greater China and Asia.”

Elevate thought? Let’s examine this in my next post.

The human mind – in response to DrJulie Safri’s comment

 

The following comment is an example of what Charlie Munger said, ‘The human mind is like the human egg.’ Once a sperm has entered an ovum, a membrane will be formed and no further sperm can enter.

Here is a comment on my post on 'Why many schools in China are teaching Pinyin using bopomofo initial sounds?' LINK

I have replied to this comment on Facebook and this is for posterity.

Dictums (Part 2) (Diktum (Bahagian 2)

 

(Untuk terjemahan bahasa melayu tatal ke bawah)

4. The four basic types of people:

Cipolla categorizes individuals into:

Helpless people, who harm themselves while benefiting others.

Bandits, who benefit themselves at the expense of others.

Intelligent people, who benefit both themselves and others.

Stupid people, who harm both themselves and others.

5. Stupidity defies logic:

Rational reasoning cannot explain the actions of stupid individuals. Their behaviour often defies analysis, making them frustrating and challenging to address.

We had a procedure for sounding it out that would reach virtually 100 percent of the kids (Siegfried Engelmann)

                                                      

More than 20 years ago the researchers of the Children of the Code were aware that unvoiced sounds should be unvoiced.

The following is an extract from an interview of Siegfried Engelmann conducted by David Boulton.

Siegfried Engelmann:

The mistakes the kids made guided us to see that we had something missing. For instance, at first, we had them sound out words traditionally. We never permitted "ch-aa-tah” for chat. Unvoiced sounds were unvoiced -- "ch-a-t."

So now we had precise corrections related to what they had learned earlier. We had a procedure for sounding it out that would reach virtually 100 percent of the kids. So, we could teach even really low performers now to take the first step on the ladder. Then they can follow the entire sequence and they can learn at a rate far faster than would have been anticipated.

See what Dr. Richard Selznick and Dr. David Kilpatrick said on this matter. LINK

Dictums (Part 1) (Diktum 1)

 

(Sila lihat di bawah untuk terjemahan Bahasa Melayu)

Carlo M. Cipolla's "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" offers thought-provoking insights into human behaviour and its impact on society. Here are 10 wonderful lessons derived from the essay.

My friend, Harold Rozario, posted the above on Facebook and commented, ‘Read numbers 7 and 9 again. Do you recognize it in your environment?’

Let’s look at the remaining 8 while I think a little more on 7 and 9. 

Curious kids flushed out of schools in China

 

Recently, I posted an article stating that many curious, intelligent kids in China are being pushed out of school due to poor grades. This issue arises from the confusion created by teaching Pinyin using Bopomofo initial sounds. This situation mirrors what happens in the Western world, where letters are taught with extraneous sounds, causing many children to disengage from learning to read.

 

Here is a video to illustrate what I mean by extraneous sounds. [LINK]

Neurodivergent kids

 

These are from a video I watched this morning. LINK 

From the video:

At minute 49: Neurodivergent kids describe someone whose brain works differently and not defectively.

At minute 1.14: There are certain areas that neurodiversity will take you to the level of excellence. We need neurodiversity people because they are the original thinkers. They are the individuals who can find answers to what no one else can.

Dyslexics and phonological processing

 

In my post about why many schools in China are teaching Pinyin using Bopomofo initial sounds, DrJulie Safri made a comment and this is a short extract that I decided to reply to separately from the rest of her comment.

DrJulie Safri

Good morning Luqman, let me clarify my statement.....Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental condition, meaning it originates from differences in how the brain processes language, particularly phonological information. However, it is important to note that these neurological differences don’t mean a person with dyslexia cannot learn to read, they just require tailored, evidence-based instruction that accommodates their unique learning needs.

My thoughts:

“Tailored, evidence-based instruction that accommodates their unique learning needs” is something I’ve frequently heard from many teachers providing intervention for dyslexic kids.

I don't know how the brain processes languages and would be grateful if DrJulie Safri can educate me and whoever else is interested. 

Asking for my credentials.

