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From: Anne Murr <anne.murr@drake.edu>
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Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:178] Re: Introduction and response
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I have learned so much from others on the NIFL listservs. I welcome
the opportunity to learn with and from you. It has taken me awhile
to think through how to respond to you, George. I guess, the best
way is to share from my own experience and research.
Our Literacy Center serves mainly adults who are at the very
beginning literacy level. However, today I began tutoring a college
student, an athlete, with language processing difficulties, LPD. (I
prefer to use this term or "language-based learning differences"
insteach of "dyslexia" or LD.) This young man reads roughly at the
6th grade level. After I introduced him to letters and sounds and how
to blend those sounds in 3 and 4 letter words, he read a list of
these words. After slowly sounding out 10 words, he asked
incredulously, "This is how you spell 'fad'? It's a d__ a_ shame I
don't know these little words!" When he left, he declared, "This is
productive. It's interesting stuff!"
To borrow a quote from Mary Ann Corley's NALLD publication
"Linkages", a man in an adult literacy program stated, after
receiving instruction in phonological awareness, "No one ever took me
back far enough. No one knew what I didn't know." What he didn't
know, was not able to perceive, was the individual sounds in words.
Multisensory, structured instruction which teaches them the sounds
and the structure of words helps them make sense of language for the
first time. Have you asked persons who are struggling with reading
to tell you the sounds of the vowels? I see adults experienceing
great confusion asked to do that.
You said that "that people learn in a variety of ways." Yes! The
brains of persons with LPD acutally function differenty. Using
fMRIs, Shaywitz (1998) and colleagues found that in the brains of
poor readers there is very little activity in the base of the brain,
where text is translated into words. For persons with reading
problems, the front part of the brain, where thoughts are translated
into words, is active. Using measures of brain lactate metabolism,
researchers from the U. of Washington, Seattle (2000, American
Journal of Neuroradiology, 21:916-922) found changes in the activity
in the left anterior quadrant of poor readers after phonological
training which brought their brain functioning into similar patterns
with good readers.
Regarding empowerment: there are adults in our reading program who
have been meeting regularly with tutors for from 5-10 years and still
do not possess skills necessary to be independent with print. They
deserve instruction which moves them toward their literacy goals-the
ability to independently read and write. After working for a year
with such an adult, using the balanced approach (reading, writing,
skills work) and seeing only a slight spelling improvement (and
seeing other adults with a similar lack of progress) I began
researching alternative approaches.
You said you are concerned about the "Tight linkage between LD and
some type of "phonemic" dysfunction." I will share briefly what I
have learned from current research on the causes of reading problems
and how the brain works. There is great consensus among researchers
that the inability to perceive the sounds of language (phonemes) and
the awareness of how the sounds are connected to letters is a causal
factor in reading failure. Unless and until persons can internalize
the sound/symbol relationship, the alphabetic principle, on which
alphabetic languages are based, reading will be based on what is
memorized and guessed. Using context and guessing have been found to
be inefficient reading strategies. I see this daily in the persons
whom we serve. Accurate decoding is a necessry prerequisite for
reading accuracy.
The role of phonemes in short term memory is also fascinating.
Indications are that phonemes are held in short term memory just long
enough for the brain to extract meaning from what is read. Lack of
phonemic awareness may be a major cause in the havoc of language
processing problems.
You said, emphasize using the contextual approach and the role of
"experience and meaning " in reading instruction. For a normal
readers, yes, the contextual approach is preferred. But for adults
who have failed to learn to read, the words on the page must be
decoded before comprehension is addressed. Comprehension is clearly
the goal of reading. While the main focus of the Wilson Reading
System is decoding and encoding, comprehension strategies, pulling in
experience to encourage understanding, and visualization to employ
all the senses, is incorporated during all text reading.
Barbara Wilson advocates the use of the WRS as part of
literature-based instruction. Most readers do not need the
structured, multisensory approach. But for those with phonological
deficits, (which I see in almost all the adults we serve) structure,
repetition, and multisensory instruction are essential. I started
out using the whole language approach. You said that "incoorporating
skill work" is part of a balanced approach, which I used, but not
successfully. I just found too many skills lacking and since we are
not trained reading teachers, we didn't know how to provide
instruction which allowed our learners to acquire the needed skills.
That's where we're coming from!
I haven't had time to check out the Focus on Basics discussion, but
have participated in a previous such dialogue on the LD listserv. I
welcome your comments and experiences.
Anne Murr
Coordinator
Adult Literacy Center
Drake University
Des Moines, Iowa
anne.murr@drake.edu
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<html><head><style type="text/css"><!--
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { margin-top: 0 ; margin-bottom: 0 }
--></style><title>Re: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:165] Re: Introduction and
respons</title></head><body>
<div>I have learned so much from others on the NIFL listservs. I
welcome the opportunity to learn with and from you. It has
taken me awhile to think through how to respond to you, George.
