Below is an article on LinkedIn I have copied followed by my thoughts.
We are quick to judge and blame because it takes time to get to the root of the problem.
We also like to see the complex picture of things when it can be simple right in front of our eyes!
That makes me wonder why we always try to complicate.
I am
recording this in my blog for posterity. This shows the irresponsible people
who write whatever comes to their minds without thinking about how it affects
others.The irresponsible comments below refer to a Heinemann Reading Curriculum.
Kathleen Seeman, MEdKathleen Seeman, MEd • 1st • 1st Dyslexia Specialist and Interventionist, Master Teacher, Educator, AdvocateDyslexia.
WOW!! About time this wrong is righted! “The case could also break new legal ground. Stuart Rossman, who oversaw litigation at the National Consumer Law Center for 25 years, said he wasn’t aware of any previous class-action lawsuits over literacy curricula”
In education, the terms Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 refer to different levels of intervention and support that students may require to achieve academic success. These tiers also represent levels of prevention.
In my previous post, I posed a critical question: Can researchers, organizations, and government foundations be influenced or controlled by external powers such as funding sources, political agendas, or institutional pressures?
This inquiry leads us to consider who is behind BabyTV, the producer of Charlie and the Alphabet, which I believe negatively impacts children's learning.
Consider this question with what Edward Thorndike and Charlie Munger said. LINK
Recently I posted a video broadcasted in over 100 countries that teaches the wrong sounds of the letters. Many toddlers listening to this video will shut down/disengage from decoding and blending. Those promoting this video claim it to be an entertainment video.
You can find the video here. LINK
I made a comment
According to some, this is an entertainment programme, not an educational one so it does not matter. These clowns have made many believe that kids can differentiate between what is entertainment and what is academic.
Is this how to teach the sounds of the letters? The British are the main culprits in creating 'dyslexic' kids.
Suri Charles commented as follows:
After 14 years of arguing/discussing with many educators/researchers on social media, I have discovered that the human mind's tendency to cling to accepted ideas can serve as both a protective mechanism and a barrier to growth.
The human mind is a complex and fascinating entity, often resistant to change once it has settled on a particular understanding or belief. This phenomenon can be likened to the biological processes of reproduction, where the human egg has a protective mechanism that allows only one sperm to fertilize it, effectively shutting out others. Similarly, once our minds accept a plausible explanation, it can become a framework through which we interpret all subsequent information.
Learners generally fall into two categories: approximately 80% of children accept what their teachers present without question, often learning to read through patterns and analogies. In contrast, about 20% are logical thinkers who question everything they encounter. When their lessons conflict with prior knowledge or fail to make sense, these children may shut down or disengage from the learning process. This was already discovered by Thorndike in 1913 (More than 100 years ago). LINK
I recently shared some thoughts with Ethan Lynn regarding a pervasive issue in education: many educators struggle to understand why some children cannot read. They either don’t understand or refuse to accept that the reason is confusion caused by teaching consonants with extraneous sounds.
This brings to mind a response I received from some ‘experts’ in Australia in 2020 regarding phonics instruction. You can read more about it here. LINK
The following are comments on a LinkedIn post by Dr Martin Bloomfield.
Emma Hartnell- Baker, whose profile states that she connects spoken and written English with ‘Phonemies’ from birth commented on the post by Dr Martin.
Here are extracts and my comments/questions.
Dr Martin Bloomfield Author - Relentless optimist
Unless you're taking kids through your programme who have never had a reading difficulty, you have an ideal opportunity to research based on kids who have a reading difficulty but received early intervention.
My comment now:
Here is part 2 of my Twitter discussion I posted yesterday. LINK
Luqman Michel @luqmanmichel
Get a copy of my book Teach Your Child to read and point out if you hear any consonants pronounced with extraneous sounds.
Pat Stone @PATSTONE55
Nice cover. I’ll have a look.
I still defy anyone to say g without it being ug or guh
On 25.10.23 I Tweeted the following:
Baby TV Channel and Reading Reform UK are 2 of the main culprits for poor reading performance in the world. I have explained this in my blog post. LINK
More than 100 countries in the world broadcast Baby TV programmes.
I tagged Geraldine Carter the Managing Director of Piper Books who told me in June 2020, that the Reading Reform Foundation receives thousands of requests, messages, and different points of view. It is not possible to address all of them. Perhaps write your own programme and get it published?
