Pinching a child and then rocking the child to sleep

Here is a Tamil proverb: "Pillaiya killi vittu, thottila aatradhu", meaning, "Pinching a child and then rocking the child to sleep.

The Western world has created major issues facing a majority of the children predisposed to shutting down from learning to read.

AND, they have even coined the word Dyslexia for such kids.

Zack Barnes and Dyslexia

In the article I posted earlier this week, Zack Barnes Ph.D. was said to have made some comments as below.

But Zack Barnes, an assistant professor of education at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, says that the research is clear that dyslexic students need systematic, explicit phonics instruction.

Who are these dyslexic students? To lump each and every student who cannot read in English as dyslexic is what those with vested interest have been doing for the past more than 50 years.

Richard Allington and dyslexia

In a special report on Education Week Teacher by Sarah Schwartz on December 11, 2019 was an article entitled:

ProminentLiteracy Expert Denies Dyslexia Exists; Says to 'Shoot' Whoever Wrote Law on It.

Here are some extracts and my comments:

Looking at dyslexia with a jaundiced eye

To look at something with a jaundiced eye means to look upon something with prejudice, usually in a cynical or negative way. The word jaundice is an adjective that means showing distaste, envy or bitterness.

Any human being who thinks that what he does not know cannot exist is wearing the crown of ignorance.

Understanding Dyslexia - MindShift

    

         

The Western world is not interested in finding simple solutions to helping children who have shut down from learning to read in English. They want to make it as complicated as possible so that they can make money. Why kill the Golden goose!

A talk to teachers and parents of a kindergarten

The President, Rotarian Stephen Siaw of the Rotary Club of Luyang made arrangements for me to give a talk to parents and teachers of kindergarten kids in a kindergarten in Menggatal, Sabah.

The talk was held on 22.11.2019. Here are a few of the many photographs taken by President Stephen Siaw.

Suicidal tendencies

Yesterday, a friend from the USA wrote a post on FB on suicidal tendencies.

The following is what I read from the internet after I had finished reading the post by my friend.

Wilful Blindness - A revisit

Yesterday, while surfing the internet I came across the word wilful blindness. 

Most of the ‘educated’ professors in UK as well as the USA and Australia, I have dealt with, simply cannot accept that a majority of children classified as dyslexic are actually shut down kids who shut down due to wrong teaching.

Rotary Community Corps & Shut Down Kids

A Rotary Community Corps is a group of non-Rotarians who share Rotary’s commitment to changing the world through service projects.

RCC members plan and carry out projects in their communities and support local Rotary club projects.

Free lessons for Shut Down Kids

I had prepared lessons for my students and had them posted in my blog in 2010. Unfortunately, the service provider, File Den, disappeared without any notice and I lost all my lessons on the internet.

Fortunately, I had printed and saved the hard copies.

With the help of a friend in Rotary Club Luyang we have now produced the book which is available free of charge.

Sounds of letters

The video clip below was sent to me by a teacher whom I spoke to about how sounds of letters of the alphabet are taught in schools. This is how most schools in Malaysia teach the sound of the letters.


https://youtu.be/f-lnIXt5i34

Spelling options for /k/

On 14.3.2019 I gave a presentation to 13 kindergarten teachers in a school in Kota Kinabalu. This is my 3^rd presentation to schools and the first to a kindergarten.

The head teacher had collected questions from the other teachers and asked me many questions and the Q&A session went on for more than an hour.

Notes for parents and teachers (Part2)

I regret that the uploading of my book on the internet will be a little delayed as we are having a little problem with sound recording.

Meanwhile here is part two of 'Notes to parents and teachers' which will be part of the book.

Notes for parents and teachers (Part 1)

                                                                   

Is phonics still taught?

The short answer is no or at least in most instances phonics is not taught correctly. The main reason is that few teachers are trained or equipped to teach phonics. Most schools that teach phonics add extraneous sounds to consonants which leads to about 20 to 30 percent of children predisposed to shutting down to disengage from learning to read. 

Teach your child to read

Here is the preface to my book which I hope to upload onto the internet by next month at the latest.

A majority of children are wrongly classified as dyslexics when in fact they are instructional casualties. Many smart children who are predisposed to shutting down will disengage from learning to read when they have been taught wrong sounds of the alphabet.