Changing the Game

Sometimes technology changes slowly and you can barely see it.  Then there are moments when the tech is seen anew and we realize that the whole world has changed.  The wheel or the printing press.  Today I had one of those moments.  Soon you will to.

American schools have been slow to provide the tools for supporting people with disabilities - but many schools have been quick to supply computers to there classrooms.  Trying to look modern without changing the fundamentals of there internal structure.  Now a group of people have placed all the various programs that make computers tools of access for students.  Basically free open source programs that fundamentally change the rules of the game.  Of course they are cutting at the tree of money that Microsoft and Apple are counting for there supplies.

This is an amazing leap forward - parents acting in there own self interest for the good of there students with out institutional permission or support.  Don't trust me read about it yourself at
http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2011/05/freedom-stick-and-massive-resistance.html

If this had existed when I was in high school - how my world might have been different.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

There are many books about the law of Unintended Consequences.  My favorite is the follow up book too - Time and Again – From Time to Time.  For the dedicated 19^th century enthusiast I would recommend both – but for the rest of us here is the plot point of the book that intrudes me.

Man travels back in time to stop WWI by saving the Titanic.  Man sinks said ship by changing the course of the ship.  Hence the Law of unintended consequence in action.  I have many more from real life… 

What about United States Trains Islamic Extremists to battle evil Soviet Empire… not good ending there either….

Rabbits released in Australia as game animal leads to rabbit invasion…

I could go on and on – humans have been living this story for thousands of years so I am nor surprised to read recently that asking students to lineup in line alphabetically has had unintended consequences that last a whole life time.

I remember fondly they day my 4^th grade teacher had us lineup by last name first – I think it was only once.  Ahh the glory to have a W in your last name!   The authors of this study have discovered that people with letter late in the alphabet were more likely to be quick to seize the first opportunities and people with a, b, c’s are more likely to wait and search for the best opportunity.

I find that I am the fastest eater I know – mostly because in grade school I had 12 minutes to eat my lunch.  I had 12 minutes because it took us 10 minutes to get served and I was always at the end of the line.  Lunch was 50 minutes long – but I wanted to catch the 25 minute group walk out to the recess yard.  Remember when we had recess in grade school? – ahh the good old days?

So today I eat to fast – I really try to eat slowly – but it’s I the bones you know?  Just another reminder of the important and influential role that teachers can have on students with the smallest of decisions.  Choices that last a lifetime.

Read the original report on the paper here...

http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2011/01/26/5909358-how-your-last-name-affects-shopping-decisions#comments

Review of Learning Outside the Lines

Jonathan Mooney and David Cole have written the student support book I wished I read when I started high school and college and was classified as having a learning disability

This booked is packed full of tricks and twists to get the troubled student to survive the system and all it’s annoying realities.  From how to replace lost notes to how to take notes this book is an A to Z survival guide written by two students who had bee there and done that.  Each author brings a unique perspective to the table with Mr. Mooney talking about Dyslexia and Mr. Cole speaking about ADHD.

As the authors point out students who are categorized with a learning disability are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the college system and get a full college education with out having to sit through another lecture or test.  Many students are unaware of how flexible a liberal arts education can be and in this book we see all the levers and insider tricks laid bare.

Not being interested in attending any more schooling with my MS in Education I was not as interested in backbends and other nifty moves covered in the 2^nd half of the book.  I as a dyslexic survivor of out modern schools system I appreciate the skill set that the authors offer – the one weakness of the book is that the authors don’t spend enough time explaining a students rights and legal recourse under the American with Disabilities Act.

Many students in technical schools and state colleges may find that some of these tricks described in the book are not available to them with out the liberal education focus… but even these students would benefit from a reading of “Learning Outside the Lines” 

The most moving section of the book for me by far was Jonathan Mooney’s autobiography chapter.   I hope that he has published this elsewhere because the story of his early educational experience should be widely distributed.  I cried like a little baby when I read his description of hiding in the bathroom to avoid reading a loud to the class and how he took days off to avoid tests.  Memories I am sure I have buried and long forgotten.  I howled with anger to hear his description of his teachers’ hard line attitude that all the children needed to have the same standards.

