[teacherman]

After reading a number of books on dyslexia and working intimately with both dyslexic and non-dyslexic children for the last 12 years, I believe that dyslexia can be "cured" before it becomes a problem.

Do I have your attention now?

Dyslexia is a word that comes from two Greek words: "dys" (which means difficulty) and "lexis" (which means "words").

So dyslexia simply means "difficulty with words". This difficulty only becomes apparent when a child begins to learn how to read in kindergarten or first grade.

I believe that the difficulty children have when they first begin to read is that their brains have not really learned how to perceive the printed word. Some kids actually "see" the words from the top down. Some see it from the back. Some can see it whichever way they are asked to read it (these are the readers who catch on the fastest.

I believe that by encouraging very young children to see words from every angle - top-down, back to front(mirror)and straight on - their brains will adjust very quickly. Reading then becomes just a process of associating the letters with sounds (phonics) and a lot of practice.

Don't agree? Please click on and watch this video...

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=KHZNEK0VNQA

[nick]

interesting idea but how then do you account for the known genetic difference in dyslexic and non dyslexics.

I agree the by early intervention you can compensate for the dyslexic symptoms but you cannot cure it and to claim outwise show a real lack of knowledge.

dyslexia is not solely about reading there is also aural recall the difference in short term memory and the ability to access information. There are many levwels of dyslexia and differnt facits to the condition it is disengenious to claim a single approcah to just hit reading skills will cure all.

[Michael]

I don’t think it will work too well.

bd
pq

I think you might confuse people. Distinguishing B, D, P, and Q is quite important

[Surprise]

one bit of info missing on this post that is printed on the utube clip is that it works 10% of the time. I like your passion tho, just be careful

[Christine]

Sorry but I also have to say if you look at the work of Ron Davis "The Gift of Dyslexia" his whole theory is that the ability of dyslexics to see words from all angles is the problem. It is this very fact that makes words move around.

Not that I'm saying Davis is totally correct but a lot of his stuff makes some sense, and has helped people I know. (He is also dyslexic.)

[Cariad]

There is no cure for dyslexia. There may be many strategies and techniques that can help dyslexics over come their difficulties.

Your utube demonstrated a young lad who reads one sentence on each page. I could see many issues resulting in this method.

If you are teaching the child the whole word technique he is learning the words upside down and that is how he will recognise them. Reading that way is teaching the child to read from right to left rather than the normal left to right so unless the children you teach are able to read everything upside down then they are going to struggle. Road signs, bulletin boards are never shown upside down. How are the children managing when they have to read off the classboard?

What was interesting was that he was unable to work out what the words he was unfamiliar with. You had to tell him what it was so the child isn't learning decoding skills. He was also not reading the sentence fluently even though he knew the words.

How well do your children read pages of mainly text? How are you measuring progress?

[teacherman]

Thank you Cariad, Christine, Surprise, Michael and Nick for responding to my post !!!

As you read what I have to say, please bear in mind that I am a first grade teacher in an inner city school. My job is to see that every one of the 26 children in my class learns to read on grade level, or above, by the time they leave me. Most of the time I am successful.

I have no agenda except to help kids learn to read.

Let me try to answer each of your concerns individually:

Cariad -

I believe that, if caught early enough, it can be prevented. It is not a disease. I believe it is a gift that the child just hasn’t figured out how to use yet.

If you take the time to really listen to the boy reading on the video, you’ll see that there is much more than one sentence on a page. The book is a second grade reader, and I corrected only one or two words during the whole reading. I do not teach the whole word technique. The boy in the video knows every letter sound and, if you listen to him carefully, he is actually “sounding out” the unfamiliar words as he goes along. His fluency is not that great, but this was a cold read.

I did not teach him to do this. He knew what to do from the first time I flipped the book over.

The ultimate goal here is that the child read normally - not upside down. Within a month the boy in the video preferred reading right side up. In fact, he read the whole first half of the book right side up before I asked him to flip the book.

His progress was measured the same way every other child in my class was measured. If a child can read a variety of leveled 2nd grade books fluently, with 96% accuracy and reasonable comprehension then s/he is ready for 2nd grade.

Christene-

I have read Ron Davis’ book and I agree that it is a problem, but only until the child realizes howto “control” this ability. I think, in the long run, it will be an asset to him in the future.

Surprise-

Ten percent is a lot of kids!
I’m happy it worked with the three in my class….