I wrote my own programme and published my book this year and it is as good as any programme on teaching children to read and it is the cheapest in the world complete with Tracking which enables a kid to listen to the lessons while following the book. LINK
For many years now I have said that many intelligent kids disengage from learning to read due to teachers/schools teaching the wrong sounds represented by letters.
The obvious questions to ask me, which have never been asked, are:
i. Why are there kids unable to read in schools teaching systematic synthetic phonics like the school in which Sue Lloyd is teaching?
ii. How are a majority of kids who are taught sounds represented by letters wrongly, that is teaching letters with extraneous sounds, able to read?
Phonics
Most schools that teach phonics add extraneous sounds to consonants which leads to a majority of children being confused. Fortunately, most kids somehow figure out how to read and get out of the confusion. However, about 20% of kids who are predisposed to shutting down, disengage from learning to read.
Since the starting point for reading is sound it is extremely important that the sounds represented by letters are taught correctly from the onset.
This book is based on teaching children to read using phonics as well as memorising high-frequency words (sight words). This approach to teaching children to read is not based on educated guesses but on my successful teaching of children on a one-on-one basis over 15 years.
Many children have left school as illiterates during the ‘whole word period’ as well as the ‘phonics period’ because sounds represented by letters have been and are still being taught wrongly in schools throughout the world.
Make sure kids are not exposed to wrong sounds of letters taught on TV such as Baby TV programmes.
Please listen to the video clips here on how to teach and how not to teach sounds represented by letters. LINK.
This morning I read an excellent must-read article written by W. Dorsey Hammond.
I don’t agree with him taking a few unnecessary punches at phonics but overall it is a must-read article.
The article says:
“The average child normally endowed and normally taught learns to read only with considerable difficulty.”
This statement is made by the white man who does not know how to read in any other language. A child taught to read in Malay will have no problem reading any word in less than 3 months of teaching.
My book, ‘Teach your child to Read’, can get any kid, with no acuity problem, to read in less than 4 months. The book is made up of 30 lessons with only about 5 to 8 sentences per lesson.
This is a continuation of my post yesterday found here.
Renee Harding asked the following question:
If the majority of kids were somehow figuring out how to read (i.e., stumbling upon, “discovering,” or activating that “innate” ability [that doesn’t exist]), then why are so few students reading proficiently?!
I have said in several of my blog that reading is an innate ability contrary to what the general opinion is. I based this on observation of my students whom I started teaching in 2004 to learn why kids were able to read in Malay but not in English.
The first sentence in the image above says little was known in the old days.
But, many matters discovered and explained in the old days have not entered the brains of many of our present-day educators including Mark Seidenberg.
One of the most important theories proposed by Thorndike in 1913 (more than 100 years ago) is that what is learnt in the initial stage is important. New ideas that do not reconcile with old ideas will be rejected by the minds of a majority of people.
There is another quote from even much earlier as follows:
It is what we know already that often prevents us from learning. (Claude Bernard 1813 - 1878)
A kid’s prior knowledge can help or hinder learning. Prior knowledge influences how kids interpret what they are learning. When the knowledge a kid has from previous learning is inaccurate it will interfere or impede new learning.
Minute 34.50: If they don’t know the sounds of the letters they are not going to know how to read.
This is nonsense propagated by the puppets of the powers that be.
The brain is powerful enough to figure out how to read despite not knowing the sounds of the letters.
I tweeted about Timothy Shanahan asking me for evidence (research reports) to show that consonants should not be taught with extraneous sounds.
The following Tweets ensued.
Peter Blenkinsop @ManYanaEd Replying to @luqmanmichel @ReadingShanahan and 14 others
It must be ok to ask for evidence?
Luqman Michel Replying to @ManYanaEd @ReadingShanahan and 14 others
Yes, when it is something that cannot be thought of logically. Tell me, Peter, do you really need evidence to teach consonants without extraneous sounds. Where do I look for such reports? I can give you many personal anecdotes but you won't accept them.
Peter Blenkinsop @ManYanaEd
I would expect others to be using the system you use. That is some evidence.
Yesterday, 27.10.2020, I had a fruitful discussion on Twitter with nickie simonetti @ End the Struggle#Dyslexia.
In brief I said at the end of the discussion:
My discussions on Twitter is not to 'fix' but to make teachers aware that we can reduce kids leaving school as illiterate simply by not teaching the wrong pronunciation of phonemes of consonants. Prevent rather than cure.
nickie simonetti @ End the Struggle#Dyslexia responded:
Agree...whenever I watch an instructional video I shudder.