These things happened to Jonathan and David in the 80’s when the American with Disabilities Act was in full force.  I went through grade school on the liberal west side of Manhattan with enlightened people who did the same behaviors ten years before.  This book makes me wonder how many teachers continue to belief that all children need to learn the same way.  Growing up in NYC I was not turned off by the language, but I have read that some people are.   My experience working with troubled teenagers is that they know all that language intimately and the idea that they need to be protected form it is insulting to them.

Thank-you Mr. Cole and Mr. Mooney for writing this book.  Required reading for any college bound student who suspects he or she may qualify as a learning disabled student.

#1 - Demonstrate your expertise in the classroom from day one and do not allow students to challenge you.

Teachers who are just beginning in the field most commonly follow this rule.  Whenever the students become emotionally involved in what is going on in the classroom, the teacher will step in to calm things down and prevent the class from escaping the teaches control and getting out of hand.  In this way, the teacher stops the learning process, taking control every time the class attempts to go beyond the guidance of the teacher.  No private space or independent development is allowed inside the expert’s schedule and classroom.

No learning is allowed to take place because any true knowledge gained would challenge the teacher’s ability to speak with authority.  The teacher speaks down to the student and is uninterested in what the student offers in the relationship between student and teacher.  The teacher, who is busy showing their expertise off to the students, may or may not notice an attempt by the class to be independent, let alone take the opportunity to facilitate it.  Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  It's important to see how being the all knowing teacher can be a very satisfying, if ineffective role, to play in the classroom.    

This is 1 of 12 ways to turn a teacher into a prison guard.

Intro to 12 ways to turn a Teacher into a Prison Guard.

This series will attempt to examine the 12 basic traditional rules of teaching that block a student’s learning process.  Currently these rules could easily describe the interaction of many classrooms in the U.S. and abroad.  Luckily, many teachers intuitively knew that the twelve rules did not facilitate the learning process.  Growing numbers of people understand that teaching is a process of facilitating empowerment of the student's individual learning process.

The Factory Model remains today the ideal classroom of our culture, despite over a hundred years of reform and progressive attempts to change the system.  The American vision of what a teacher does, is a day filled with drills, spelling tests, read along, sitting in straight rows, and homework.  This system of dealing with kids has evolved from a medieval model into the factory model classroom of the 19th century, a model that was developed and implemented with the management tools and philosophies of that century.  System of education designed to teach Americans a common culture and political apathy.  The current apathy and political listlessness isn’t responsible for a failure of the educational system; the political apathy of the American population is a direct result of that education system

Students and parents need to recognize themselves as consumers of a system of education.   Once a student see they have choices in the school setting with the help of their parent, they begin to take the political power to improve their education.  The public school system is forced to recognize parents who expect their inherent power to change the basic philosophy behind education.  Parents and children can move beyond the consumer choice and create their our own models and ideals for what education means

A revolution in education needs to happen in the United States today.  It is change of philosophy, not method that will rescue American education.  The politics of education is currently defined by a struggle over who will control our schools.   The politics of education can be about cooperating to unleash our youth’s ability to learn and change the world.

Just another update.

Tomorrow I will begin publishing my opus from college on the How to Not Teach or 12 ways to turn a teacher into a prison guard.  This article was written by me during my last semester of college in 1993  I will be updating it for clarity.  These post are actually far more radicle then anything else I have published here before - I wrote this post while researching whole language reading theory and practice and other radicle teaching methods.


I wrote this piece while I was doing a direct for college credit teaching sessions.  That's when I met with a teacher for an hour a week, did additional independent work and got a full college credit for a class.  If I had only known about this when I started college I would have done all or most of my class work this way. 


On another note my process on this blog had changed -
1) am editing my work with a much lighter heart.
2) Wow  I am editing my writing at all. Amazing
3) I have become very comfortable with sharing non main stream ideas about education.
4) Those ideas have defiantly developed.


