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.

 

Suri Charles:

"Luqman Michel, I have to express my concern after learning about your background. It puzzles me how someone with a finance background, likely with an account major, and without qualifications in neuroscience or as a certified Dyslexia Interventionist, is teaching children with dyslexia. I understand the desire to help, but it raises questions about the qualifications and expertise necessary to effectively support children with learning differences."

 

My thoughts:

While my response may upset some, I believe in being straightforward. I explained how I was encouraged to teach a friend’s child who had been in school for two years without being able to read a single sentence in English. My curiosity led me to stop working and research why he couldn’t read. In that process, I taught over 80 children one-on-one from 2004 to 2019 to understand their reading difficulties. This experience revealed that nearly all my students could read in Malay, and those from Chinese schools could read in Pinyin. This made me question a long-standing theory stating that phonological awareness deficit is the cause of dyslexia.

 

One doesn’t need to be a neuroscientist or a dyslexia expert to challenge a theory that more than a hundred professors have accepted without question. My simple question was: If phonological awareness deficit causes dyslexia, how can my students read in Malay and those in Chinese schools read in Pinyin? I posed this question politely, but many of these PhDs blocked me when they couldn’t provide answers, as they had been advocating opposing ideas. Suri seems to think my questioning style is the issue.

 

Suri Charles:

"What also troubles me is your approach on social media, where you seem to target professionals, including researchers, neuroscientists, and others in the field of dyslexia, questioning, criticizing, and attacking their work in an nonconstructive manner. You demand that others read your blog and answer your questions, often in a condescending tone. If people don’t agree with you or challenge your views, you resort to name-calling, which undermines the importance of respectful dialogue. I believe a more constructive approach would serve everyone better, where discussions are grounded in mutual respect and an openness to learning from those with the appropriate expertise."

 

My thoughts:

What should I do when I see someone who has blocked me repeating the same claims I questioned? 

If Suri doesn't read the links I attach and asks questions I've already addressed, how should I respond?

 

Do I need a teaching certificate to help children learn to read? I’ve been asked for my credentials since 2010, typically after I’ve answered all posed questions and then asked something they can’t answer.

 

The core issue arises when people respond without reviewing the links I provide, which relate directly to their questions. It’s an exaggeration to say I demand that others read my blog; perhaps I should add "please" to my request to "Read my post at…". I’ll start doing that tomorrow. The things people come up with!

The following paragraph should put paid to anyone else asking for my credentials.

 

Here is a phonological assessment report of a child who was sent to me when he was in grade 4. I read the assessment report and then spoke with the child. I told the father I would get the boy to read within 4 months. I weaned him within 3 months with 3-hour- lessons per week.

Ask yourself how I was so confident. The boy’s mother wrote on Facebook which is on the pinned page of my Facebook account. 

 

 “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to change you is the greatest accomplishment of all.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.