 

I made a comment on Facebook stating that I have worked in the accounting and auditing field for most of my adult life. Following that, I received a comment from Suri Charles, who is aware of my previous experience teaching dyslexic children before transitioning to teaching their parents.

Why are many schools in China teaching Pinyin using bopomofo initial sounds?

 

I asked the above-captioned question on Quora.

Paul Denlinger, who has been speaking, reading, and writing Chinese since 1958 with an

M.A. in Linguistics (Uni Master's), University of St Andrews Graduated 1980 said:

‘I have no idea.’

A Chinese woman, on the other hand, answered differently. Before reading extracts of my discussion with the Chinese woman read the following Facebook post by Benedict Morais which is relevant.

Dyslexia proponents Dr. Julia Safri and Suri Charles.

 

These dyslexia proponents will write on anything to promote their wares. It is time to shut them up.

This morning Julie posted the following on Facebook.

DrJulie Safri

Neural Connection Differences

Studies using electroencephalography (EEG) indicate that individuals with dyslexia have different neural connection patterns, particularly in the temporal lobe areas associated with auditory processing. The discovery indicates that dyslexia involves atypical neural communication pathways, which affects language processing abilities.

Reference:

Pugh, K. R., Shaywitz, B. A., Shaywitz, S. E., et al. (2000).

Analysis of a video by 'Difference frames the world'

                                                           

                                                           

Here are extracts from a video I watched and my comments. LINK

From the video:

Since the collapse of the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s the United States has become the only superpower militarily, technologically, and economically until the rise of China.

China’s 2025 strategy includes government support for research and development investment in promoting the development of indigenous Innovation.

中国与美国

 

This is a Google translation of my post, China vs the US

以下是我观看的视频摘录和我的评论。链接

来自视频：

自 20 世纪 90 年代初前苏联解体以来，美国一直是唯一的军事、技术和经济超级大国，直到中国崛起。

中国 2025 战略包括政府支持研发投资，以促进自主创新的发展。

CCP Education in Peril (Part 2) with Chinese translation

 

                                                                           Xi Jinping

 

向下滚动查看中文翻译

Here is a discussion on Quora that confirms my findings that Pinyin is taught wrongly. This explains why many kids in China and Malaysia today can’t read in Pinyin. Anyone who disagrees is welcome to comment.

 

Luqman Michel · Nov 3

 

Unfortunately, too many Chinese teachers from China are messing up Pinyin by teaching it wrongly. Here are two of many examples. Teachers from China screwing up Pinyin. LINK, LINK

Tiers of Support in Education

 

 

In education, the terms Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 refer to different levels of intervention and support that students may require to achieve academic success. These tiers also represent levels of prevention.

                                                                 

CCP education in peril (Part 1)

Education remains a priority of nations. The development of any society is based on its education system.

In my recent post, Maggie Chiang asked: ‘Is there a fundamental issue of Education?’

In my post about the above on Facebook, a friend said that China is too busy stealing and copying and that it has no time for its research and development.

I would agree with him. I have done research on the fundamental issue of education in China. Pinyin is taught wrongly not only in China but the Chinese have corrupted the teachers in Sabah too. I have reported this to authorities in China and they have not responded. LINK

John Corcoran on LinkedIn and my comments

 

This is a post by John Corcoran on LinkedIn and my comments.

John Corcoran:

 

My friend and partner, 🌎 David Chalk, was invited to speak at Stanford University’s Accelerator Symposium, working with top thought leaders on the development of a white-paper for guiding AI and Learning Differences. There couldn't be a better voice to lead this conversation, shaping the future of inclusive learning globally!

 

Luqman Michel:

 

He should give a talk on why he could not read until he was 62. How he was able to read after 11 days of coaching should be broadcast to the world. Let us together reduce illiteracy.

Dyslexia in China (Part 4)

 

Maggie Chiang:

Let's be real, China was known in the world for Scholars, thinkers, philosophers, and developers like this in the past Century or two. China doesn't have many developments I guess but before that like the compass, the watch the paper, and fireworks, these are like Innovations. Where did it go? Why isn't China winning any Nobel Prizes? Why is China far behind in Innovations? Is there a fundamental issue of Education?