I hope you enjoy this series...

Ten Rules for Faking it...

Again my readers inspire me...  I have not set foot inside a english classroom in years or discussed current remedial reading teaching techniques since 2000, But I can rest assured that this basic tenet of teaching has not changed in the last ten years.

Don't teach the student how to cheat, fake it or get by.  Instead make them slog through the material, because it's honest and necessary

What other handicapped group is forced to submit too such a rule?  Are blind people forced to live with out canes because it makes them more honest.   Children with glasses forced to live without them to be more real?

I wonder how many of teachers teach kids how to fake it?  I mean at what point do we look a child in the eye and say; "Well you are 3 years behind the learning curve here are ten survival strategies that might be useful for you to know."

Maybe this did happen to me - I just don't remember it.  But I don't think so.  This is a big problem in modern education - people who have consistently failed to learn to read should be taught basic survival strategies.

Lets go through them here...


1) Lie - Well this was the hardest one for me and probably the biggest lesson.  The powerless always have the right to lie to the powerful and who is less powerful then a student who can't read in a modern classroom.

2) Cheat - I am still not a fan of cheating cause I grew up a good kid.  But I do believe in getting help from my friends on homework - I believe in many places that is called cheating.  I just call it group support.  Hint - you have to use your own handwriting if you can.

3) If all else fails just don't respond.  A raised eyebrow may just prompt the answer to appear.  Silence is the best defense of the cornered.


4) Sit strategically - The front row is great for hearing the teacher.  But if the teacher likes to pick people out during class.  Sit in the back behind the biggest kid you can find.

5) Get your homework done early - But think about not completing certain tasks tactically.  Remember certain tasks take a huge amount of energy others much less.  Weigh your options and choose not to take some.  A captain of sinking ship can't save everything.

6) Books on tape are at the library and librarians are willing to find them for you - need I say more?

7) Pick a day of the week and never do any reading and writing on that day - ever.

8) Don't Cheat on Tests - This is fairly important rule - I have never met a test cheater who didn't get caught - of course I also did fairly well on non essay tests without cheating.

9) The goal is too pass - getting an A is great - but man a C- is just as satisfying when your working your ass off

10) Dear Reader - What rule do you think should be inserted here?

a) Send out an SOS and Ask for Help - admit to the adults who are kind and trustworthy that you need their assistance.

b) Laugh more - need I say more?

c) Stop the Blame Game - Blind people don's feel guilty for not being able to see - they might get frustrated sometimes - but they don't blame themselves for not being able to see...

Storytelling

Good Day Bad Day

One of the most difficult things to explain to people who are not dyslexic is that learning disabilities are not constant. LDS is not like lighting a room where you can just say that the effect is set or controllable.

People ask me - can you spell, or what is your reading like? Most days it’s just like yours is my answer. After eight years of basic English and with the help of constantly writing new posts for this blog I have improved my style and writing comfort in the last year. Still I have bad days and good days.

Spelling is relative – grammar extra credit. Getting back to the point here – so if dyslexia is biological state and changes from one day to the next in relative effects. What happens when a dyslexic student goes in for a test o a bad day? If the student has the ability to change the test date – nothing will happen. If the school system is not flexible then the student suffers through a hard day.

Why Doubt sucks.

or The physiological and psychological realities of being Dyslexic.

Thanks for reading this blog for more blog posts check out the rest of my work at http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

 I am sitting in a classroom in 3rd grade.  My heart rate is high I am in fight or flight mode.  I can feel my pulse beating behind my ears.  The room seems hot – I can’t help but look around the room for a place to hide.  Maybe if I slouched down in my chair I could avoid being picked out by the teacher.  I can not read.  I am the only non-reader in my class and I know it.  I am a shamed.  I wait all day for recess and pray it does not rain.

I am sitting in beginning Spanish in 7^th grade.  I have no idea what is going on in the classroom.  I work hard at night to catch up, but I slip further and further behind.  My body does not know that I am sitting in a classroom in the best junior-high in Manhattan.  Instead my body believes that it is walking across the African safari with a lion behind every bush.  I am preparing to fight or run for my life.

The teacher addresses me in Spanish and I freeze.   A useful response to a lion or a leopard, but not to a Spanish teacher.

I am sitting in basic biology in college.  I keep notes religiously.  I can’t read half of them or figure out what they mean.  When I use the text book I find the new words overwhelming.  I test on reading compression tests better then my peers, but here where the words are too many, too new and complex I find it difficult to associate the words on the page with the words that are spoken in the lectures.  I enjoy the lectures and discussions, but during labs and exams years of training kick in an I turn into a adrenaline junkie who looks like bumbling fool.

Dyslexic individuals have millions of years of biology working against them as they attempt to work there way through the literate world.  As I have written before in this blog the biggest block to the success of a dyslexic person is the realization that success starts outside of the fields that dyslexic students are weakest in.  As human being’s we need to build on previous success and previous triumphs in order to build into our weakness.  The disadvantage that dyslexic people start with such a handicap they need to create other areas of success to hold them over whether is theater, sports, math, science, fantasy, or relationships.  Before suffering the trials and tribulations of dyslexia it is important that students have some touch stone of success.

Thanks for reading this blog for more blog posts check out the rest of my work at http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

Laughter is the best medicine...

The Onion who never covers anything seriously has covered teaching disabilities ;-)

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/report_increasing_number_of?utm_source=a-section

The Definition of Education

Eric Wolf is a storyteller whose work can be viewed on ericwolf.org.

Words are tempting to use and take for granted.   To explore the root of words is too explore their common usage and their hidden meaning.  In the industrial revolution the schools were used to bring a rural and disparate population into the modern industrial world.

Dyslexic individuals have through there inability to function successfully in school settings demonstrated the hidden agenda of schools.  Modern schools are creating a uniform and generic cultural norm that is useful to a government that seems more interested in creating a population that is willing to follow orders then create solutions.  Dyslexic students are revolutionaries not because they want to be – but because they must be to survive.

I have written here before on the importance of growing children who maintain there ability to be creative in the 21^st century where creativity is the coin of the realm.  But first let us exam in what the current idea of education is based on.  Here is the current uusage fo the word education on…

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/education

Usage: Education, properly a drawing forth, implies not so much the communication of knowledge as the discipline of the intellect, the establishment of the principles, and the regulation of the heart. Instruction is that part of education which furnishes the mind with knowledge. Teaching is the same, being simply more familiar. It is also applied to practice; as, teaching to speak a language; teaching a dog to do tricks. Training is a department of education in which the chief element is exercise or practice for the purpose of imparting facility in any physical or mental operation. Breeding commonly relates to the manners and outward conduct.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.  (Bold is by me.)

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If education is about tempering the heart and ruling the emotions of the individual… if education is about getting the mind in top shape at the expense of every other aspect of the soul’s journey through life, from the emotional maturity of the students, to the flexibility of the body then perhaps it is time we admitted that the current model – the current ideal of education is completely off the track for what we want for our children.

How do we build a world where education is no longer seen as what is done to you, but instead education is what a student does to themselves because there desire and hunger for knowledge is so great.  If point of Education is temper the passions of the heart and the creativity of the soul.  Then perhaps it is time time less children were educated - the world may indeed improve.

What we owe to the Wheelchair.

Eric Wolf is a Storyteller and you can read more about his work at http://www.ericwolf.org

It is tempting to think that Dyslexic students are not handicapped. After all they don’t look any different then other students in the public schools. So it is natural to just think of them as kids who need more time to do their homework. That is if we forget the lesson of the wheelchair.

A wheelchair is obvious and the steps in front of the building are just as obvious. If there is no elevator or ramps to gain access to a building - then by definition the building is not accessible to the handicapped. There are still a disturbing number of building that are not accessible to a wheelchair bound person in America today and this lack of access is physically defined and powerfully self-evident.

