Why do Kids shut-down (Part 3)

Schools here and in most parts of the world teach the alphabets as follows: a is for apple; b is for bed; c is for cat; d is for dog …….. z is for zebra. All kids whether prone to shutting down or not will easily learn these letter sounds. After this has been taught the teachers begin to teach simple words and then simple sentences and slowly start building up the vocabulary of the kids.

Dyslexia – How NOT to teach letter sounds

                                                       

How would you pronounce the following word?

‘Cuhohtuh’

Can you recognize that word? It is an English word given to us by Liz Dunnon. You can hear it in a YouTube video here: (You can hear it under skill 2 between minutes 1.48 and 3.05 in the video.) LINK

Writing and reading

                                                                

I have written about a British who could read fluently in Japanese and yet was ‘dyslexic’ when it came to reading in English. I have articles by researchers saying that Italians who could read fluently in Italian could not read well in English. I have taught many dyslexic kids who could read well in Malay and yet were dyslexic in English. Now, my friend Bob has said that a Harvard professor who wrote the introduction to the 1912 English translation of The Montessori Method also wrote "That (handwriting fluency) might work for Italians, but it would never work for Anglophone students".

 

How can we incorporate handwriting with what I have been writing in my blog on teaching ‘shut-down’ learners?

Dyslexia – Some questions and suggested answers

                                                  

Are there children who find it more difficult to learn to read than a majority of children?

The answer should be a resounding yes as there are research reports and newspaper reports stating that all over the world about 20% of children are illiterate in the English language when they leave school.

How many of the roughly 20% of children can become good readers after intervention?

Almost 90% of these children can be taught to read with intervention as recorded by many researchers.

Dyslexia - Why kids shut down

                                                                      

Teachers teach us the sounds/phonemes of the alphabet as: A apple, B bed, C cat, D dog E elephant and so on. Everyone will and can learn this with no problem at all.

Then when they start teaching us to read, the NIGHTMARE begins for the 20% of kids who are later considered stupid or lazy. These kids are neither stupid nor are they lazy. These are the kids who need to be instructed explicitly on anything different from what they have been taught. These are the kids who ‘shut down’ when they are confused.

"Quality of English teachers matter"

                                                            

Quality of English teachers matter

 

The above was the headline of page 9 of our local newspaper – The Daily Express.

We read similar headlines every year after the school results have been announced.

However, has the percentage of those who fail their English language reduced in the last 10 years?

If the answer is ‘no’ should we not ask ourselves “WHY NOT?”

Dyslexia - A new beginning...

A New Beginning

                                                            

When the world says, “Give up,” Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”

 ~ Author Unknown

I had lost my blog title and could not renew my web log. My previous web log was at: www.parentingdyslexia.com. However, my son managed to retrieve the blog posts and we have opened a new account. I will post some of the previous posts as we go along.

I have decided to write again as I am currently teaching a ‘learning disabled’ kid ( I don’t like that term but…) and I see the same pattern as in all my previous students. I think ‘Disengaged learners’ would better describe these students. They shut down when things taught to them do not make sense to them.