Vanity: Reading Resources

Improve-Education.org ^ | June 1, 2010 | Bruce Deitrick Price

[BruceDeitrickPrice]

A special education teacher wrote to me about the abuse of Ritalin. The teacher said: “My students are on Ritalin. This is a brain shrinking, top tier heavily psychotropic drug, as you know. The authorities KNOW this is their weapon for the most intelligent boys... ”

The teacher believes this is a high-level NWO plot, which is not a road I like to go down. But the teacher got me thinking...

Here are the two parts I’m personally sure of:

1) The Education Establishment in this country, for 75 years, has used bogus methods (i.e., Whole Word) to teach reading. For many millions of children, the result is illiteracy and a COLLAPSE of each child’s confidence, with a concomitant increase in anxiety and misbehavior.

2) A separate set of experts (these are in the psychiatric community) diagnose millions of young children as having something called ADHD. The common treatment for this hyperactivity is Ritalin. Interestingly, according to a government site, “This pattern of behavior usually becomes evident in the preschool or early elementary years, and the median age of onset of ADHD symptoms is 7 years,” which just happens to be the age when children, taught with Whole Word, wake up to the fact that they are falling behind their friends and seem in some way to be damaged.

I would like to think that these two groups of experts are separate and sincere. The thought that the two groups are actually working together is almost too horrible to think about.

Here is my question: does anyone have solid evidence or personal anecdotes that can help illuminate this issue?

(Final thought: Inability to read will usually destroy a child’s sense that he is smart and in control. At the very least, shouldn’t all those highly-paid medical professionals assess the reading abilities of their patients, and then DEMAND that the education experts do more to make sure these children can actually read by the second grade? Even if these groups are separate and well-intentioned, it seems to me you still have a serious dereliction of duty if doctors are prescribing powerful drugs to children without understanding the actual cause of their anxiety and misbehavior.)

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(For more on why Whole Word causes illiteracy, see “42: Reading Resources” on Improve-Education.org.)

http://www.improve-education.org/id65.html

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[cva66snipe]

Cognitive Aspects of Vestibular Disorders So is it ADD ADHD or something more like this?

[philman_36]

...has used bogus methods (i.e., Whole Word) to teach reading.
BS! The first word I read was from a sign in a commercial!

I can still remember the elation I felt that day when I made the connection and realized that I could, and actually was, reading.
I learned that word and many other from listening and watching television. Commercials were my first reader. I didn't have any idea who "Spot" was or that he could run much less who "Dick and Jane" were.
Christ on a cross you even recognize TV as a source of educational material, though in a dissimilar manner. Television Teaches What Public Schools Used To

Whole word reading does work. I taught both of my kids that way and they were well above all of their classmates from day one. The problem with whole word reading is that teachers either do it wrong or they don't have enough time as it is a very time consuming process and advances vary from child to child. It isn't one size fits all.

And as far as the amphetamine or methylphenidate stimulant drugs being used on children...somebody lost their damn mind!

Having said that, much of your "2)" is so absurd I'm not even going to bother replying. You'll probably take it the wrong way and you'll be just one more "hurt" member. However, if you really want me to chime in I will.

BTW, my "whole word" daughter wound up being her class valedictorian. My son did well too, though not as well as her.

[philman_36]

“Whole Word” sounds like a horrible approach to me.
Let's give you a test and test your assumption...
If I say "bird" what first jumps into your mind?

[Tax-chick]

Thanks for explaining that. It didn’t make sense in the original phrase.

[BenKenobi]

Garbage.

Whole word does not work.

I have to tutor kids who get tossed away from the system, and the best part of my day is when they realise they are not stupid.

I teach phonics. I show them how words and sounds are connected with one another, something you think would be taught in elementary, but it is not taught. Then the kid struggles and thinks that he’s stupid and takes that chip on his shoulder through life.

Then the kid flunks out and gets sent to me.

[monkeyshine]

A flapper

[Tax-chick]

I’m teaching 6th grade Sunday School this year, and I learned this week that I’m not going to be able to just go around the room and have the students take turns reading a paragraph, because two out of the six I called on last time couldn’t read. (And this class doesn’t have any immigrant students.) I’ll have to ask for volunteers every time.

I expected this when I taught first grade, but not 6th.

[achilles2000]

The first 15 pages or so of Chapter 4 of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools will ground you in the Ritalin/psychotropic drugs debate. The notes will point you toward sources that you can contact to ask about reading in particular.

[BenKenobi]

“If I say “bird” what first jumps into your mind?”

Bird? Whut’z thaht? U meen berrd?

I no what ay berrd iz, it hahz wingz ahnd fliz!

[philman_36]

Whole word does not work.
Perhaps you should modify your statement. Maybe...Whole word does not work for my kids.
It does work, no matter what you say as my kids are living proof that it does. The problem is that it doesn't work well in institutional settings.
I taught my kids to read, not the public schools.

[BenKenobi]

“I’m teaching 6th grade Sunday School this year, and I learned this week that I’m not going to be able to just go around the room and have the students take turns reading a paragraph, because two out of the six I called on last time couldn’t read.”

So do the kids a favor and teach reading and help them learn how to read properly. The kids will thank you afterwards. *sigh*.

Good luck with it. I get college level students who struggle with reading and then wonder why they are failing all their classes. Bright students, but you have to spend time teaching greek and latin so that the kids can understand scientific terminology. Me, I was an autodidact and picked up on most of it myself, but nobody teaches suffixes and affixes today. Back in the day they taught them in grade 4!

[monkeyshine]

To clarify, you asked me what popped into my mind first when you said bird and I thought of a 1920’s flapper (woman) and yes I am aware of the coincidence that birds flap but that’s just how my mind works, clever and smart-aleky like that :-)

[BenKenobi]

“It does work, no matter what you say as my kids are living proof that it does. The problem is that it doesn’t work well in institutional settings.”

Fine. Explain to me how you teach that the sound, “berrd” is the same as the written word ‘bird’ using whole word.

[philman_36]

A flapper
Well, I'm not a big bird person so I have no idea what a flapper is.
If you had said cardinal, bluejay or even sparrow I would know those birds.
Can you post a picture of a "flapper".

[achilles2000]

You are misinformed about Ritalin. There is evidence of brain shrinkage and other worrying neurological problems. Moreover, how it affects the developing brains of children is largely unknown. I suspect from your eloquent post that you are allowing one or more of your children to be drugged or were drugged yourself.

[philman_36]

Whut’z thaht? U meen berrd?
I no what ay berrd iz, it hahz wingz ahnd fliz!

Hooked on Phonics!

[achilles2000]

Very cute kids, but I don’t see one that looks “chubby”...except the baby’s cheeks ;-)

[philman_36]

Okay, I got you. Too funny. Women are called "birds" in Britain and Australia too.
I meant the winged, feathered kind of bird. See above reply for a picture.

[BenKenobi]

Now, you laugh, but all the sounds are there.

Bird vs Word vs Whirred.

Why is it Bird and not Berd/Werd/Werd?

All one sound, yet spelled three different ways. If you were to look at word for the first time, how would it be pronounced?

If I said “the bird took the word and whirred?” does that sentence make any sense to you?

[Overtaxed]