Dyslexic students also need help getting past own set of “steps”. They need help making school accessible if they are to participate. This is true whether or not you can see the steps that block them from successfully accessing the public school system.

For some students that may mean having a teacher’s assistant in the classroom to help them with their reading assignment. For other students that may mean allowing the dyslexic student more time to read or perhaps giving them a shorter spelling list for spelling tests. For other students them may mean not posting the results of test in a public setting or having grades define the classroom experience of the student.

Of course it is critical that dyslexic students and all learning disabled students be treated as mainstream students and allowed access to regular recess and nonacademic activities. How many parents have been told – you son or daughter is dyslexic so we held hum back form recess to give them more reading lessons? Would we hold back a semi-blind child to study reading as well during recess? How about short child to grow faster?

The lesson of the Wheelchair is that handicapped access is structurally a part of modern society and that when access is not provided the barrier of the student to participate successfully in the activity is defined before the event starts. Thus the success or failure of dyslexic student in a school setting has more to do with the school then the student.

7) Our weakness becomes our strongest asset.

(This is the 7th post in a series on 7 principles that every parent should know about their dyslexic child. To see them all click here – 7 tips for dyslexic parents.)

The human mind has an amazing ability to compensate for any inability to cope with the processing of information. Can’t see colors and need to cross the street? - learn to watch for the actions of other people. Can’t smell very well? – realize that a wet nose smells better then a dry one. Blind and want your clothes to match? – learn to store them in sets in your closet.

Whatever the physical limitation, the human mind is very capable of adapting to the situation. Because of my dyslexia I have become a very effective storyteller and public speaker. I learned early in life to use my vocal ability to compensate for my inability to read and write. Basically when I was young I needed to think quick on my feet.

Because of my dyslexia I am an expert at information management, learning to learn and productivity strategies. I may not use them all that time – but I can teach you how to use them effectively. I have spent more time studying how people learn then I care to admit. I am well versed in many different methods of organization and I even know witch ones are better for dyslexics to use successfully.

Dyslexia will force your child to grow in other areas to compensate for their inability to compete effectively in the realm of literacy. Best of all, your child will learn one of the most important strategies to over all life success; how to ask for help. I know that this can be hard to hear for parents of dyslexic children. The silver lining is not so shiny when you’re looking at a 3rd grader who can’t read in a public school setting.

There have been numerous studies demonstrating that dyslexic people make better business people and are more successful as entrepreneurs. Your child will learn to ask for help when they can’t effectively complete a task by themselves.. This is the number one reason that one half of all successful entrepreneur are certified dyslexic. They learned young that if you can’t do it yourself get someone else to do it for you.

One of the worst lessons taught in public school settings is that work should be completed in isolation. Dyslexic children learn the opposite lesson because they most have someone else involved in there writing projects to complete them. Through a perverse trick of political intrigue and Machiavellian thought the public schools are forced to allow them and even supply this support to the students. Thank God (or Washington) for the Americans Disability Act because schools are required to give support to disabled children so that they can succeed.

Eric Wolf

Recess in American Education

Remember recess that time in school where you got a break from your daily chore of home-work? As adults we have learned that breaks are important to productivity. Regular scheduled breaks increase creativity and the ability of students to retain information.

Many adults have fond memories of growing up in public school, but here in America our children are attending schools where increasingly recess has been marginalized or removed all together to make way for more study time. Like a run away fright train going down hill every faster the idea that children should learn reading, writing and arthritic at ever earlier ages has taken over our school systems. Forget character education, creative genius or empathy development; will they score to grade level? is the question being asked by everybody in today’s school systems.

In the name of increased test scores recess has been removed from ever lower levels of education until it can be seen as reasonable to see a day when there will be no recess in our public schools.

