Nora, you nail these questions with such finesse!  I appreciate your posts.

Multisensory, structured, explicit instruction - is that so hard to
understand?   Not you, Nora, but...   Of course you need to memorize, to use
visualization, or anything else the learner leans towards. But let's stop
saying :"either/or" .  My point: learn all you can and have a full tool box
to meet the multiple challenges.  Lucille
  -----Original Message-----
  From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Nora Chahbazi
  Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 9:53 AM
  To: Learningdisabilities at nifl.gov
  Subject: [LearningDisabilities 4246] Brain research in education


  I just received a brochure for a conference titled 'Smarter Brains: Using
Brain Rearch to Raise IQ and Achievement' at the 25th Learning and the Brain
Conference in Sanfrisco in Feb, 2001.  Some of the workshop titles are"
Neurointelligence and Education: Is it Time to Require Students to have a
Brain Scan?" and 'What Neuroscience can teach us about Teaching' - along
with many others.   This is a perfect example of the feeling of confusion
and frustration by those of us trying to teach reading or anything else!
There has just been a disdcussion on this list about how neuroscience and
education are not connected and then I am exposed to this conference that
has 3 days of educating educators in the power of neuroscience in education.
How does one choose who to believe?  Maybe neuroscience in education is akin
to snake oil, maybe it is the best thing since sliced bread.  How would
someone decipher the truth from 2 opposite camps proclaiming 'the truth'.  I
have found this phenomena to be a source of frustration throughout my
journey of learning how to teach reading.  Many research studies come to
totally opposite conclusions about what is great and what is horrible amd
damaging.(For example:  Whole language is the answer!  Phonics is the
answer!......Teach them to memorize the words and the book to foster
comprehension!  They must have significant repetition/drill in phonemic
awareness and phonics before ever reading a book!,....  Look at the picture
to get meaning!  Do not look at the picture; we don't read pictures! .....
Teach the phonics rules in order to read the words!  Don't teach phonics
rules because they are developmentally inappropriate and slow you down!.....
You must learn the letter names to read!  You do not use the letter names in
reading!....and on an on) leaving the consumer to scratch their head and get
mired in the confusion of all this conflicting information.  Who does one
believe?   In the meantime, the numbers of poor/non readers of every age
continue to eacalate.  How do those on this list deal with this?!
  Thanks,
  Nora


  Nora Chahbazi, President
  EBLI Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction
  Ounce of Prevention Reading Center
  www.ebli.org
  810.732.4810
  fax 810.732.0366


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