I have copied below the whole article from Dr. Richard Selznick’s post, dated 30.1.2025 LINK
Those of you following this blog for some time know there are some recurring themes in these posts. Frequently, the blogs are my outlet for getting things off my chest that frequently come up in my interactions with parents.
If you’re a relative newcomer, I will help to bring you up to speed with some of the predominant ones:
In 2010, I approached the dean of the University Malaysia Sabah and requested that researchers investigate my theory that dyslexia is not caused by a phonological awareness deficit. However, the dean was not interested. Fortunately, someone from another country did conduct the research.
We, in Malaysia, are in a unique position to explore why students can read in Malay and Pinyin but struggle with English. I would welcome any research students interested in investigating this phenomenon. They are free to use the materials on my blog, and there is no need to mention my name - I will be more than happy to assist anyone who wants to pursue this as a research project, as it could make for an excellent PhD thesis.
Insistence on Research (Desakan terhadap Penyelidikan- sila lihat di bawah)
Recently, I have wasted too much time answering questions that appear to fall on deaf ears. So, I decided to let the other parties have the last say as I am busy with other work.
In 2004, I realised that intelligent kids who were good at many things could not read in English. I browsed the Internet and found reports on kids reading in many languages but are dyslexic (could not read) in English. But there was no report on the reasons why.
I decided to research this by quitting my job and teaching kids to find out why they could not read in English.
Note: I have a Teaching Certificate in Dyslexia obtained in July 2005. So, don’t listen to anyone saying otherwise. Why do people lie about things they don’t know is beyond me. There is a Tamil proverb for this exact thing. Keep one’s large mouth shut to avoid getting in trouble. A not so polite version is, 'Don’t open your big mouth and get your backside hurt.'
From all that I have read since I started researching dyslexia, I understand that there is no cure for dyslexia. There is no cure for exactly what I am not sure. They say dyslexia is a lifelong issue.
It is said that the brain has trouble processing what it reads, especially breaking words into sounds or relating letters to sounds when reading. This is the only aspect that I am concerned with.
Dyslexia proponents will do whatever they can to con the public into believing dyslexics have a problem reading because of phonological processing.
Recently, DrJulie Safri wrote the following on Facebook:
Get the Right Support:
Programs designed specifically for dyslexia, like a structured literacy approach, are incredibly helpful.
Luqman Michel
What right support? If a kid can't read teach him to unlearn the wrong sounds of letters he was taught and teach him the correct sounds and he will read in no time.
Further thoughts: Researchers who have studied dyslexia for over 5 decades like Julian Elliott and the doctors he interviewed said that no one knows how to differentiate a dyslexic from a non-reader. They have confirmed that there is no different way to teach a dyslexic than other non-readers.
Now, let us look at Timothy Shanahan's blog in 2015 – that is 5 years after my emails to all the experts who echoed what one guy told the world more than 35 years ago.
He said that phonological awareness deficit is the cause of dyslexia.
I listened to a YouTube video this morning featuring MIT Professor Catherine Drennan discussing her dyslexia and its advantages. Here are extracts from the video along with my comments. LINK
Catherine Drennan:
"I learned to read through the shapes of words. You see things differently when you are dyslexic, and that can be useful in certain areas. This ability to visualize and see shapes and patterns is true."
Dyslexia advocates somehow find out that there is a strong objection to their theory and start propagating through whatever means they can. Here is one such YouTube video that surfaced a few days ago. LINK
Interviewer: Ashlie Thomey, A Dyslexia Specialist
Interviewee: Pamela Taylor, Creator of Lexia Heroes.
I listened to the YouTube video by Pamela Taylor who spoke like she is an expert in brain study.
I am
recording this in my blog for posterity. This shows the irresponsible people
who write whatever comes to their minds without thinking about how it affects
others.The irresponsible comments below refer to a Heinemann Reading Curriculum.
Kathleen Seeman, MEdKathleen Seeman, MEd • 1st • 1st Dyslexia Specialist and Interventionist, Master Teacher, Educator, AdvocateDyslexia.
WOW!! About time this wrong is righted! “The case could also break new legal ground. Stuart Rossman, who oversaw litigation at the National Consumer Law Center for 25 years, said he wasn’t aware of any previous class-action lawsuits over literacy curricula”
Shouldn’t we think before accepting anything we read?
Since 2016 when I read that reading is biologically unnatural, I have disagreed with that statement.
This post illustrates that when one researcher says something many follow suit and repeat what they read. Some insist that we should accept these research reports or statements researchers make.
Now proven:
i. Since 2010 I wrote extensively that phonological awareness deficit cannot be the cause of dyslexia. Many researchers disagreed with me and asked me for evidence. Many blocked me. I persisted because of my experience and not because of some book theory. That theory was debunked in 2017.
ii. In 2016 when I saw the quote by Pamela Snow, I disagreed with it. She said ‘‘Reading (and its corollary, writing) is a human contrivance that has existed for only approximately 6,000 years. This recency of reading as a human skill is important, because 6,000 years is a mere blink in evolutionary terms, and the human brain has not developed specialized neural pathways to support a skill that is widely agreed to be essential to successful living in first-world developed economies and to the social and economic trajectories of developing nations.”
Pamela Snow and teachers with similar dogmatic attitudes are the ones who perpetuate the reading wars. They do not know the impact they have on others who repeat what they say. Two of many such teachers, who repeat what she says are Emina McLean and Jennifer Buckingham. (All 3 of them are researchers from Australia).
The following is a ridiculous question Pamela Snow asked when I pointed out that many kids disengage from learning to read because of confusion.
Since 2010, when I started my blog, I have been told numerous times that I should read research reports. Of course, I read research reports but I don’t accept them if they don’t make sense. We should think if research reports make sense and discard those that don’t appeal to our senses.
I am reminded of what Daniel Kahneman wrote in his book ‘Thinking fast and slow’:
