Since 2004, I have been teaching children labelled "dyslexic" to read English by stripping away the "noise." I have seen time and again that when you remove extraneous sounds—like teaching 'b' as "buh"—the "dyslexia" often vanishes within weeks.
Now, we are seeing the exact same disaster unfold with Pinyin.
The Death of Clean Pinyin
In a recent discussion on Twitter (Now X) a teacher Jen@jenteach13 said:
You want to fix education?
Let teachers remove kids who make it impossible for everyone else to learn.
Recent studies show a startling trend in China: reported dyslexia prevalence has jumped from roughly 3.9% a decade ago to as high as 12.6% in recent urban research. While the biological traits of dyslexia remain stable, our instructional methods have shifted, creating a generation of students who appear to be struggling with reading but are actually victims of a confusing phonetic hybrid.
The Rise of the "Phantom Vowel"
We know the brain can learn to read. Some children, like Emma Hartnell-Baker, pick up Enid Blyton at age three with no instruction. But most aren’t so lucky. They need teaching — and the science is clear: everything hinges on connecting letters to sounds.
The following tweet captures a maddening truth:
Education is one of the few fields where people with no training feel entitled to dictate methods, policies, and “best practices.” Nobody would let a passerby advise a surgeon mid-operation or redesign an engineer’s bridge. Yet in classrooms—especially in reading instruction—voices from policymakers, academics, influencers, and even trainers who’ve never sat with a failing child often carry more weight than those who have.
The Star today reports a dual crisis for Chinese students in Malaysia: fewer candidates, fewer top scorers in the SPM. The shock is palpable. But let’s be blunt—this collapse didn’t come out of nowhere. It is the direct consequence of wrong teaching imported from China, and the silence of educators who refused to confront it.
The Bopomofo Infiltration
In 2004, I began teaching a bright young child to read. Like many educators at the time, I turned to the internet for guidance and encountered countless articles claiming that the primary cause of dyslexia was a phonological awareness deficit. This idea—that children with dyslexia struggle mainly because they can't properly perceive or manipulate the sounds in spoken language—dominated the conversation.
Not a single adult has ever openly discussed why many kids misbehave. Many who misbehave are intelligent kids.
This observation comes from years of working with struggling readers. The pattern is unmistakable: bright, capable children are often the ones who act out the most in class.
Early wrong input is hard to undo. Claude Bernard saw it in the 1800s. Thorndike proved it in 1913. Charlie Munger explained why the mind closes the door.
For years I have been warning about instructional videos that teach consonant sounds with extraneous “uh”. These videos don’t just confuse children — they cause many to disengage completely from learning to read.
A respected teacher recently posted:
“A dyslexic brain needs about 400 exposures to a word to anchor it in long-term memory.”
It sounds authoritative. It sounds scientific. But is it true?
Welcome to Part 7 of How to Teach Dyslexic Kids! By now your student has built strong foundations in phonics, multisensory techniques, and the finger-blocking method for spotting reliable patterns like ee, oo, and other vowel teams. This stage focuses on two powerful unlocks: R-controlled vowels (the “bossy r” sounds)
Syllable division rules — the key to cracking longer, multisyllabic words.
Now I understand why many parents and teachers of dyslexic kids have not bought my book, Teach Your Child to Read — which is a complete programme with a QR Code for each chapter.
A few days ago, I found myself in a thoughtful LinkedIn exchange with R. Janet Walraven, M.Ed., an international award-winning author and passionate educator. The topic? Helping children—especially those who struggle—learn to read confidently and correctly.
Welcome to Part 6 of How to Teach Dyslexic Kids! We’re building directly on the finger-blocking method from Part 5. Once your student has solid success with ee (the long /ē/ sound), it’s time to introduce more common vowel teams and digraphs. This keeps the momentum going while systematically expanding their ability to decode thousands of new words.
Vowel teams (two or more letters working together to make one sound) are a frequent sticking point for dyslexic learners because English spelling is inconsistent. Explicit practice with the blocking technique turns confusion into confidence.
I have written several articles explaining that many children shut down from learning to read because they have been taught letter sounds wrongly — that is, with extraneous “uh” or “huh” noises tacked on, which makes blending almost impossible.
So here is the obvious follow-up question that almost no one ever asks me: If your hypothesis is correct, then how is it that many children who attend schools where “correct” pure sounds are supposedly taught right from Grade One still leave school as functional illiterates? If wrong sounds are the main culprit, shouldn’t every child succeed?
The “Blocking” Technique & Digraph Mastery
One highly practical strategy is helping children confidently tackle unfamiliar words is by spotting reliable letter patterns. The book Teach Your Child to Read introduces a simple, tactile “finger-blocking” method starting around Chapter 20.
This technique builds directly on phonics knowledge and gives kids a concrete, hands-on way to isolate and recognize common digraphs (two letters that make one sound) like ee, oo, ea, ai, etc.
Here is my reply to Allie and Emma Hartnell-Baker
I hear you, but you're still missing the point.
You're describing a kid limping because there's a nail embedded in his heel — and instead of pulling out the nail, you're listing a dozen other possible reasons: wrong shoes, poor nutrition, weak muscles, bad posture, lack of motivation, etc. Sure, those things could matter in some cases. But when 20% of kids have been leaving school as functional illiterates for decades, year after year, with the failure rate barely budging, it's time to stop the excuses and remove the damn nail.
How I Spot the Real Problem in Under 5 Minutes (And Why I’m Confident They’ll Read Fluently in 3 Months)
In Part 3 we covered memorising the 220 Dolch high-frequency words. These words appear so often in print that knowing them by sight gives children an immediate boost in reading confidence and momentum.
Now let’s address the question parents ask me most often:
“How can you be so confident that you will get my child to read within three months of two-hour lessons per week — even when the psychology report says he has dyslexia or a specific learning disorder?” LINK
Some belief systems have become so deeply ingrained in educators and policymakers that no amount of real-world experience or evidence seems to shake them. One of the most persistent is the claim that kids don’t need to know letter names to learn to read — and that teaching them can even make reading harder.
This idea circulates widely on social media and in teacher training circles. Yet every state still lists naming letters as a kindergarten standard. The result? Generations of children, particularly those with dyslexia or other reading challenges, continue to fall through the cracks.
Different Perspectives on Teaching Reading: Dolch Word Memorisation (High-Frequency Words)
In my recent Facebook discussions with educators Kylie Hoey and Barbara Schubert, the topic of rote memorisation of Dolch words came up. They expressed concerns that memorising words is inefficient, hit-and-miss, or creates bad habits compared to pure decoding. Kylie emphasised teaching words like “with,” “there,” and “one” through explicit decoding and etymology, while Barbara noted that comprehension doesn’t simply follow decoding.
Recently, I came across a comment from Allie-Alejandra Joyner, M.Ed.:
Founder, CEO & Creative Director at Create Curiously | Advancing Literacy Through Curiosity, Creativity & Voice
Luqman Michel, I have had many students in my classrooms over the years who might have been described as “shut down” or identified as emerging readers. How I helped these students was by never stopping the development of rich language through stories while also teaching with evidence-based practices. Often, the shift came from reframing their relationship with reading and rebuilding their confidence alongside explicit instruction. Listening to stories is not separate from learning to read. It strengthens language, comprehension, and connection. For many students, that is exactly what helps them re-engage and begin to read.
Even consonants are not spared.
Almost all the consonants too represent more than one sound.
When we correctly teach the sounds of letters — that is, without any extraneous “uh” or “huh” noises tacked on — many children still shut down if they haven’t first been taught the letter names. This is because a huge number of everyday words are actually pronounced using the sounds of the letter names themselves, not the isolated phonemes we drill in phonics lessons.
Yesterday, an Educator from South Bay asked me how I teach dyslexic kids. Her profile says: ‘Helping young learners grow in reading.’
I started by communicating with her on messenger but thought why not post the conversation here so more may benefit.
Here is our discussion thus far:
In the last 2 days I noticed many on social media disagreeing with class retention if they haven't mastered the basics. This is the foundation for my post today.
If a child hasn’t learned to read by the end of 1st grade, how will they possibly succeed in 2nd grade?
The following discussion on Facebook is another excellent example of ‘The human mind is like the human egg’. Once an initial idea or belief gets in—especially about how children learn to read—the mind forms a protective barrier, shutting out contradictory logic, evidence, or real-world success stories, much like a fertilized egg blocks additional sperm. No amount of logic or examples can change a person’s line of thinking once that first “sperm” (a firmly held teaching philosophy) has taken hold. Educators and researchers often cling to their preferred methods despite clear counterexamples from actual teaching.
I read the following Tweet by @SciAdapt and replied him.
Questions and comments are welcome
Adapt And Thrive @SciAdapt Apr 16
Bro. I'm a sped teacher and 1000% yes. I've expressed this concern with my admin, the psychs, anyone who will listen. The refrain is they should've been identified sooner. Or? I have handled 12 referrals in 4th grade alone this year.
The title is the question posed by a retired SPED teacher on Twitter.
My Answer After Teaching 80+ Smart Kids Who Couldn’t Read"
@SciAdapt, Spot on! The big picture is just a series of small steps—and when we teach those steps right, the rest often falls into place. I’m an accountant, not a trained teacher. Years ago, I started working with a bright boy who had finished kindergarten + Grade 1 but still couldn’t read a single sentence in English. I knew nothing about phonics, so I grabbed a set of Peter and Jane books. I read a sentence, he repeated it after me. We did this for six months until he could read on his own. Then we flipped it—he read while I helped only on tricky words. That success made me curious.
Many intelligent children falter not because of lack of ability, but because of shame avoidance. When early struggles in reading are met with ridicule or punishment, these children misbehave to mask their difficulties. In supportive systems, they thrive; in punitive ones, they derail.
I Received a comment on my post ‘Stop Blaming Kids' 'Poor Phonemic Awareness' — It's the Wrong Letter Sounds, Stupid!’ LINK
Here is the comment by Deanna White - Interdisciplinary Studies Major
Sir, while your success in helping students is commendable, neuroscience offers a clearer explanation for why your "letter-naming" method works—and why "rote memorization" isn't actually what is happening in the brain.
Here is an on-going discussion with a lady who is very knowledgeable and open to discussion.
Cynthia Shevel CALT /TCRS Therapy
Cynthia:
As a Certified Academic Language Therapist, Wilson Practitioner, and Intervention Specialist, I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how dyslexia is identified and supported here in Ohio—and what families actually experience through the process.
For clarity, the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) defines dyslexia as a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language and are often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.
Here are extracts from a Facebook comment on a post I read today.
Emma Hartnell-Baker
It’s difficult as most have poor phonemic awareness and phonological working memory.
My thoughts:
Here they go again. They teach the wrong sounds of letters and then claim that kids have poor phonemic awareness. Read one of many posts on this at: LINK
A new analysis by Chad Aldeman for The Collaborative for Student Success reveals a stark “Graduation Gap” across US states: high school graduation rates remain high, yet math proficiency lags dramatically behind.
Examples include Florida (90% graduation vs. 44% proficient in Algebra/Geometry), Connecticut (89% vs. 31% college-ready on SAT math), Rhode Island (84% vs. 23%), Washington D.C. (86% vs. 15%), and Tennessee (92% vs. 29%). Gaps are wider in math than reading, larger with externally validated tests, and especially pronounced for low-income students, English learners, and those with disabilities.
Here are extracts from the talk-show by YB Khairy Jamaluddin.
Malaysia’s grade inflation debate misses the deeper crisis: failing to identify and support intelligent children who struggle with reading early on. Until literacy reform takes priority, more A’s will mean less progress.
We are getting more A’s but our international Benchmarking is getting worse.
Is it because of grade inflation?
These are all views and comments that we hear but no one is incentivized to touch this because parents, students, teachers and the education industry, we have a huge tuition industry, everyone is incentivized to just continue to churn As, and not actually sit down and say, ’Hey, wait a minute, more A’s but Benchmark Internationally we are still doing badly’.
I recently reached out to Enc. Khairy Jamaluddin for a Zoom meeting after listening to the latest Keluar Sekejap podcast. In that episode, he and Enc. Shahril Hamdan highlighted a striking contrast: more than 13,000 students scored straight A's in SPM 2025 — yet Malaysia's PISA scores continue to fall badly. The discussion raised uncomfortable but necessary questions about whether our education system is delivering real excellence or just an illusion of success.
Why We Read, Watch, and Stay Silent — Even When the Glass Barrier Is Gone
Recently, the popular podcast Keluar Sekejap (hosted by Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan) sparked an important discussion: In SPM 2025, more than 13,000 students achieved straight A's — a number that looks impressive on paper. Yet Malaysia's PISA scores continue to decline. The episode asked a pointed question: Is our education system truly producing excellence, or are we creating an illusion of success? Many of us watched or read about that episode (and similar critiques). We nod in agreement privately. We share the concern about "shut-down kids," rote learning, dyslexia being overlooked, and students who master exams but struggle with real-world application and critical thinking. But how many of us actually comment publicly on Facebook, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), or even in the comments section? Very few!
