Susan, thank you for the quick response.  

There are two things going here.  The first is this:  put political pressure to bear on schools of education, to assure that they develop teachers with knowledge consistent with latest neuroscience findings.  It would be appropriate for any such departments of education - who might be reading this - to identify themselves and offer their expertise to further the development of this idea.  

The International Dyslexia Association, a source for information about resources and O-G education, may be the right place to start.  There may be a branch near to you. 

The deveopment of volunteer tutors may be the second point.  The basics of phonemic and phonological awareness, in a 21 hour course, was successfully accomplished thanks to the skills of an experienced trainer/teacher. 

The success of Project Literacy/Outreach, Inc. encourages me to believe that such basic training at the professional level will make profound changes in education nationally.  It takes will - and maybe political pressure - to bring about the reality of this concept.   In an age when technology links us, is this too much to expect?

Lucille 
  -----Original Message-----
  From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of SALandrum at aol.com
  Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 8:43 AM
  To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov
  Subject: [LearningDisabilities 2567] Re: [SPAM?] Thinking about the NIFL


  Ms. Cuttler:  This sounds like a great model for other organizations wanting to provide the same services in other parts of the country. Would you be willing to share documentation so that other organizations would not have to reinvent the wheel?

  Thanks!
  Susan Landrum
  VISTA volunteer
  Central Georgia Technical College
  salandrum at aol.com

  In a message dated 11/18/2008 11:33:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, l.cuttler at comcast.net writes:
    Thank you, Christy, for asking probing questions that could form the basis of a concerted nationwide strategy to fix this old problem.  

    The basic premise:  teachers leave schools of education unprepared to teach 20% of the population with dyslexia. 

      Even teachers with credentials to teach special education classes do not receive Orton-Gillingham based preparation.  Any teachers desiring that preparation must find it from the resources of the International Dyslexia Association.  
    Therefore, it is appropriate for schools of education to give teachers all the tools they need - a thorough preparation in phonemic awareness and phonological awareness. 

    Further, experience as founder of a volunteer organization, Project Literacy/Outreach, Inc., we created volunteer tutors in a 21 hour course to deliver O-G remediation to an underserved population.  This 501-C-3 nonprofit provided all serves for free.  It existed from 1986 until 2004, when I moved to San Francisco from Glen Cove, NY. 

    That organization proved it is not money, but a teaching method, that opens the door to literacy. 

    A cost-effective training method would result in reducing special ed classroom populations and save - not only anguish - but money.  

    Can we consider a strategy to reduce illiteracy by providing all children with well-prepared teachers, with tools to teach all of the children - not only 80%   These teachers then would be totally prepared for the task of teaching reading starting K-2.   

    Just imagine the changes if school district by school district we effected this idea.  

    Lucille Cuttler   

    -----Original Message-----
    From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov
    [mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Christy
    Breihan
    Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 7:11 AM
    To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov
    Subject: [LearningDisabilities 2563] Re: [SPAM?] Thinking about the NIFL


    I agree with Lucille that we need effective teacher training, but if it
    is being done somewhere, then presumably it should be having some
    measurable effect on the communities to which these well-trained
    teachers have been assigned.  So my question is, aside from the
    correspondents to this site who claim success with their methods, are
    there "pockets of progress" anywhere in this country where teacher
    training and research-based methods are boosting the literacy levels of
    communities in a measurable and sustainable way? Are there any teacher
    training or research institutions that can be shown to be having a
    positive effect on their communities? Do the numerous centers for
    special needs support, often represented at conferences I attend, reach
    beyond their own clientele to influence teachers at neighboring
    institutions? Are there partnerships between universities and school
    districts or adult learning programs that are devising a promising
    blueprint for others to emulate? Or are we all on our own in a world
    where success is increasingly based on connectedness?
    Christy Breihan
    ABE Instructor, Milwaukee


    >>> <tsticht at znet.com> 11/17/08 5:35 PM >>>
    Colleagues:

    In July 1991, the President of the United States signed Public Law
    102-73
    which, among other things, established the National Institute for
    Literacy
    (NIFL). The law called on the NIFL to conduct basic and applied research
    and demonstrations. Though the actual agenda for the NIFL was not
    specified, examples of questions to be addressed were given. These
    included:

    1.    How do adults learn to read and write and acquire other skills
    (listening, speaking, reasoning, etc.)?
    2.    How does the literacy level of the parents affect the skills
    development
    and schooling of the parent’s children?
    3.    What are better ways to assess literacy skills?
    4.    How can better instructional programs be developed?
    5.    What are good methods for assisting adults and families to
    acquire
    literacy skills, including the use of technology; methods for adults
    with
    special learning needs (learning disabilities), and limited English
    proficient (LEP) adults?
    6.    How can the most disadvantaged be effectively reached and taught
    literacy
    skills?
    7.    How can technology be used to instruct and to increase the
    knowledge
    base?
    8.    How can research effort of others be built on?
    9.    How can the field attract, train and retrain professional and
    volunteer
    teachers?

    We are now nearing the end of 2008, some 18 years after the NIFL was
    established, and I am wondering what adult literacy professionals think
    of
    these questions: were they appropriate for the work of the NIFL, if so,
    how
    well have they been addressed, and if there were other questions that
    took
    priority and were addressed by the NIFL, and how any one or all of these
    activities have improved the field of adult literacy education up to
    now.

    Some adult literacy advocates have called for changing the present
    NIFL’s
    focus on lifelong learning of literacy from birth through adulthood, and
    returning it to its original focus on adult literacy education. Is this
    a
    good idea?

    What do you think the NIFL should be doing to advance the field of adult
    literacy education that it is not doing now?

    Tom Sticht

    ----------------------------------------------------
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    ----------------------------------------------------
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