Dyslexia in China - Comments on the YouTube video

 

I made a few comments on the YouTube video. LINK

My comments have been removed.

This has been my experience since I started writing on social media in 2010. I have learned to copy-paste as soon as I comment before my comments are deleted. 

Dyslexia in China (Part 3)

 

This is a continuation of my post yesterday. LINK

Here are the paragraphs highlighted in red in yesterday’s post.

As Maggie pointed out, if you cannot achieve the best grades, you are cast out.

Further, students who performed poorly in Pinyin reading tended to perform poorly in future reading comprehension tests.

Previous evidence showed that poor readers in higher grades (e.g. Grade 4) suffer more from Pinyin reading difficulties than normal readers (Yin and Weekes, 2003; Ding et al., 2015).

The Pinyin phonetic symbols are continuously presented alongside Chinese characters in textbooks until Grade 3 and are provided only when new characters are introduced.

中国的阅读障碍（第三部分）

 

I have Google translated my post into Chinese with the hope that some Chinese may read and comment or question me.

我让谷歌将我的帖子翻译成了中文，希望一些中国人能够阅读并评论或向我提问。

 

正如 Maggie 所指出的，如果你不能取得最好的成绩，你就会被淘汰。

此外，拼音阅读成绩较差的学生在未来的阅读理解测试中往往表现不佳。

先前的证据表明，高年级（例如 4 年级）的阅读能力较差的学生比普通读者更容易遭遇拼音阅读困难（Yin 和 Weekes，2003 年；Ding 等人，2015 年）。

拼音音标在教科书中一直与汉字一起出现，直到 3 年级，并且仅在引入新字符时才提供。

 

我的想法：

十多年来，我一直认为好奇的孩子会因为困惑而放弃学习英语阅读。这种困惑是由于教孩子错误的字母发音。如果教字母时不带多余的声音，就不会有孩子落后。

在中国，拼音的教学是错误的。中国许多学校使用注音系统下的首字母发音来教授拼音。这让好奇的孩子感到困惑，然后他们就不再学习拼音了。由于拼音与汉字一起使用，直到三年级，这些聪明好奇的孩子都处于劣势，被“淘汰”。

Dyslexia in China (Part 2)

 

                                            Looking without seeing- the researchers of the 

                                               Pilot project below looked but did not see.

                                    

This is a continuation of my post yesterday. LINK

This is an important topic and I have highlighted sentences I want to elaborate on in my next post.

Dyslexia in China (Part 1)

 

I listened to an interesting Dialogue between Martin Bloomfield and Maggie Chiang, who translated the book The Dyslexic Advantage into Chinese. LINK

Maggie Chiang:

The Chinese language uses pictograms so dyslexia and symbols usually go hand in hand. A lot of the time these individuals might struggle in mathematics, chemistry, physics, or English.

Ego or stupidity (Part 2)

 

The phonological awareness deficit as the cause of dyslexia was debunked around 2017. Even with the research reports debunking that theory and my explanation of my students being able to read in Malay and Pinyin how audacious is it for James Chapman to say that he stands by what he and Tunmer wrote in 1996?

In 2021 I wrote to James Chapman again. Here is my email.

Mary McCool Berry’s comment on the Boston Globe’s Report

 

Here is a post on LinkedIn by one podcast host who is trying to make hay while the sun shines.

Mary McCool Berry, M.Ed., W.D.T.

Wilson Dyslexia Therapist | Instructional Design Specialist | Certified Dyslexia Advocate | Podcast Host

𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝. 𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.

𝐓𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭.

Ego or stupidity

 

The following email from James Chapman, in 2010, fortifies the saying by Charlie Munger that the Human mind is like the human egg.

One of my first emails disagreeing with a Phonological Awareness Deficit being the cause of dyslexia was to James Chapman. He and William E. Tunmer had jointly produced a paper stating that dyslexia is caused by Phonological Awareness Deficit.

