Herd Mentality and the Comfort of Consensus
Recap: Why They Block
In Part 1, I exposed how my free, results-driven lessons threaten the dyslexia intervention industry. That’s why I’ve been blocked by prominent figures like:
Jo Anne Gross
Debbie Hepplewhite
Why I am writing This Series
Since 2010, I’ve blogged about reading instruction, dyslexia, and phonics—always grounded in facts and student outcomes. I’ve taught over 80 children labeled as dyslexic, and I’ve shared what works, freely and openly.
This new three-part series marks a shift. It’s not just about methods—it’s about why those methods get blocked.
I’ve been silenced, ignored, and blocked by educators, researchers, and influencers—not because my results are flawed, but because they challenge the consensus. These posts explore the motives behind that resistance: profit, herd mentality, and gatekeeping.
I’m not here to attack individuals. I’m here to ask:
“Why block a question? What does that say about openness to debate?”
If we want to solve illiteracy, we must be willing to confront uncomfortable truths. This series is my invitation to do just that.
It's been years since I first noticed the pattern: educators, researchers, and self-proclaimed literacy experts on Twitter (now X), LinkedIn, and beyond, blocking me not for harassment or threats, but for daring to question their sacred cows. As the founder of free online lessons that have helped dozens of children—many mislabelled as "dyslexic"—read fluently in under four months, I've become a thorn in their side. My crime? Pointing out that phonological awareness deficit isn't the root cause of reading struggles; it's the confusion from teaching consonants with extraneous vowel sounds like "buh" instead of pure /b/. Kids shut down, disengage, and get funneled into expensive interventions. But why block the messenger?
As mentioned in my blog post yesterday, Ethan said that Reading Horizon teaches the word cat as follows:
At Reading Horizons, we use successive blending to eliminate the extraneous sounds often accompanying stop consonants.
For example, 'cat' would be reduced to 'ca' and then made into 'cat'. The vowel following the consonant necessarily eliminates those extra sounds.
What nonsense is Ethan Lynn and Reading Horizons disseminating to the masses?
My Twitter account says:
We will return to Gwendolyn but for now, let us discuss the following post on a current LinkedIn post.
In 2010 I disagreed with the theory that phonological awareness deficit is the cause of dyslexia (kids not being able to read) and wrote extensively until that theory was debunked in 2017. LINK
There are still many researchers bent on bringing that debunked theory alive. Here is a LinkedIn post by Ethan Lynn, Ph.D. on whose previous posts I said why this theory is incorrect.
I listened to a podcast by some Science of Reading advocates and believe they have become desperate to promote their products. Listen to the podcast here and determine for yourself. The following are some extracts and my comments.
At minute 8.03: There is a limit as to how many words can be memorised – I heard 2,000 words.
