Time, audience/receivers all play a part (Episode 1)

A LinkedIn friend responded to a comment I made and said; ‘Time, audience/receivers all play a part.’

I believe it is time to write with no holds barred.

I read an article entitled ‘The couple who helped decode dyslexia – The Shaywitz’s’.

 

I am intrigued by why people swallow ‘Hook line and sinker’ anything and everything written by so called ‘experts’.

Here are a few excerpts and my comments and please feel free to question me on my comments.

People with dyslexia have trouble separating words into phonemes, the sounds that correspond with each part of a word. For example, the word “dog” is broken down into the phonemes “duh,” “aah” and “guh.”

Hearing these discrete sounds is a vital part of learning to read. But people with dyslexia hear the word only in its entirety: “dog.”

Suicide prevention and shut down kids

Recently I read a post on LinkedIn published on 12.9.2018 entitled:

“Suicide Prevention Plan: 5 Tips to Deal With Thoughts of Suicide”

 The article is written by psychiatrist Melissa Welby, MD.

Phonics video that should be banned

The above is just one video to support my post yesterday. How does a teacher know what is the correct way to teach phonemes of alphabets?

My friend Ms Rose Hsu was honest in coming out to say she had made a mistake and taught phonemes of alphabets wrongly. 

Naïve parents let their children listen to videos, such as above, thinking that they will learn the alphabet sounds little realizing that many of them will be confused and end up shutting down from learning to read. The way phonemes are taught in many schools is more or less like that on the video.

Colorado's Dyslexic Students Face Systemic Challenges

Here are extracts from a Colorado Public Radio News. 

Colorado's Dyslexic Students Face Systemic Challenges—If They Can Even Get A Diagnosis

“But then she was failing. Years of struggling in class had worn away at her self-esteem, and eventually her will to live.” 

My comment: Yes, this is true with smart kids who cannot understand why they are smart and yet are unable to read. They enter school with very high self-esteem which is lost within a few months of entering grade one. My first student kept asking me ‘Uncle, do you think I am stupid?’This question was asked by him intermittently and stopped when he was able to read at grade level.

Initial learning

One of the chapters in my book is on ‘The importance of initial learning’.

I believe there are two broad categories of learners. About 80% of children do not question and learn whatever the teacher teaches or somehow figure out how to read using patterns and analogies. About 20% of kids are those that are logical thinkers who question everything they learn. When what they are taught does not make sense or does not agree with what has been learned earlier they shut down or disengage from learning to read.

Children learn in different ways. Do they?

Not a week passes by when I don’t read an article on the internet about how kids learn differently.

Here is one such article.

For years teachers and students have had to struggle with how to teach and how to learn. Each teacher has their particular style but then so do most students. The problems develop when teachers and students don’t match.

Educational science has studied these questions for years and has determined that when some individuals struggle with learning it may be entirely a question of how they are being taught.

How Microsoft's Immersive Reader tackles Dyslexia head on — and wins

I read the above-captioned article on the internet this morning. Here are some extracts and my comments.

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability that makes reading, interpreting words, letters, and other symbols difficult. See how Microsoft is helping those who suffer from it.

My comment: I have written about the above definition many times and I repeat. This is the kind of nonsense that people with vested interest write and gullible readers read and believe. If one can speak but is unable to read in English can you claim it to be a language based problem? Do the millions of kids who can read in Italian, Malay, Spanish and many other languages but are unable to read in English have a language-based learning disability?

Mayo clinic – “Dyslexia is a reading disability”.

Here is a link to the book above 


Here is an extract of what was published on an online newspaper Netownbee.com and my comments. You may read the whole article here.

Ms Mecca is leading a group she states numbers more than two dozen district parents — most, if not all, of whom have sought or are seeking expanded services from administrators because their children are exhibiting signs of, or have been diagnosed with, dyslexia.

According to the Mayo Clinic, dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called reading disability, dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language.

A comment on my book

This morning I had a pleasant surprise reading a comment on LinkedIn from an educator. 

I am sure Dr. David Pinder will implement the strategies in my book. Here is his comment on my book on LinkedIn.

David Pinder, Ed.D. Cluster Superintendent DCPS

Commonality between Math and learning to read

Dr. Barbara Oakley, an engineering professor and the author of a book on learning has written an article for the New York Times in the opinion section.

                    ‘Make Your Daughter Practice Math. She’ll Thank You Later.’

She has written on Math but I believe what she has written applies to learning to read as well.

Links to Shut down kids

I have had a few queries on where and how to purchase my two books published recently.

Shut Down Kids

Mainly my book is available on Amazon.com and people worldwide can purchase from there

Phonics Debate

 

The following are a few excerpts from the YouTube video on the Phonic Debate held in Sydney on 31.7.2018. I did not transcribe more as there was nothing new that was not said before.

 

    "The Australian College of Educators is the longest serving association in the teaching profession in Australia. The college is formed with the specific purpose of elevating the teaching profession in Australia and to provide all educators the opportunity and avenue……(the YouTube video was not audible)."

A day to remember

2.8.2018 was a good day for me. At 2 pm my two students (siblings – one in primary 3 while the other is in primary 5) came for their lessons. They both came to me for tuition for the first time on 20.6.18 and yesterday was their 14^th lesson with me. The mother had heard about me from a member of the Rotary club in which I was to talk about how to eradicate illiteracy. 

Both of the siblings could not read when they came to me and neither of them could even spell words like was, to, went etc.

Why is illiteracy as high as it is?

In 2010 after having taught more than 20 children, most of whom were classified as dyslexic, I did not agree with the more than 35 year old theory that children could not read because of ‘phonological awareness deficit’ (PAD). PAD simply means ‘unable to listen to spoken sounds’. 

The Big Boys - people with vested interest

As I have written in my blog posts a number of times there are people with vested interest who have been opposing my findings with all kinds of excuses. Some are those who have said things quite different to what I have found and are ‘unable’ to make an about turn. But many are lured by monetary gains and therefore stick with what is wrong. Advocates of dyslexia and many who are assisted by Dyslexia Association are prevented from discussing matters with me or accepting what I have found to be true. I have written posts on this in my blog a few years ago.