Dyslexics and phonological processing

 

In my post about why many schools in China are teaching Pinyin using Bopomofo initial sounds, DrJulie Safri made a comment and this is a short extract that I decided to reply to separately from the rest of her comment.

DrJulie Safri

Good morning Luqman, let me clarify my statement.....Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental condition, meaning it originates from differences in how the brain processes language, particularly phonological information. However, it is important to note that these neurological differences don’t mean a person with dyslexia cannot learn to read, they just require tailored, evidence-based instruction that accommodates their unique learning needs.

My thoughts:

“Tailored, evidence-based instruction that accommodates their unique learning needs” is something I’ve frequently heard from many teachers providing intervention for dyslexic kids.

I don't know how the brain processes languages and would be grateful if DrJulie Safri can educate me and whoever else is interested. 

Questions awaiting a reply from Ethan Lynn or anyone else (Part 2)

 

The following is extracted from Part 2 of being unable to read. LINK

Sounds represented by letters

I requested Ethan to listen to the sounds of the letters by kids who can’t read in grade 4. Let us see what he finds out.

This ‘research’ would be simple for any teacher to carry out. Get kids in grades 4 who cannot read, to sound out the letters, say, c, f, m, l and s. See if they pronounce them with extraneous sounds – cuh, fuh, muh, luh, suh. I’ll bet that is how they will pronounce these letters.

The root cause of children being unable to read (Part 7)

 

Ethan Lynn, PhD:

Luqman Michel thanks for sharing. I’m curious—what exactly is the method you’ve used with the 80+ kids you’ve taught since 2004? Could you walk me through how you diagnose and then teach them to read?

Luqman Michel:

In Malaysia, I used to talk with kids who were sent to me for tuition. This is to ensure they can speak English well. All my students could speak at grade level or higher.

I then asked them to read the letter names to make sure they knew the letters. All of them do this with ease.

The root cause of children being unable to read (Part 6)

 

Ethan Lynn, PhD

Luqman Michel, I noticed you’ve mentioned diagnosing reading issues by having children sound out consonants. Doesn't that rely on phonemic awareness as a key skill? I'm curious because this seems to contradict a previous post where you downplayed phonemic awareness deficiency as a cause for reading struggles. Could you clarify your thoughts on this?

The root cause of children being unable to read (Part4)

  

Ethan Lynn, PhD

Thanks, Luqman, I appreciate your insight and fully agree that phonics and letter-sound correspondence are one important key to reading success.

However, I’m a bit unclear about the idea that kids can "figure it out" on their own if they don't have proper instruction.

From my experience, those who don’t receive proper early instruction still need targeted intervention later on to fully catch up. This can and should occur in 4th grade and beyond and focus on the instruction you mentioned in the audio clip.

Could you clarify whether you're suggesting that most kids who can't read well by fourth grade will learn to read without further intervention even if they've received poor instruction? Or if there’s still a role for additional instruction? I'd love to better understand how your approach applies to struggling readers.

Luqman Michel Author

Ethan Lynn, PhD Has any research been done on how many students who could not read in grade four could read by the time they are in grade 9?

Did anyone find out how they could read without any remediation/intervention?

A large % of kids learn to read when they somehow figure it out.

They learn to read in later grades by using patterns and analogies.

Had they been taught correctly at the onset; they would not have had to figure it out.

 

Ethan Lynn, PhD

Luqman Michel, I agree that early instruction needs to be done right.

I'm curious about your argument that some kids eventually figure out how to read without intervention. How do they do this, and is there research supporting it? What do you mean by using "patterns and analogies," and what percentage of students successfully make this turnaround?

 

Additionally, what about the students who don’t figure it out? Are you advocating for no intervention, or could intervention help teach kids the right way, making up for what they missed early on?

To be continued…

The root cause of children being unable to read (Part 3)

                                                                  

This is a continuation of my discussion with Ethan Lynn, PhD. LINK and LINK

I then asked Ethan the following question:

Luqman Michel Author

Ethan Lynn, PhD, without intervention, will kids who can't read in grade 4 read at grade level by the time they reach grade 9?

The root cause of children being unable to read (Part 2)

 

Luqman Michel Author

I have listed the other reasons in my book Shut Down Kids which no one has disputed. But the root cause is teaching sounds represented by letters wrongly.

NOTE: You may read the book reviews on Amazon. LINK

Ethan Lynn, PhD

That is interesting. That's the first time I've heard this perspective. Is this specific to Malaysia, where English is not always the native language? Or is this generalized to native speakers learning in the USA?

I'm very interested in broadening my horizons a bit.

Thanks for the dialogue!

Tones in Mandarin

 

At the onset, I want to say that I want to learn to speak Mandarin the way it is intended to be spoken. I want to learn to speak it with the correct tones.

Recently, I joined several groups on Facebook to share experiences learning Chinese.

In most groups, beginners and intermediate learners complain about tones being the most difficult to learn in Mandarin.

Press Release

                                                     

Someone from the other side of the globe suggested that I should do a press release so that there will be greater exposure of my book. 

This is a free press release that has 10 links to other sites. 

Teach Your Child to Read by Luqman Michel

This book quite simply spells out exactly how to address reading problems. And that is it. Right to the point. Parents and teachers will be relieved to find in this book how their students can easily learn how to read.

• 

  Teach Your Child to Read cover

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Feb 10, 2024 (Issuewire.com)  - Luqman Michel embarked upon teaching children how to read when requested to do so by his neighbour whose son could not read even a single sentence after two years of schooling and kindergarten.

We don’t need meaning and pronunciation to remember words by sight (Luqman Michel)

                                                         

                                                  

Here is a tweet I read this morning that I disagree with.

Helen Proulx @HelenProulx 2 4.2.2024

To sum up- for a word to become a sight word, the meaning must be bonded to the pronunciation. Many words are not meaningful unless read in context (function words). It sounds an awful lot like Meaning, Structure & Visual information. (letters) are important in word reading/learning.

Luqman Michel @luqmanmichel

The following statement is incorrect.

'Words that are known by sight are recognized automatically because their spellings, pronunciations, and meanings have been stored in memory in separate but rapidly linked parts of the brain.'

Has Lucy Calkins hoodwinked anyone?

 

I tweeted the following and received a tweet in response from Karen Vaites.

Luqman Michel @luqmanmichel May 23

'She is only now embracing reading research that is >20 years old.'

Some say 50 years.

Where were the teachers and educators during these past 20 to 50 years?

Karen Vaites @karenvaites Replying to @luqmanmichel and @DanaGoldstein

It’s a fair question, but when a woman at @Columbia @TeachersCollege tells you her program is evidence-based, I can understand people getting hoodwinked.

Meaning of shut down kids

 

                                                     https://notionpress.com/read/shut-down-kids

In 2018, when I wanted to write a book based on what I had learned from my students since 2004 I searched for a title. I decided on ‘Shut Down Kids’ based on Shut Down Learner written by Dr. Richard Selznick.

 

When I say ‘shut down kids’ it is not derogatory in any way and just refers to the fact that about 20% of kids around the world disengage from learning to read when they are confused. These kids are then classified as dyslexic when in fact they are instructional casualties. These are the kids who leave school as functional illiterates.