When I wrote Shut Down Kids: How to Prevent Kids from Shutting Down, I wanted one thing to be clear: many children who appear to “give up” on reading are not broken. They are confused. For years I have worked with so-called dyslexic students and watched bright children disengage after being taught letter sounds with extra vowel attachments—“buh,” “guh,” and the rest—until blending a simple word like big no longer makes sense.
The book asks educators and parents to look first at instruction, not at the child. If we understand why kids shut down, we can keep them in the game and give them access to content and rigor instead of labeling them as the problem.
Readers in the United States have been generous with their time and honest with their reactions. Below are some of the Amazon reviews that mean the most to me—two five-star responses from educators and a parent, and a thoughtful three-star review that engages the central argument about letter sounds and then asks for the fuller picture of what learning to read requires. I am grateful for all of them.
Top reviews from the United States
Dr. David Pinder
5 out of 5 stars
Really enjoyed this book.
"I really enjoyed reading your book! It was insightful and provided interesting anecdotes to move student learning! Thank you Michel Luqman!!"
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2018
It's important to understand why kids shut down if we are going to help all students access content and rigor. This book will help educators understand the reasons that students fail to engage while providing sound strategies for accelerating learning. Simple read and informative.
Stan Hooper
3 out of 5 stars
Kill Usual Letter Sound outs for Children
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2020
Luqman is concerned about how difficult it is for students to learn to read, especially those with dyslexia, when we ask them to pronounce consonant letters with a vowel attachment. As an example, we've asked children to pronounce the letter b as though it was "buh," and the letter g as "guh" (hard g sound). So, for many students, we would thus literally be pronouncing each letter in "big" as "buh-ig-uh" which mysteriously (to kids) translates to "big," and kids don't do well. That's somewhat oversimplified to make the point; there is a good deal more to his thesis than that, but it gets you started. I believe he has a good point and I also think that learning to read is a very complex skill to accomplish which requires children to know much more than the letter sounds alone. So, His point is well taken and needs to incorporate all of what learning to read is about, well beyond letter sounds alone. I need to finish the book to add more to this review. Perhaps he will cover what I feel (so far) is missing.
Andrew Chong
5 out of 5 stars
Excellent!
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2018
An eye opening read. If only more parents could get a hold of this book, we could all play our little part in combating illiteracy!
Note: This post is prompted by an ongoing discussion with Dr. Karen Faulds on LinkedIn.
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