I guess, the best way is to share from my own experience and
research.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Our Literacy Center serves mainly adults who are at the very
beginning literacy level. However, today I began tutoring a
college student, an athlete, with language processing difficulties,
LPD. (I prefer to use this term or "language-based learning
differences" insteach of "dyslexia" or LD.) This
young man reads roughly at the 6th grade level. After I introduced
him to letters and sounds and how to blend those sounds in 3 and 4
letter words, he read a list of these words. After slowly
sounding out 10 words, he asked incredulously, "This is
how you spell 'fad'? It's a d__ a_ shame I don't know these
little words!" When he left, he declared, "This is
productive. It's interesting stuff!" </div>
<div><br></div>
<div>To borrow a quote from Mary Ann Corley's NALLD publication
"Linkages", a man in an adult literacy program stated,
after receiving instruction in phonological awareness, "No one
ever took me back far enough. No one knew what I didn't
know." What he didn't know, was not able to perceive, was
the individual sounds in words. Multisensory, structured
instruction which teaches them the sounds and the structure of words
helps them make sense of language for the first time. Have you
asked persons who are struggling with reading to tell you the sounds
of the vowels? I see adults experienceing great confusion asked
to do that.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>You said that "that people learn in a variety of
ways." Yes! The brains of persons with LPD acutally
function differenty. Using fMRIs, Shaywitz (1998) and
colleagues found that in the brains of poor readers there is very
little activity in the base of the brain, where text is translated
into words. For persons with reading problems, the front part
of the brain, where thoughts are translated into words, is
active. Using measures of brain lactate metabolism, researchers
from the U. of Washington, Seattle (2000, American Journal of
Neuroradiology, 21:916-922) found changes in the activity in the left
anterior quadrant of poor readers after phonological training which
brought their brain functioning into similar patterns with good
readers.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font face="Palatino" size="+1" color="#000000">Regarding
empowerment: there are adults in our reading program who have
been meeting regularly with tutors for from 5-10 years and still do
not possess skills necessary to be independent with print. They
deserve instruction which moves them toward their literacy
goals-the ability to independently read and write. After
working for a year with such an adult, using the balanced approach
(reading, writing, skills work) and seeing only a slight spelling
improvement (and seeing other adults with a similar lack of progress)
I began researching alternative approaches. </font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div> You said you are concerned about the "Tight linkage
between LD and some type of "phonemic"
dysfunction." I will share briefly what I have learned
from current research on the causes of reading problems and how the
brain works. There is great consensus among researchers that
the inability to perceive the sounds of language (phonemes) and the
awareness of how the sounds are connected to letters is a causal
factor in reading failure. Unless and until<font
face="Palatino" size="+1" color="#000000"> persons can internalize
the sound/symbol relationship, the alphabetic principle, on which
alphabetic languages are based</font>, reading will be based on what
is memorized and guessed. Using context and guessing have been
found to be inefficient reading strategies. I see this daily in
the persons whom we serve. Accurate decoding is a necessry
prerequisite for reading accuracy.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>The role of phonemes in short term memory is also
fascinating. Indications are that phonemes are held in short
term memory just long enough for the brain to extract meaning from
what is read. Lack of phonemic awareness may be a major cause
in the havoc of language processing problems. </div>
<div><br></div>
<div>You said, emphasize using the contextual approach and the role
of "experience and meaning " in reading
instruction. For a normal readers, yes, the contextual
approach is preferred. But for adults who have failed to
learn to read, the words on the page must be decoded before
comprehension is addressed. Comprehension is clearly the goal
of reading. While the main focus of the Wilson Reading System
is decoding and encoding, comprehension strategies, pulling in
experience to encourage understanding, and visualization to employ
all the senses, is incorporated during all text reading.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Barbara Wilson advocates the use of the WRS as part of
literature-based instruction. Most readers do not need the
structured, multisensory approach. But for those with
phonological deficits, (which I see in almost all the adults we
serve) structure, repetition, and multisensory instruction are
essential. I started out using the whole language
approach. You said that "incoorporating skill work"
is part of a balanced approach, which I used, but not
successfully. I just found too many skills lacking and since we
are not trained reading teachers, we didn't know how to provide
instruction which allowed our learners to acquire the needed
skills. That's where we're coming from! </div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I haven't had time to check out the Focus on Basics discussion,
but have participated in a previous such dialogue on the LD
listserv. I welcome your comments and experiences.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Anne Murr</div>
<div>Coordinator</div>
<div>Adult Literacy Center</div>
<div>Drake University</div>
<div>Des Moines, Iowa</div>
<div>anne.murr@drake.edu</div>
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