Michael-

One of the things that amazed me was that these kids distinguished “b” and “d” better upside down than many of my better readers did right-side-up. For that matter, they did better naming all the letters upside down.

Nick-

I’m only addressing the “difficulty with words” part of dyslexia, but please read my September 1st posting about Miguel. Once his reading problem was solved, his whole personality changed. His ability to access information improved exponentially as he became more proficient and more confident.

[Rod Duncan]

It is great that you are working to help dyslexics overcome problems. But I have to say the title of your posting is quite offensive to me. The implication that dyslexia is a disease or that I would like my brain to be re-wired into a more 'normal' pattern is so prevelent in society, and in my opinion does so much damage, that I think you need to be careful to avoid this kind of statement.

I do understand that you later go on to say that it is not a disease. But you are using this as your headline to attract attention and it does attract my attention. But in a bad way.

Sorry to be negative. I'm just expressing my (pehaps bruised) feelings.

All the best.

[Cariad]

Thanks for your explanation. I am genuinely interested in your work. I am a specialist dyslexia teacher.

I frequently have to undo strategies which dyslexic children have adopted or been taught that are ineffective in helping the dyslexic child to learn make progress. This means I often critically analyse new suggestions to see where my pupils may benefit or not benefit from these strategies. So please don't feel I was attacking/criticising you personally.

I think your came a cropper is using the term "cure". Dyslexia is neurological differences in the brain and I agree its not a disease. Dyslexia has a recognisable cognitive profile.What teachers do is use/teach strategies ( which is what you are doing) in order to help them learn. In your case learn to read.

Out of interest do you classify ALL children who have reading problems as being dyslexic or just those with dyslexic characteristics?


As with all things it may suit some children but not others.

[Cariad]

Thanks for your answers. I only asked because some people class all people who have difficulty with reading as being dyslexic regardless of their difficulties. My philosophy is ... if it works keep doing it.

[MEEKIE1000]

Only a dyslexic can truly understand a dyslexic, I have had so much advice from non-dyslexics and none of which has helped, there are ways that can help get round issues but no cure and I don't really want one as my dyslexia makes me who I am.

[lankyT]

the word 'cure' makes it seam like an illness

[MEEKIE1000]

lankyT, on 16 September 2009 - 09:43 PM, said:

the word 'cure' makes it seam like an illness

Well said!

[Rod Duncan]

This is how I feel too. Put better than I had put it. Thanks Meekie

[teacherman]

Sorry for any misunderstanding.

When I said, "cure dyslexia before it starts”, I was referring to the reading problem only - and I’m talking about young children (5-7 years old).
I do not, by any stretch of the imagination, consider dyslexia a disease. I agree with Ron Davis – that it is a gift. However, I believe that unless a child is shown early-on that he has this gift, problems arise very quickly.

Could anyone claim that Leonardo DaVinci and Einstein had a disease? If they did, I’d like to have it myself!
People thought that Leonardo wrote all his notes in a secret code because he didn’t want others to read them, but now we know that he was “mirror writing “. I believe that he actually “saw” words backwards in his mind, and he wrote them exactly as he saw them.

Last year, one of the brightest students in my first grade class could only read upside down and he actually wrote upside down too! He would turn his paper upside down, print his name upside down in the lower right corner, and write from right to left, bottom to top!

If you turned the paper back over and looked at it, you would swear that a typical first grader had written it. And it was actually neater than most of the other kid’s papers!

But if I gave that child a Spelling Test and asked him to write it top-down, he couldn’t do it. His printing was impossible to read, he couldn’t stay on the line, and he couldn’t get past the first letter of each word.

This same boy scored the highest in my class on the PPVT (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) - and this was in a class where everyone was reading Charlotte’s Web by the end of the year! He was excellent in Math and was easily my brightest student in Science.

Now, if that child goes into 2nd grade reading “on level”, is he still considered dyslexic?

Again, I’m sorry if I hurt anyone’s feelings. I’m sharing what I’ve learned to try help people, not hurt them.

[Cariad]

"Now, if that child goes into 2nd grade reading "on level", is he still considered dyslexic? "



I'll answer this question with another question. I am long sighted and cannot see text to read it... If I put my glasses on I can see it and am able to read "on level" .... does that mean I am no longer long sighted???

What you are doing is giving a child strategies to help them over come their area of difficulty,, that doesn't mean you have cured them of their dyslexia. My daughter and son have both learned strategies that allow them to read and are now excellent readers... both are still dyslexic.