Recess was a time of slight supervision where children had a moment to explore their personal identity. Where they were able to keep a little piece of that uniquely American experience that was the backyard, the neighborhood or just hanging out with your friends. This time is increasingly gone. Removed by system of parenting and an educational philosophy that says that an unsupervised child is a danger to themselves and their environment.

The rub is that recess is supervised: the child’s choice of activities is not. Recess is not acceptable because it reminds us that children don’t need to be supervised to learn, children don’t need constant adult attention and children can get by for increasingly large amounts of time by themselves with out us. Recess reminds that even after a hundred years of an increasingly dogmatic and bureaucratic American educational system that the essential nature of American children is of independence. Clearly recess has got to go so that we can have more tests, learn one more spelling word and demonstrate our sacrifice of the heart at the holy alter of intellect.

Recess has to go so that the testing industry can make more money printing duplicate unnecessary tests and congressman can go home to their districts and speak about increasing standards in education.

I am passionate about this because 30 years ago I went to public school and I am dyslexic. While normal grade school children need a break, learning disabled students need it even more. I did not learn to read till 4th grade and I can tell you that with out regular recess breaks in my schedule I would not have be here today. I would have cracked into a million pieces under the strain.

Children need adults, but they also deserve a break from us just like we do from them.

Eric Wolf M.S. Ed.
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

Call of a different sort of reform in America’s schools.

I submitted this as a commentary for NPR all things considered – well not this piece – well it was nice of them to consider it. Eric

We need to pull back on testing our students and spend more time on the arts, with a focus on real world communication skills, creative problem solving and people management that businesses will need to have if America is to be successful it the 21st century economy.

The ability to spell or add, are no longer relevant to the success of anyone in a world that includes word processors and spreadsheet programs on every computer. The ability to recall a certain historic date or scientific fact will not decide the fate of any American with Wikipedia one click away. Even the valued alphabetizing skills developed in grade schools across the country, once used in leafing through the Yellow Pages by every American is now obsolete due to google.

There are many skills that are still relevant – skills that become even more important in an economy where any job is just one click away from being outsourced to Indonesia. The capacity of students to: manage people, be creative in the face of conflict or problems, a willingness to set goals and follow them, to speak with truth and passion to an audience of any size and a stubborn willingness to keep trying will lead directly to success in the next generation.

There has long been a growing disconnect between the creative skills used in the arts and business to succeed and the skills that America’s schools teach. It’s time for schools to be based on a 21st century model where creativity, originality, passion and perseverance are the coin of the realm.

One of the key skills that could be developed further in American schools is the use of storytelling. Not the sort of storytelling of sweet little old lady at a library reading a book, a worthy vocation. But the American use of storytelling in every aspect of our lives from successful interviews, to sales, in media and in just normal everyday talk. I have had the pleasure of visiting hundreds of schools around the country as a professional storyteller and I am sorry to report that only one school had any experience with public speaking prior to my arrival. The ability to speak without notes, to as Mark Twain once said – “extemporize” or to just feel comfortable answering question in public, are essential skills to any student’s long term success in life.

It’s time for us to rethink what it means to be in school. When creativity and perseverance is our guiding light the world opens it’s doors to meet us.

Eric Wolf has a M.S. in Education and is the Host and producer of the Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast with over 80+ hour long interviews on how to use storytelling in just about every aspect of school and life. http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com

Listen to the youth they know the way...

Storycorp jst collected an excellent interview in CA.
http://www.storycorps.net/listen/stories/kim-wargo-and-her-daughter-ida

Taken a listen and really breings home the idea that we are not just talking in the abstract here - dyslexic students have faces.

The Quagmire of Opinion vs Fact in Dyslexia

Recently a very Nice parent commented on my blog. Check out the comments on previous two post.
In there comments and questions they suggested that the rights of dyslexic students are a matter of opinion not law. The key idea hear for me is that Learning disabilties are not opinion or political hairs to be split. Learning diabilties can be proven - tested and demonstrated in written and verbel tests consitently over and over again.

