Recently, I had a thoughtful discussion on LinkedIn with Brenda Nagberi, Founder & Lead Consultant at Bremon Educational Consult, Autism Advocate, and SENCo.
It mirrors conversations I've had with many educators and experts — productive until they block me or delete the thread.
The Key Exchange:
Brenda acknowledged:
"You raise an important point, teaching methods do matter, and inconsistent or unclear phonics instruction can absolutely contribute to reading difficulties. At the same time, it’s not the only factor. While some children struggle because of how they are taught, others continue to have difficulties even with high-quality instruction. That’s where underlying learning differences come in. So, either way we need to improve teaching methods and recognise that some learners require more specialised support. Both realities can exist at the same time."
This is a common view — one echoed by figures like Professor Pamela Snow and Dr. David Boulton before similar discussions ended abruptly.
I agree that teaching methods matter enormously. But I argue they explain far more cases than we admit.
The Real Issue: Dysteachia and Shutdown from Confusing Input
Focus on blending sounds — a core phonological processing skill. A child with strong skills hears /b/ /a/ /t/ and blends them smoothly into "bat." Yet many programs teach "buh-ah-tuh," adding extraneous vowel sounds ("uh"). Children can't blend this artificial version back into the real word, leading to confusion, frustration, and disengagement.
This isn't true dyslexia or a phonological deficit for most kids. It's dysteachia — a problem created by how reading is taught. This practice originated in the West and spread globally. Fifty years ago, with clearer British-style methods, far more children succeeded. Today, ~20% of students in the US and UK leave school functionally illiterate — a persistent statistic that demands we question the methods.
In my research and work with over 80 children labeled "dyslexic" (all of whom succeeded quickly with corrected instruction), the vast majority shut down due to this early confusion. Fortunately, most recover by grades 4–6 once the fog clears. But why cause the damage in the first place?
From my blog post on this exact topic (recommended reading): Videos like Charlie and the Alphabet (watched by millions of toddlers) and similar resources teach consonants with added "uh," creating powerful early wrong input. As Claude Bernard noted long ago, what we learn first is hardest to undo. Edward Thorndike’s Law of Primacy and Charlie Munger’s "mind like an egg" analogy explain why the door often closes to correct teaching later.
My conclusion from extensive posts on this:
The vast majority of reading failure is preventable. Only a small subset (roughly 3–5%) may have deeper neurobiological challenges needing intensive support. Most so-called "phonological processing deficits" stem from wrong first input that doesn't match later instruction.
We must prioritize precise, pure-sound phonics from the start — no added "uh."
Parents: Vet every alphabet video and app. Teachers and producers: Emphasize crisp phonemes. Teach the teachers first.
I’ve detailed these points across my blog (dyslexiafriend.com) and in my book Teach Your Child to Read. Improving methods doesn’t deny individual differences — it prevents creating unnecessary ones.
Below is the full discussion between Brenda and me on LinkedIn.
Brenda Nagberi
Author
Founder & Lead Consultant @ Bremon Educational Consult Limited | Autism Advocate, Inclusive Education | Lawyer | Mental Health Advocate | Therapist |SENCo
Brenda:
Phonological processing refers to how the brain recognises, stores, and manipulates the sounds of spoken language. So when this area is weak, a child may find it harder to break words into sounds, blend sounds together, or quickly match sounds to letters when reading and spelling.
In simple terms, it affects how efficiently spoken language is mapped onto written words.
Let’s focus on one key aspect: blending sounds together.
Take the word “bat”.
A child with strong phonological processing hears the individual sounds /b/ /a/ /t/ and quickly blends them into the smooth word “bat”. But in many schools, children are taught to say it as “buhaahtuh” — stretching and isolating each sound. When a child cannot blend “buhaahtuh” back into “bat”, we often label it as a phonological processing problem.
This is not dyslexia. It is dysteachia — a difficulty created by the way reading is being taught.
Brenda Nagberi
Luqman Michel I love the word ‘Dysteachia’ and I quite agree that a lot of children are having that especially in non English speaking countries and also due to the way some English words are , very tricky and confusing.
Luqman Michel
Sorry, I beg to disagree. The problem often labelled “Dysteachia” actually originated in the Western world and was later imported into many non-English speaking countries. Fifty years ago, when British-trained teachers were still teaching reading here, virtually every child learned to read successfully. Somewhere along the line, the method changed. Teachers began adding extraneous sounds when teaching letter sounds — “buh-ah-tuh” for bat, “kuh-ah-tuh” for cat, and so on. Many bright, intelligent children simply shut down and disengaged from reading because the approach felt confusing and unnatural. This is what prompted my own research into why so many capable children struggle with English reading. The result is a book that has helped thousands of desperate parents, both in the West and in non-English speaking countries, successfully teach their children to read.
About 20% of kids in the US and the UK leave school as illiterates. This has been going on for decades. Did you ask yourself why?
Brenda Nagberi
You raise an important point, teaching methods do matter, and inconsistent or unclear phonics instruction can absolutely contribute to reading difficulties.
At the same time, it’s not the only factor. While some children struggle because of how they are taught, others continue to have difficulties even with high-quality instruction. That’s where underlying learning differences come in.
So, either way we need to improve teaching methods and recognise that some learners require more specialised support.
Both realities can exist at the same time.
Luqman Michel
I have addressed both in several of my blog posts. This is exactly why the roughly 20% kids leaving school as functional illiterates have existed for decades.
Brenda Nagberi
Really interesting. I will go check out your blog. Thank you for your inputs on the topic, I do appreciate. We learn everyday!
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