Everywhere I go I manage to find someone who wants to talk about dyslexia.  I'll admit, I'm not shy about bringing the subject up.  I'll also acknowledge, I do my fair share of the talking when it comes to the topic!  Okay, sometimes I even do more than my fair share of the talking!  But, I receive a slew of Google  Alert messages everyday on the topic of dyslexia so obviously I'm not the only one concerned about this subject! 


One Google alert I received yesterday came from the BBC and here are a few quotes (in bold) from the article:


Of 450 parents surveyed for the charity Dyslexia Action, 90% said teachers lacked awareness of the condition. (And I'd like to ask, of the 10% who were aware of the condition what did they actually know about dyslexia?)


More than half (56%) of the parents questioned by YouGov believed dyslexia was not given enough recognition within the education system. (I'd like to ask the other 54% of the parents "Did your child receive the appropriate kinds of services and help that they truly deserve?) 


The report, Dyslexia Still Matters, says that despite one in 10 children having the condition, there is no requirement for teachers to have any training in how to identify dyslexia or support a dyslexic child. (One in 10 could be a conservative estimation of the percentage of people with some form of dyslexia but it's a great place to start.)


I realize this article is from the UK but the same information applies to the US. There is one glitch in the article; it refers to the use of systematic phonics as the treatment best suited for dyslexia. Let's look at what the Davis Dyslexia approach is:

The problem with adding phonics to the mix is that it sends the brain down the wrong path. We are training the brain to use a vital short-cut that is the hallmark of all good readers (when we use Davis Spell Reading and Sweep-Sweep-Spell.) An efficient reader is able to recognize a familiar string of letters and match them almost instantaneously to a known word. This skill is sometimes referred to as "orthographic knowledge".

While Spell Reading and Sweep-Sweep-Spell are strategies for training the brain to visually scan letters and words that we're reading from left to right, we have another method that builds the vital information we need about words: 

Instead, we use Davis Symbol Mastery, which builds a strong mental connection linking the way a word sounds to what it means and the way the word looks. This simply is a more effective and permanent strategy for mastery of an essential reading vocabulary.

Here is an example of my friend A's symbol mastery work for the word "combustible" as in "capable of catching fire and burning."  While this example of symbol mastery might be a bit of a stretch in talking about the topic of dyslexia, I'd like to emphasize the idea that there's more than one way to deal with dyslexia other than using phonics.  (By the way, his clay model is of a building that became engulfed in flames.  The lines on the left side of the model are arrows showing the direction the flames moved.  As we were taking this picture the building caved in, which added to his understanding of the definition!)


I'll continue to be 'on fire' as I talk about dyslexia, and I know my friend A has some fuel to add to the discussion as well! Let me know what fuels your fire on this subject of dyslexia!

More at:http://www.dyslexia.com/library/spellread.htm#ixzz1z66JSMnj



To read the BBC article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18602782