Return-Path: <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h5EGDtC11444; Sat, 14 Jun 2003 12:13:55 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 12:13:55 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <108.23e0ce1e.2c1ca302@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: MWPotts2001@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:2385] Critique of Book--Overcoming Dyslexia X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Mac sub 39 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Status: O Content-Length: 5931 Lines: 188 Dr. Tom Sticht submits his critique of a new book by Sally Shaywitz, MD, While I found the book chock full of interesting history and scientific research on the brain and reading, and I would recommend it for that alone, what has impressed me the most are the recommendations for practice, that is, for teaching dyslexics to read and to overcome their reading problems, Tom says. Full Review Below Overcoming Dyslexia Currently the U. S. government has a policy of having programs for children and adult reading instruction use scientific, evidence-based methods of teaching reading. Sally Shaywitz, MD, was a member of the Reading Research Working Group that helped pull together the information about scientific, evidence-based adult reading instruction currently being disseminated on the National Institute for Literacy (www.nifl.gov) Partnership For Reading web site. She has just recently had published a new book entitled Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level (Alfred A. Knopf, 2003 - US$ 25.95). In the book she reviews the history of dyslexia, she summarizes research on reading, including some of the new research on magnetic resonance imaging that shows which parts of the brain are most active during reading for both normal and dyslexic readers, and she offers a considerable amount of advice about how to go about helping dyslexics, both children and adults, overcome their reading problems. Repeatedly Shaywitz is careful to point out that her work and that of others cited in the book about reading is based on scientific evidence, and she is careful to acknowledge the support of the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development over the years and she notes that "For the past two decades I have been blessed by having G. Reid Lyon at my side as my guide and companion. His leadership created the modern study of reading and reading disability, and his uncommon vision forged the science and public policy together as a seamless and natural whole. I am grateful most of all for all his friendship and unfailing support; he has been like a brother to me." This is an interesting acknowledgement of a long time relationship with a government sponsor of research. While I found the book chock full of interesting history and scientific research on the brain and reading, and I would recommend it for that alone, what has impressed me the most are the recommendations for practice, that is, for teaching dyslexics to read and to overcome their reading problems. Of most interest to me is that these recommendations now have a history that are, for the most part more than 30, 40, 50 or more years old and have little or nothing to do with the "modern study of reading and reading disability" as defined above. For instance, in reviewing programs suitable for dyslexic students Shaywitz refers to programs referred to "…generically as Orton-Gillingham (after Dr. Samuel Orton and his associate, Anna Gillingham, an approach developed as a tutorial program for struggling readers."(p. 266). These programs have their origins in the 1920s and 30's. Among programs she reviews are the Wilson Reading System, Spell Read P.A.T (Phonemic Analysis Training), Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (L:iPS), and similar programs that, like Orton -Gillingham, are "…highly structured and systematic, tries to engage all the senses in learning about letters and sounds…, and typically is taught one-to-one or in small groups." In short, there appears to me to be a considerable gap between the scientific research on reading and dyslexia that Shaywitz reviews, and which does help to better understand the processes and brain systems involved in reading, and the instructional programs that are discussed to help dyslexics overcome their problems. The latter approaches have been known and used for decades by those trained well in the teaching of reading. So rather than leading to innovations in the teaching of reading for struggling readers, the contemporary research seems to be more confirmatory of what has long been known as useful practice. Shaywitz also recommends what reading specialists have previously referred to as an "active reading strategy" and says, "I like to divide reading comprehension activities into three parts: those you can do before opening the book, those that are most helpful as the child reads, and those that help him organize his thoughts and sum the events of the story after he finishes reading." (p. 241) This is, of course, a modification of Robinson's 1941 SQ3R study skills method in which before reading one surveys the text and raises questions about what it may deal with (this mobilizes prior knowledge), then reads and during reading recites in ones own words what the meaning of what is being read is, and then reviews afterwards to firmly set in mind what has been read. Though the recommendations that Shaywitz gives for helping dyslexics read are mostly based on earlier decades of research and study of the reading process, they are tried and true methods of dealing with difficult reading problems and she treats topics of vocabulary learning, fluency, and comprehension very well, with a style of writing that relates to the reader on a personal basis. She also gives many good pointers for how parents and adults can seek help for their own or their children's reading difficulties. While Shaywitz provides a very brief and misleading representation of "whole language" in support of her approach to "scientific, evidence-based" reading instruction (pp. 202-203), the book will nonetheless return its cost for those who want to better understand reading, reading difficulties, dyslexia, good instruction, and access to help for struggling and/or dyslexic learners. Tom Sticht Tsticht@aznet.net
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