Return-Path: <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id g0CEij001984; Sat, 12 Jan 2002 09:44:46 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2002 09:44:46 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <57.4cc62e7.2971a54e@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: LELemke@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-LD:3821] RE: NIFL-LD:3810 NO Support for phonetic awareness X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Mac sub 36 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Status: O Content-Length: 7228 Lines: 127 Dear Art, I have found EVERYTHING you say below to be true. As a teacher of students with disabilities, I use the direct instruction method in teaching phonics so that my students will know the code. But I am also so aware of the hurts my students have from not being able to read as well as his/her peers, so there's lots of "good word attack skills" and you go, girl/boy, that was excellent reading..." and hugs....I probably shouldn't put that part out here in cyber space, but I'm sorry, my students come to me before school begins JUST to start their day with a hug. I've had students who are not in special ed ask me: "Can I change into your class?" because along with teaching the basics, we teach respect. The students know they cannot laugh or make derogatory remarks about another's reading, and thus they know they are in a safe place where learning will happen without ridicule. As for testing, I, too, give little credence to its accurate interpretation of my students' abilities. We have the AR reading program in our school and the students have to take a reading assessment on the STAR program. If I stand next to them as they take the test and periodically give encouraging remarks: "You are doing well..." etc, the students do better. If I say nothing, I see their frustration rise, and soon they're picking any answer just to get the da...rn thing over with. Also, the STAR program may think it checks for comprehension, but I know if the student asks me what a word is, and I tell him (which I'm not suppose to do....), he/she can then answer the question correctly, and the score could end up being on grade level. (I don't explain anything; I have just (as an "experiment" to me) pronounced the word(s). The same with adult learners. The TABE test is wonderful IF the person can read all the questions. If not, it may say he/she needs to study a particular area when, in fact, the student understands the topic but just couldn't read the questions. That is one reason why I go over the math and grammar portion with them after they have taken the test. When we read it together, they'll frequently say, "Oh, the answer is B..." and be right. This eliminates the need for having them work on an area that they really know, and work, in stead, on reading skills. Whew, sorry this is so long, but, again, Art, I agree with you 100%. There is so much involved with teaching, and I feel sorry for those who think it's merely disseminating info without taking in all the other ramifications. Ellie Lemke Huntsville, AL (Art, I have relatives in North Georgia. I'd love to meet with you sometime when I'm in the area.) In a message dated 1/9/02 1:01:00 PM, arthur@ellijay.com writes: I believe "Phonetics" and its effects on reading capability is directly related to several factors that are not connected to curriculum and which further are not considered in any "research" that I'm aware of and frankly I simply gave up trying to interpret current "research" and/or apply such to my practice when I found that little of what was reported as scientific fact actually held true in most situations. Of the several factors that I've noted as participants one is motivation. Motivation can be and often is undermined by negative emotions. Where "learning" is concerned the negative emotions are usually set in place in the early school years when the child discovers that his lack of progress (for whatever reason) results in embarrassment and emotional pain. The resultant is that the child avoids returning to that environment. And I mean "avoids". One way or the other the child will not participate in an environment that is emotionally painful. If we MUST physically attend the environment then the possibility that the child will mentally remove him/herself is extremely likely. You may find evidence of mental distraction specifically in the diagnostic criteria for ADD and ADHD. Second (not in any order) is repetetion. If the necessary mental skill repetetion doesn't occur to a degree that permits strong neural pathway development then short term memory outlives it's usefulness and the brain never incorporates the new information as anything usable nor does it get transferred into long term memory where it may be used in the evaluation or decoding processes involved in 'reading'. Third is professional influence. Negative professional influence can and does quite often set up a system of self defeating thought processing on the part of the child and the parent(s) and ultimately may become the most daunting to overcome. Many many times professional reports follow the child into adult-hood. The quality of the assessment, diagnosis, and narrative is totally dependent on the capability of the assessor. And I think you might agree with me when I say that we all don't see to eye on many aspects of human brain functioning. Fourth is self concept. If a child believes him/herself to be "learning inadaquate" as a result of "professional advice or diagnosis" or significant-other influence (parents as an example), it will take 5 times the work to disengage that pattern and open up or remove emotional blackades to permit the "learning" sequences to begin. Self concept is also tied directly to the first three factors mentioned here. One of the primary reasons I address self-concept issues first as the highest priority. "Curriculum" could be considered at this point if all other factors have received remedy. And without a clear "understanding" of the decoding processes for the language it is highly improbable that the student will ever grow beyond his/her current level of expertise. The truth is that to be able to decode any language you must "know" the code and have better than a casual association with the skills involved. If you only have a rudimentary understanding of the code, then you can only decode at a rudimentary level. At age ten I lost the ability to express my thoughts verbally and in writing as a direct result of a head injury, reading was also affected but to a lesser degree. That was NO speech, NO writing, and minimal reading. To bore you with the details of survival and reestablishment of those skills would take more time than we have here. Nonetheless, I learned to speak again fluently and to write fluently following better than 30 years of less than adaquate language reception and expression. As stated before in other posts, at age 43 I began working with the disabled population in a rehab setting, earned a masters in rehab counseling and then went on to adult literacy. I don't believe in LD, ADD, ADHD, as PERMANENT situations. I've just seen far too many children and adults make complete turnarounds from those conditions and resume normal functioning parameters in "learning" with quite a number of those surpassing their peers in measured reading capability. Nothing is "black or white", fact is it's all gray and anything is possible. Therefore I simply refuse to administer a limiting prognosis to ANY human being regardless of their condition or capability (refer back to factor # 3 and 4 above pls). Art Art LaChance Gilmer Learning Center Ellijay, GA
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