Singular Minds
May 1, 2005 • Volume I, Issue 9
Prolinguistica Dyslexia Correction Center
Laura Zink de Diaz
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Quote of the Month
Gripping stuff... No wonder all our children are so eager to read ...
Where is Nat?
Where is Nat? Nat is not in. Where is Nat? Nat is not in the tin. Nat is not
in. Where is Nat? Nat is not in the pan. Nat is not in the tin. Nat is not in.
Nat is not in the pan, not in the tin, not in.
Where is Nat? Nat is on the mat.
From Houghton-Mifflin Reading. This is what's considered "decodeable"
reading, in case you wondered...
PDCC News
Prolinguistica Mini-Workshops
Four left! Sign up today!
Raising a Reader
Dates: Wednesday, May 4, 2005 • 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Saturday, May 7, 2005 • 8:30 am - 11:30 am
Writing Projects Kids Go For
Dates: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 • 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Saturday, May 14, 2005 • 8:30 am - 11:30 am
What Can I Leave for My Sub?
Dates: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 • 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Saturday, May 21, 2005 • 8:30 am - 11:30 am
Pick a language and teach it- with TPR!
Dates: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 • 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Saturday, May 28, 2005 • 8:30 am - 11:30 am
You'll find more information on the content and learning outcomes of the
mini-workshops, and a downloadable registration form at the Prolinguistica website:
http://www.prolinguistica.com/workshops.html. Cost per person is just $39.95
per workshop. Please share this information with friends and colleagues, with
anyone you think might be interested in attending.
Upcoming Public Talk
I'll be holding a public talk on dyslexia and ADD/HD on May 24 from 7 pm
to 8 pm in Room 206 at the center. This is a free, informational talk. Most
of you are by now very familiar with the information, but if you know anyone
who could benefit by attending, please let them know about the talk. While I'm
finding that all of the smaller newspapers in the surrounding communities are
happy to announce these events, the paper in Mount Vernon, inexplicably, isn't.
So if you know anyone in Mount Vernon who needs this information, please spread
the word!
Clay Night
Have you been doing your clay??? Remember, the clay work is ESSENTIAL. If
you've been cruisin' with your orientation point or alignment, you may feel
like you don't need to do Symbol Mastery. But remember that if you don't do
the clay work, the underlying confusion just gets deeper and deeper until it
overwhelms you and you can't get oriented or aligned any more! If you've gotten
off track, clay night at the center can help get you back on your way! Our next
clay night will be May 12 in the center. We'll begin at 5:30 pm with PIZZA!
and conversation. After the really important part - eating! - we'll work
on words from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Please call (360-848-9792) or email (dyslexia@prolinguistica.com)
to let me know you plan to attend -- so I can be sure we have enough pizza on
hand! Cost: $15/client. (Support persons get in free!)
Support Group Meeting
This month's Support Group meeting will be held on May 19 at 7:00 pm in
Room 206 at the center in Mount Vernon. If you haven't been to the center yet,
there are directions and a map on the web site at: http://www.pdcc-read.com/WhereAreWe.html Or, give me a call at 360-848-9792 for verbal directions. There is no fee for
the meeting and you don't have to be a former or current client or client parent
to attend, so if you know people who might benefit, invite them!
DLS Training for Teachers
Davis Learning Strategies is a reading approach for use in classrooms, Kindergarten
through 3rd grade. It has no language arts content, so it can be used with whatever
reading program is in use at your school. "No content?" I hear you
murmuring out there - "then, what is it?" To put it far too simply,
DLS is a modification of the Davis strategies for use with small groups. The
strategies I use for correction were designed to help people who've already
developed a dyslexic learning style. DLS is designed to minimize the chances
that the problem may develop. DLS is in use in schools around the country and
the world (South Africa, Germany, Iceland, Switzerland, to name only a few).
When DLS is folded into a school's language arts program from Kindergarten through
the end of third grade, there's no evidence of dyslexia in the students who
participated when they're tested at the end of grade 3. That's wonderful, considering
that in the general population from 5% to 15% of students have developed a dyslexic
learning style by that age. But even better, the results also show a higher
than usual number of referrals to gifted programs in those schools. Although
it takes a minimum of a year of training to obtain licensing as a correction
facilitator, teachers can learn to implement DLS in just one two-day training.
If you're interested in attending a two day workshop on DLS, there are four
opportunities to take the training in the US over this summer:
June 27-28 in Helena, Montana
July 25-26, San Antonio, Texas
July 28-29, Tyler, Texas
August 15-16, Minneapolis, Minnesota
I've taken the training, but am not an expert on DLS, so for more in depth
information on Davis Learning Strategies, go to: www.davislearn.com.
For a description of the training, visit: http://www.davislearn.com/workshops.htm.
On that page you'll also find a link to download a registration form, and
a link to the list of DLS school mentors and presenters.