Here is the video link to Keluar sekejap: https://x.com/i/status/2040334125614383385
You may read the Substack post here. LINK
The article explores stealth dyslexia in twice-exceptional (2e) children — kids who are both highly gifted and dyslexic. Their intelligence allows them to compensate so effectively that their reading difficulties are often hidden, making them appear “fine” on most classroom measures.
For many bright, logical children—especially those labeled dyslexic—learning to read English can trigger a sudden mental shutdown. They sit in class, eyes open, but their minds check out. They hear the teacher but stop listening. What was once eager curiosity turns into blank resistance. This disengagement isn't laziness, defiance, or low intelligence. It's a logical mind protecting itself from what it perceives as nonsense.
For decades, dyslexia has been framed as a disability rooted in phonological deficits. Yet my years of teaching show a different reality: many bright, healthy children struggle not because of innate flaws, but because they are taught the wrong sounds of letters. This initial confusion snowballs. English’s inconsistent spelling system only makes matters worse, while these same children read fluently in Malay or Romanized Mandarin — proof that the issue lies in method, not mind.
For years I have argued that most children labelled “dyslexic” in English-speaking systems are not truly dyslexic. They are bright kids who shut down because of confusion introduced by poor teaching—especially the extraneous vowel sounds added to consonants (“buh” instead of pure /b/) that make blending impossible. Remove that confusion with pure sounds, structured practice, and high-frequency word automaticity, and they read fluently. I have seen it in more than eighty children I taught personally.
In Parts 1 and 2, we examined real-world evidence that most children labelled “dyslexic” in English-speaking systems are not truly dyslexic in the neurobiological sense. Singapore's top PISA reading performance (543 points in 2022, OECD average 476; 89% at Level 2 proficiency or higher) and low reported dyslexia rate (~3.5% of Primary 3 students per MOE data from 2016–2019) show what happens when explicit, pure-sound instruction prevents confusion from the start. Cross-language cases (kids reading Malay or clean Pinyin fluently but struggling in English) prove the issue is often instructional—extraneous sounds (“buh” vs. pure /b/) create artificial blending failures and shutdowns, not an innate phonological deficit.
In Part 1, we saw how Singapore's consistent top performance in PISA reading (543 points in 2022, well above the OECD average of 476, with 89% of students at proficiency Level 2 or higher) aligns with a low reported dyslexia rate (~3.5% of Primary 3 students per MOE data from 2016–2019). Their explicit, systematic early instruction—pure sounds from the start, no extraneous vowels on consonants—prevents most confusion and shutdowns that lead to labels elsewhere.
For over fifteen years I have been saying the same thing: the vast majority of children labelled “dyslexic” in English-speaking countries are not dyslexic at all. They are intelligent kids who shut down because they were taught reading in a way that created confusion. Once the confusion is removed, they read. I have seen it happen with more than eighty children I taught one-to-one between 2004 and 2019.Yet every year the numbers keep rising. In the US, UK, Australia and many other places, 10 % to 20 % of children are now being told they have dyslexia. That cannot be right. A real neurobiological condition that affects the way the brain processes spoken sounds should not suddenly explode to one in five children just because we changed the way we label it.
Singapore shows us the truth. The Singapore Evidence:
The phrase “It is better to be a wolf that everyone hates than a donkey that everyone rides” sparked an interesting discussion on LinkedIn recently.
We often hear that “the truth speaks for itself.” But in practice, truth rarely travels alone—it arrives wrapped in tone, timing, and context. And while tone should never be used as an excuse to dismiss truth, it often determines whether truth is heard or rejected.
1. Truth is Necessary, but Not Always Sufficient
Facts are the foundation of progress. Without truth, cooperation collapses.
Yet human beings are not purely rational. We filter truth through emotions, status, and identity. If the delivery feels like an attack, people may resist—even when the content is correct.
As a parent, teacher, or caregiver of a child with dyslexia, you might notice challenges in reading comprehension that seem daunting at first. But the good news is that these issues are often not inherent to dyslexia itself—instead, they're frequently tied to factors like fluency, vocabulary gaps, and a lack of interest or background knowledge.
