We've all heard the term 'Buyer beware'. This concept is a very important one when it comes to your child and the programs you choose to use with them.
Just a few weeks ago I had several parents in the community I know come and ask me about a new reading program they had just read about. The reading program had been highlighted in an article published in a newsletter which was produced by a educational support organization.
I researched the program and also contacted the creators to discuss it with them. I spent about forty-five minutes on the telephone one day after watching an on-line demonstration and assessment. I asked questions and listened very carefully. I did not give my own input or opinion.
The program was being promoted as a solution for dyslexia. The creators had indeed done their research and even admitted to me on the phone that their approach was opposite most dyslexia program approaches in that they taught reading in an opposite manner as an Orton-Gillingham approach.
If you are not aware, a proficient reader uses both a visual memory of the shape of words and a phonetic ability to read unfamiliar words (using sound and rules). It is the orchestration of these two skills in combination that allow a reader to be able to conquer almost all material. It is also very important to note that instruction in the phonetic area MUST coordinate and work along side the teaching of sight words - these should not be separate. Typically someone with dyslexia will have difficulty with one or both of these ways of reading. Of course there are many other issues that may be adding to the difficulty but today I am focusing on just these two - sight word (picture reading) and phonetic reading.
The reading program creators explained to me on that there are two ways to learn to read, phonetically which they labeled as the slow way to read and sight words which they call the fast way to reading. Their program provides words flashed on a computer screen which are pronounced by the computer. The student is expected to look at the word on the screen and then repeat what the computer had pronounced. They explained that by doing this over and over the child will learn to recognize and read the word. Their program would provide 3500 to 4500 words for the student.
The program will work for some students but it is providing a temporary patch for the problem because the child will only be able to read the words that were flashed before them and that they remembered. Any new words they encounter at higher grades, in college work, or in business will not be decodable. The second issue not being addressed is the fast that there are no spelling skills being taught.
I asked how a child would learn to spell and was told hesitantly that eventually they would just remember the spelling by seeing the word over and over. I remember when California tried that in their public schools in the early 90s when I was teaching. We ended up with about five years of students who did not have spelling skills because we were only allowed to teach spelling through exposure.
Another big issue here is many dyslexic student tend to be day dreamers and/or hyperactive. This program would not keep their attention and would just be another, in a long list, of attempts to teach them to read. I did ask what kind of motivation was provided through this computer reading program and was told that the stories are really fun and that the kids would enjoy them. Dyslexics tend to be strong picture thinkers and the flat 2 dimensional word is difficult to process and boring to work with. The children we work with usually are not motivated by reading until their phonetic and sigh words skills have been built up and are not longer a strain.
When I came back to these parents who had first asked me about this program and explained what I had learned they were very disappointed. The question that I kept getting was, then why was this educational support organization even printing an article about this reading program? The educational support organization, while having good intentions, simply prints informational articles relating to education that are submitted. They are not equipped to judge if a program is good or not, and even more so able to judge if a program would work for someone with dyslexia.
It is so important for parents to talk to multiple sources about thoughts, opinions, and approaches in order to begin to get a good understanding about their children's challenges and solutions. If you get an explanation that doesn't really make sense - then it doesn't really work.
So many parents out there struggle with programs which kind of work and each time a student is made to go through a program that kinda works they become more discouraged.
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