HERE ARE EXCERPTS FROM AND ExWyZee REMEDIAL READING LOG FOR A DYSLEXIC

ON RETENTION
Retention in 3^rd grade has been considered by the parents. In our session I strongly advised against it. Retention usually means repetition of what didn't work well the first time. This preliminary diagnostic survey indicates that she has not received appropriate focused instruction for the deficits listed above (See Link-10). A strong indicator of that is that she showed no understanding of Decoding By Parts. And the probability is that she has been instructed to sound out multi-syllable words letter-by-letter. That suggests that the task at hand is to break her of the sounding-out-compulsion for multi-syllable words.

ON PARENTS RIGHTS
I recommend, under provisions of Parental Rights, Michigan Compiled Laws (Section 380.10), that Sue's school be requested: (a) To make reading its primary mission for her, and that she be provided, two hours per day of individual LTR (Learn To Read) and RTL (Read To Learn) instruction. (b) That the reading instruction not be based on Norm-Reference standardized test results, but on Criterion-Reference evaluations. (c) That English grammar instruction not be counted for the two hours.

THE PLUNGING EXPECTATIONS OF SPECIAL ED PROGRAMS
I'll start with the observation that, of course, there are Special Ed programs staffed by effective self-taught teachers of remedial reading for the dyslexic.  (Universities don't train them for it.) There is, however, a glut of Special Ed reading operations that, for a dyslexic, are not programs.  They are sentences. The first thing that happens in their incarceration is that expectations are derived from invalid evaluation of their abilities.  

Why do I start such things as this at bedtime?  I'll be back with case studies.  The first will be Joey, grade-6, a bright dyslexic who tested at grade-1 on standardized norm-reference tests.  So, his sentence had him working at the-fat-cat-sat-on-the-mat level.  We put him to work at the word level with, for example, fatima, catatonic, satisfaction, matador.  When I met him he had been expelled for bad conduct from the regular public school, then from the local charter school.  He was back in school on a sort of probationary basis.  Eleven months after we started him in the program he was on the honor role.  Magic?  No, we just threw away the Norm Reference Tests, and looked at the kid.  

I'll be back.

About Dyslexia Monograph

What does b and d reversal have to do with dyslexia?  Nothing.  
I'll be back.  It's supper time.

GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN DYSLEXIA    Thursday June 4
We've discovered some.  Will speak more of them when more is known of them.  Looking briefly at one of them and noting that the program presents the "latest research findings," brings to mind the aphorism, The Proper Study of Shepherds is Not Shepherds.   Unfair?  Maybe.  But my cynicism cup runneth over with respect (dis, actually) for treatment (mis, actually) of dyslexia in teacher preparation by schools of education.

A BLOGGING VIRGIN, BUT DYSLEXIA ACTIVE
I was a blogging virgin until a few days ago, so it will take some time to get my work on remedial reading to bed.  It's for dyslexics, a computer program developed on and for the dyslexia-stricken. It's free to parents of in-school or out-of-school dyslexics.
Bill

DYSLEXIA WATCH LIST
The free ExWyZee Remedial Reading Program was developed as a reactive program, for parents to react when some indication of reading difficulty shows up.  But I urge you to assume a proactive stance for your kids.  To see what I mean by that, log on to ExWyZeeReading.com, scroll down to the list of 20-some links, and click on Link-1:  Dyslexia Watch List.
Bill Swart

PHONEME AWARENESS -- DYSLEXIA
Contrary to what you'll hear in the first minutes of a dyslexia presentation, or will read on page 1 of a paper on dyslexia, lack of phoneme awareness is not the problem.  By at least mid-grade-2 most people who have been in an "evidence-based" program will have achieved Primitive Phoneme Awareness for all letters except Q and X.  Ask for the sound for letter-M and hear a hum.  For letter-B hear ba or buh.  For letter-L hear ulll, for letter-R it's err. The problem is a deficit in Functional Phoneme Awareness.  It's a Phoneme Blending deficit.

So, isn't that obvious when we lecture on Phoneme Awareness?  No, obviously it's not obvious.  Parents, some teachers, many para-pro tutors, go home (or close a book on dyslexia) and find that a student has primitive phoneme awareness, so all's well, not having heard a sermon on functional phoneme awareness and phoneme blending.  

We are not advised, for example, to direct a student to read the pair-of-pairs, ab-ro, to see if she reads them as  aaa bu - errr oh.  So we blunder on, coaching 3rd to 12th grade dyslexics to sound out multi-syllable words (eg: permanent as pa-err-mm-an-enn-t). College-level tutors, para-pros, Gramma volunteers, even some special ed teachers, are not trained in BREAKING a dyslexic's Soundout Compulsion.  In many programs the closest they come to drilling on Decoding By Parts is a bit of instruction on syllables.  

Go to an education materials center or library, and look in the teachers' edition indexes of popular elementary reading series, to find references to Decoding By Parts.  And, if you should find some, look for workbook or computer drills to train students to experiment with separation by parts, to find one that breaks the code for a word.  eg: for apricot, apr-ic-ot is not likely to work for the student when directed to read her parts.  But it's likely one of these would work, ap-ric-ot, apri-cot, ap-ri-cot -- if the word is in her vocabulary.

Good Luck in your search.

Search Key:  Billiam Reading