Different Perspectives: Tweets That Sparked the Debate
Good evening, readers. The dyslexia debate often ignites on Twitter (now X) and simmers unresolved for years — tonight, we revisit one such firestorm.
Our spotlight falls on Pam Kastner (@liv2learn), a vocal advocate for the Science of Reading (SOR) and phonics-first instruction. With over 16,000 followers and roles at Mount Saint Joseph University and The Reading League PA, she's a force in pushing evidence-based literacy. But our paths crossed in heated 2020 exchanges that highlight the chasm between phonics purists and those of us advocating for innate decoding potential.
Let’s revisit what unfolded, why it matters, and why the silence still lingers.
🔥 April 2020: The Spark
It began with debates on "sight words" and visual memorization. I argued that many children arrive at school with an innate spark for decoding — that pure sound modeling unlocks reading without rote tricks.
Pam jumped into a thread with this assertion:
“English is an alphabetic orthography. It is not logographic. We cannot visually memorize every word in the English language nor should we 'teach' any word in that manner. We must use grapheme-phoneme correspondences to orthographically map words storing them as mental…”
She tagged me (@MichelLuqman) and others, implying I endorsed shape-based memorization of Dolch words. I hadn’t — not even close. It felt like a strawman to rally the phonics brigade.
In my blog post at the time, I asked: Why the misrepresentation? Where’s the evidence that visual tricks dominate classrooms?
Her tweet amplified a narrative I’ve long fought: that without strict GPC drilling, kids are doomed to guesswork. But as I’ve shown in posts like Visual Memorising of Frequently Used Words, kids aren’t blank slates — they can sound out “cat” or “dog” intuitively if we model sounds cleanly, without the schwa sabotage.
📌 November 2020: The Follow-Up That Never Came
On November 23, Pam tweeted:
“Unfortunately, too many of our nation’s students spend the first year or two in school focusing primarily on reading texts by sight-memorizing words and story patterns through leveled texts, with few or no words that can be sounded out based on phonics skills.” “Is this the case with your students? Phonics instruction with follow-up reading in decodable, phonics-based texts is a strategy that works best.”
Sweeping claim. I replied simply: “Roughly how many schools are focusing primarily on reading texts by sight memorising words, please?”
No answer. No data. No follow-up.
The thread exploded into a teacher showdown — shoutout to Erin Harrington (@eeharrington) for her sharp takedowns of mismatched assessments in programs like Fountas & Pinnell, where kids face words like elephants before learning <ph> = /f/. Narelle Lynch pushed back on rigid sequencing, and I chimed in with my YouTube demo on multi-sound letters.
Pam’s silence? Telling.
📚 Pattern Recognition: Posts That Connect the Dots
In Misleading Statements by Pam Kastner and More, I called out the irresponsibility of lobbing grenades on social media without accountability. Phonics evangelists often lump critics into the “whole language” camp — but I’m pro-sound, just not the drill-and-kill variety that ignores kids’ wiring.
In 2021’s Can Dyslexia Be Artificially Induced in School? I grouped Pam with Debbie Hepplewhite and Sue Lloyd as promoters of “sight methods” for profit (decodables sell, after all).
And in 2023’s Learning to Read Changes the Brain, I asked: Why do SOR leaders like Pam dismiss orthographic mapping via word shapes outright? Doesn’t brain science (à la Richard Gentry) show reading rewires us holistically?
🧠 November 2025: The Fire Rekindled
Just days ago, on November 2, buzz over the International Dyslexia Association’s revised definition resurfaced the debate. A thread questioned its controversy, and I linked back:
“Here is my post on Pam Kastner and the persistent misrepresentations that continue to cloud the debate.”
Harsh? Maybe. But after years of being tagged, misrepresented, and ignored, it’s frustration boiling over.
Pam’s a passionate SOR champion — credit where due — yet her one-size-fits-all phonics push overlooks the kids who decode effortlessly with minimal cueing. Why block dialogue instead of debating data?
💬 Final Thoughts: Elevation, Not Enmity
This isn’t about enmity; it’s about elevation.
If innate decoding sparks joy in reading for so many — as my classroom shutdown stories attest — why suppress it under GPC mandates?
Pam, if you’re reading: Let’s chat. What’s the evidence for those “too many” classrooms? How do we blend your decodables with real-world variability without inducing confusion?
🗣️ Over to You
Have phonics wars sidelined the spark in your classroom? Share your story, challenge the narrative, and let’s reignite the conversation.
Tomorrow’s Evening News: Stay tuned for more sparks.
Luqman Michel Dyslexia Advocate | Author of Shut Down Kids [Subscribe to the Blog] | [Follow on X] My Book: Teach Your Child to Read
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