This is a clear case of researchers who have written something and when evidence to the contrary is produced they refuse to accept it.

Tutoring Children With Dyslexia in Sabah Malaysia by Luqman Michel

 

Here is my interview with Darren Clark in 2022.

There is nothing in that interview that I would change now. 

The video explains why many kids shut down from learning to read and are wrongly classified as dyslexic.

 

Here is the link to the video. LINK

 

A Twitter discussion with the Author of ‘Fundamentals of Teaching’

 

Mike Bell @evidence_1^st

The following is from his Twitter profile.

Author of ‘Fundamentals of Teaching’.  Organiser of Evidence Based Teachers Network.  Committed to making the evidence accessible to teachers.

Here are Twitter discussions between Mike Bell and me. 

 

Luqman Michel Dec 2

I researched why kids can read in Malay and Pinyin but not in English by quitting my job and teaching > 80 kids on a one-on-one basis.

The answer to how to reduce illiteracy is simple but the white man who speaks only one language does not want to discuss this.

The Boston Globe and APM Report

 

The Boston Globe and APM Reports:

Karrie Conley is one of the lead plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Heinemann, an educational publishing company. The lawsuit claims that Heinemann's reading curriculum made it harder for two of her daughters to learn how to read. (Liz Linder/APM Reports)

Karrie Conley and Michele Hudak filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that the educational publisher Heinemann and three of its best-selling authors promoted “deceptive” and “defective” products that made it harder for their children to learn to read.

My thoughts:

These two mothers are misdirecting their efforts. As I’ve stated numerous times on my blog and social media, the root issue lies in how teachers are instructing letter sounds. When curious children encounter incorrect sounds and struggle to blend letters, they often disengage from the reading process. This challenge can be easily addressed through screening for incoming first graders. By providing interventions for children who have been taught the wrong sounds, we can significantly reduce, if not eliminate, the number of students leaving school unable to read. LINK

Mass. lawsuit calls reading curriculum 'deceptive' and 'defective'

 

December 04, 2024, Christopher Peak, APM Reports. LINK

This story was originally published by APM Reports, an investigative reporting group based at American Public Media, and is part of an editorial partnership between WBUR and APM Reports.

My thoughts:

Who is funding APM reports?

What nonsense is this about investigative reporting? How do they investigate?

I wrote to Emily Hanford and APM Reports in 2017.

Here are extracts of the emails to and from Emily Hanford and APM. Note the dates of the email.

LinkedIn discussion - naïve or irresponsible (Part 3)

 

Here is a comment on my post and my response.

Phillip Chipping 

The Science of Reading body of science dates back 50 years with thousands of studies/researchers and millions of participants. The National Reading Panel's 2000 report showed that instruction that taught phonics made greater progress than instruction that did not focus on phonics. I'm not saying there are no other ways to teach and other ways to improve, but I know dozens of dyslexic tutors and every one of them has seen immediate and drastic improvement in children's reading ability when the method of instruction was changed to an explicit, structured-literacy, phonics-based approach. In other words, this method has been duplicated by thousands of teachers across the world and had immediate and powerful results in children's lives who otherwise could not read. The same results as what you're telling us you have with your method. Perhaps one of the reasons it's not "working" here is because most of the children who need it aren't getting one-on-one instruction. Maybe that's what makes the biggest difference.

LinkedIn discussion - naïve or irresponsible (Part 2)

 

These are public comments on LinkedIn.

Phillip Chipping’s LinkedIn profile says he is an Educator, Inventor, Writer, Lover of People (philanthropist)

 

Phillip Chipping:

 

Although I don't discount the 80 kids you succeeded with (no small feat! I'm sure their parents are so grateful for your help!), have you taught your methods to others? Have they also implemented them with successful outcomes? Although technically statistically relevant, 80 kids is still a fairly small number, especially if we can't see anything regarding the research methods and the tutoring methods that were used. You are asking us to simply trust you. So, I'm curious what you are doing to build a body of evidence for your methods.