It's been years since I first noticed the pattern: educators, researchers, and self-proclaimed literacy experts on Twitter (now X), LinkedIn, and beyond, blocking me not for harassment or threats, but for daring to question their sacred cows. As the founder of free online lessons that have helped dozens of children—many mislabelled as "dyslexic"—read fluently in under four months, I've become a thorn in their side. My crime? Pointing out that phonological awareness deficit isn't the root cause of reading struggles; it's the confusion from teaching consonants with extraneous vowel sounds like "buh" instead of pure /b/. Kids shut down, disengage, and get funneled into expensive interventions. But why block the messenger?
In this three-part series, I'll expose the growing list of blockers—over a dozen now—from the UK, Australia, the US, and beyond. We'll dissect their motives: protecting business empires built on flawed theories, avoiding accountability in the "reading wars," and enforcing a herd mentality that stifles real progress. These aren't isolated incidents; they're symptoms of an education system more interested in peer-reviewed dogma than practical results. I've never blocked anyone—debate openly, I say. But they? They hit the button and run.
The Common Thread: Motives Rooted in Fear and Profit
From my earliest exchanges in 2010, when I shared videos of kids reading nonsense words flawlessly after proper phoneme teaching, to today, the blocks follow a script. I politely email professors (over 30, with polite follow-ups), comment on blogs, or tweet questions like: "If PAD causes dyslexia, why can my students read Malay or Pinyin effortlessly but struggle with English?" Silence, dismissal, or—bam—block. As Dr. Shalini Ratan wisely noted in a LinkedIn post that inspired one of my earlier blogs, "knowledge leads to ignorance" when overconfidence blocks learning. These experts, armed with PhDs and grants, can't handle a finance guy with classroom wins.
Motive 1: Business Protection
Most blockers sell something—phonics programs, intervention services, books, or training. My free lessons? A direct threat. Take Jo Anne Gross, owner of an intervention business training teachers. She blocked me on LinkedIn and Twitter after I tweeted, "Phonological awareness deficit is not the cause of dyslexia." Her reply? "I'm not on social media to discuss your views but to solidify and grow my research knowledge... That's my job." Arrogant? Sure. But it screams fear: informed parents might skip her paid sessions for my one-hour, three-times-a-week method that gets results in months, not years.
Debbie Hepplewhite, phonics consultant and Reading Reform Foundation member, blocked me after unanswered emails about her Phonics International program. Why? My approach exposes how "extraneous sounds" in her materials confuse kids from day one. Same with Stacy Hurst of Reading Horizons—she blocked me on Twitter after I questioned her podcast claims on high-frequency words (HFWS) and "orthographic mapping." She pushes memorizing up to 2,000 words visually, ignoring that proper phonics makes them effortless. Her motive? Safeguard a multimillion-dollar curriculum.
2 comments:
So true: "But why block the messenger?" (when they claim to be academia and not authoritarianism)
They shut the conversations, instead of engaging and learning from different views.
No wonder people don't trust science, universities, and the far right including Zios (who are often in leadership at universities).
The far-right influencers & Zio universities have becomes the same- they silence people as they are incompetent to engage in discussion or to solve the issues you/me pointed out on.
I have heard stories from graduated students that the peer-review or acceptance of articles is done mostly on the basis of connections and this is why Zios are dominating academia & get the most pubs & jobs & research money.
Very good point: "As Dr. Shalini Ratan wisely noted in a LinkedIn post that inspired one of my earlier blogs, "knowledge leads to ignorance" when overconfidence blocks learning. These experts, armed with PhDs and grants, can't handle a finance guy with classroom wins."
The ones who got degrees & jobs through connections (not real knowledge) can't handle the real smart people (out of envy & jealousy).
Thank you for your insightful comment.
You said, 'They silence people as they are incompetent to engage in discussion or to solve the issues you/me pointed out on.'
Yes, I have been blocked or ignored by many so-called researchers since 2010. But, as Buddha said, you can't hide the sun, the moon and the truth forever.
I have been urged to get peer review reports of what I have discovered. But, pray tell me, who these reviewers are? What do they know about why kids shut down from learning to read? Have they ever asked a kid who could not read until grade 2 to 4 why they were unable to read but now could read after a few weeks of intervention?
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