Home schooling parents: although DLS is designed for schools, DDA also has a
program designed for use in the home with children from 5 to 8 years old, the
Davis Young Learner Kit for Home. And for children age 9 and up, the Davis Symbol
Mastery Kit. These are available in the bookstore at www.dyslexia.com. They
come with instruction manuals and no formal Davis training is needed in order
to use them.
Good Stuff to Read
Being too involved in your kid's life takes a toll
Parents who base self-worth on their children's success endure wide range of
problems.
By Sue Shellenbarger / Wall Street Journal
The fact that overinvolved parents can cause problems for their kids is well-known.
Now, new research shows they can drive themselves nuts too.... Often called
"helicopter parents" (they hover), these overinvolved moms and dads
reported more sadness, crying and negative beliefs about themselves and less
joy, contentment and life satisfaction, says the study of 408 parents, recently
released at a conference of the Society for Research in Child Development in
Atlanta. Worse yet, there's no upside: Parents whose children did well, as measured
by their college grades, showed no improvement in well-being. Take a deep
breath and then read the rest at: http://www.detnews.com/2005/lifestyle/0504/16/C05-150965.htm
When quiet kids get forgotten in class
Teachers sometimes make the mistake of assuming that students who don't speak
up have little to contribute.
By Toni Weingarten | Christian Science Monitor
... Those not comfortable jumping into the verbal fray are sometimes judged
as fearful, less intelligent, or even uncooperative... As many as 50 to 60 percent
of Stanford students say that shyness is a problem at times, according to surveys
done by Lynne Henderson, visiting professor of psychology at Stanford University
and director of the Shyness Institute in Palo Alto, Calif.. These tend to be
talented and academically successful students, says Dr. Henderson. The whole
classroom loses out when such students are ignored or marginalized, says Henderson.
"We cannot afford to have these kids not participate. They're smart."
In fact, the qualities that many quieter children express - thoughtfulness,
studiousness, conscientiousness - are among those most needed for the complex
problem-solving required by today's information-oriented economy.
Read the rest at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0426/p11s01-legn.html
F FOR ASSESSMENT
by W. James Popham
For the last four decades, students' scores on standardized tests have increasingly
been regarded as the most meaningful evidence for evaluating U.S. schools. Most
Americans, indeed, believe students' standardized test performances are the
only legitimate indicator of a school's instructional effectiveness. Yet, although
test-based evaluations of schools seem to occur almost as often as fire drills,
in most instances these evaluations are inaccurate. That's because the standardized
tests employed are flat-out wrong. Read how and why the instructionally insensitive
tests used to evaluate schools shortchange students by creating curricular reductionism
and excessive and dreary drilling that kills student motivation to learn, while
also leading to cheating such as has been seen in schools and at the district
level all over the country since high stakes testing became the norm at:
http://www.edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=art_1267&issue=apr_05
Tutors for tots?
By Jodi Helmer, The Christian Science Monitor
A growing number of parents across the country are enrolling preschoolers in
tutoring programs, hoping that early education will prepare them for school
and help them to become successful students. But some critics argue that structured
academic programs for preschoolers are doing more harm than good. "There
is no research that shows that early academic programs have a lasting positive
impact on children," says David Elkind, professor of child development
at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. "In fact studies show that the high
pressure of early academic programs can result in children with higher anxiety
levels and lower self-esteem who are not doing any better academically."
Tutoring programs aimed at preschoolers exploit parental anxieties and undermine
parental confidence, says Dr. Elkind. Read the rest of this article at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0405/p14s02-legn.html
Research finds a Dandy way to help young boys improve literacy
Kevin Schofield, The Scotsman
Research published yesterday revealed that while 17 per cent of boys aged between
seven and 11 do not read books outside school, 60 per cent regularly read comics.
The survey also revealed that just 5 per cent of boys read for more than an
hour a day in their spare time, compared to 17 per cent of girls. Last night,
experts said that encouraging youngsters to read comics could be a vital tool
in the fight to improve literacy rates. Read more at:
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/education.cfm?id=384632005
Stephen Krashen and Joanne Ujiie published a study a few years ago showing
that middle school boys (ages 10-14) who were heavy comic book readers liked
reading more, read more in general, and read more books than lighter comic book
readers, who in turn read more than non-comic book readers. Krashen has commented
that Desmond Tutu is one of many who give comic books credit for being a conduit
to literacy. Tutu describes his father as “very patriarchal,” but
has been quoted as saying “One of the things I am most grateful to
him for is that, contrary to educational principles, he allowed me to read comics.
I think that is how I developed my love for English and for reading.”
Getting back to foreign language instruction...
Why support a delayed-gratification approach to language education?
Why, indeed! Dr. Krashen is at it again. He's got a great article on his
website about the superiority of what I call comprehension-based language instruction
(Comprehension or Input Hypothesis) in comparison to the "Skill Building"
hypothesis. Skill building assumes that in order to learn a language you must
master all the rules first. Hence, grammar based instruction, lots of drill
and tedium. AND, you have to wait from 4 to 6 years before you get any "gratification,"
which is to say, before you can communicate comfortably in the language. This
is the "common sense" approach to language instruction. Unfortunately,
it only works for a very small percentage of language learners -- people like
me, who have a wire crossed somewhere in their brain that makes grammar study
more exciting than an episode of 24! As Krashen states, "The Comprehension
Hypothesis does not require delayed gratification. It claims that we can enjoy
real language use right away: we can listen to stories, read books, and engage
in interesting conversations as soon as they are comprehensible. The Comprehension
Hypothesis, in fact, insists on pleasure from the beginning, on acquirers obtaining
interesting, comprehensible input right from the start. The path of pleasure
is the only path. The path of pain does not work for language acquisition."
Preach it, Brother Stephen! Couldn't dream of saying it better myself. This
is precisely why TPR works so well! Unless you're one of the approximately 6%,
who like me, can "get it" from the usual and customary skill building
approach, you've always known he's right. Read his article at:
http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/why_support/index.html
And quote him every time you hear someone extoll the virtues learning the
hard way!
And now for a little fun...
JON CARROLL
is a columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle. Here's an excerpt from one
of his recent submissions. Around paragraph six you'll see where he's going...
... Already, I find, I am way behind the curve on reading. I thought I'd be
able to teach the World's Most Perfect Grandchild a little bit about reading,
because it's one of the few areas of life in which I excel. I can read until
my eyes fall out and never break a sweat.
But, alas, no. A note came back from the nursery school -- please do not teach
your children the alphabet, it only confuses them. We're supposed to sound out
words now. Out is "B"; in is "Buh." Out is "S";
in is "Sssss." Cuh- ah-tuh. Cuh-ah-tuh. Cat! See, this will prepare
them for life. We're all hooked on phonics now.
We were over at WMPG's friend Phoebe's house. We were in the bathroom, and in
front of the sink was a stool with the word "Phoebe" on it. So cute.
WMPG pointed to the stool. "Does that say Phoebe?" she asked. She
was using context. Such a clever child. Notify the Nobel committee.
I started to talk about how the "ph" spelling comes to us from the
Greek (I had apposite examples at my fingertips), but then I realized that I
was using the bad old discredited pedagogy. "So sound it out, sweetie,"
I said.
"Puh," she said.
"Well, usually yes, but in his case the 'puh' goes with the 'huh' and makes
a 'fuh.' " She looked at me as if I had gone mad. "OK, a PH in English
usually sounds like an F. It just does. So go on."
"Oh, ee," she said. The vowels, of course, sound like themselves.
Except for U. Is U really even a vowel? If it weren't for "ululate,"
would we even need a U? What does phonics do with a diphthong? Is this advanced
phonics?
"Well, right, except in English this sounds like the second letter, like
an E. Ee. There are lots of words like that, like -- " and here's my advice
on this matter: Never start a sentence if you don't know where it's going to
end. The only example I could think of was Moet Champagne, which is so very
wrong in so many ways. "OK, Fuh-ee. What's next."
"Buh, ee." She said dubiously.
"Hooray," I said. "Buh-ee. So fuh-ee-buh-ee. All you have to
do is sound it out, except for that PH sound and the two vowels in a row because"
another sentence ending at a cliff. I suddenly wondered what happened to "I
before E except after C or when sounded as A as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh.' "
Is that now forbidden in the classroom? Are we all "huh-aa-puh-puh-ee buh-ii-er-tuh-
huh-duh-aa-ee to you"?
I know there are answers to these questions. I know I am merely the voice of
reaction. I know this because kids are reading better than ever now thanks to
-- wait, kids aren't reading better than ever now. En-oh-tuh. But there are
cultural reasons for this. Population pressures. Puh-huh-oh-en-ii-kuh-sss are
not responsible.
"You want to go back and color with Phoebe?" I asked. "I think
Lura has some salami." WMPG is crazy for salami. We ended the noble experiment
right there. From now on, I'm all about horsies.
I can do the math, but I have not finished the reading. I'm reading a poem by
Ee-em-ii-luh-ee Duh-ii-kuh-kuh- ii-en-ss-oh-en. It's a real short poem, but
it's taking a real long time. Next up, the ii-el-ii-aa-duh.
Found at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/04/18/DDGNNC9P2J1.DTL&type=printable
Have a great month!
Laura
Next Issue of Singular Minds: June 1, 2005
Got a topic you’d like to see addressed in Singular Minds? E-mail questions,
proposals, letters, and/or stories to: singularminds@prolinguistica.com
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Singular Minds
Monthly Newsletter from
Prolinguistica Dyslexia Correction Center
www/pdcc-read.com
singularminds@prolinguistica.com