I give you the definition of dyslexia by http://www.medterms.com

Definition of Dyslexia

Dyslexia: A specific reading disability due to a defect in the brain's processing of graphic symbols. Dyslexia is a learning disability that alters the way the brain processes written material.

Two commonly held beliefs about dyslexia are that children with it are prone to seeing letters or words backward, and that the problem is linked to intelligence. Both beliefs are incorrect. The problem is a linguistic one, not a visual one, in dyslexia. And dyslexia in no way stems from any lack of intelligence. People with severe dyslexia can be brilliant.

The effects of dyslexia, in fact, vary from person to person. The only shared trait among people with dyslexia is that they read at levels significantly lower than typical for people of their age. Dyslexia is different from reading retardation which may reflect mental retardation or cultural deprivation.

The treatment of dyslexia should be directed to the specific learning problems the person has. The usual course is to modify teaching methods and the educational environment to meet the specific needs of the individual with dyslexia.

The prognosis (outlook) for people with dyslexia is mixed. The disability affects such a wide range of people, producing different symptoms and varying degrees of severity, that predictions are hard to make. The prognosis is generally good, however, for individuals whose dyslexia is identified early, who have supportive family and friends and a strong self-image, and who are involved in a proper treatment program.

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Back to my words....

In the beginning dyslexia was discovered in very smart people. Naturally it was assumed that dyslexia and many other learning disabilities were just effecting smart people. But over time it was discovered that dyslexia can be tested and found in 20% of the population regardless of I.Q. While it is true that many dyslexic or LDS people are gifted at speaking or talking to compensate for their disability - These gifts ARE NOT gurantted they are earned through the hard work that individual puts into compensating for the fact they can't read and every one else can.

It is tempting to think that these idea are my opinion or that they are just a matter of one persons thoughts vs some one else's thoughts. But they also are a matter of legal recourse to thousands of families around the country when the school refuses to recognize their child's Learning Disabilty. Dyslexia is as real as blindness just a lot harder to see. (pun intentional)

5) Institutions serve their own agendas.

This post is part of series on 7 Principles every parent should know about dyslexic children.

All human institutions: government, corporations and schools serve their own selfish self interest. This is called politics or the survival instinct. Organizations that fail to look out for there own self interest fail to continue to exist. They may have wonderful ulterior motives, but when individuals with in these institutions threaten the legitimate ideology and psychological stability of the institution - there is a predictable response that the individual most conform to fit the situation. Dyslexic students are by definition unable to conform to fit the model that every other student in the school is able to fit. Thus a dyslexic student feels an incredible amount of stress to conform to the standards of normalcy by learning to read.

If the student is unable to conform they will be viewed by the teachers, staff and other students as a burden. This is not to say there are not exceptions to this rule, but as a parent it is very important that you understand this basic ground rule. You must learn everything you can about how your school works and what options are available, who are the best teachers, who has the best reputation as special ED support person and what legal rights you have.

Rights you have…
1) You have the right to have your child tested to be find out if your child has a learning disability. You do not have to pay for this right. This right is guaranteed by Federal Law.
2) Your child has the right to an equal playing field - The test can discover how to give your child the same access to learning and success that other students have by themselves.
3) Your child has the right to go to school in a safe environment. No child should be treated or identified as different in front of there peers. Dances caps are out!
4) Your child do not have to attend special ed classes with out your agreement. You can always appeal any decision the school makes.

In addition you may have the ability to influence the out come of your child's school year by influencing some basic choices the school makes before the year begins. Assuming your child has been tested and is dyslexic then…

1) Learn how the culture of your schools approach to children with learning disabilities. Ask around – find other children with dyslexic kids – believe me they will know weather you can go in like a lamb or a lion. They will also know who your potential allies would be.

2) Interview next years teachers and talk to parents who have attended there classrooms and choose the teacher your child will be in based on your teachers comprehension of learning disabilities.
3) Give your child an advantage by doing reading with them in evenings during the summer - you do the reading – they see you read and see how fun it is while knowing that your not going to ask them too.
4) Meet with your teacher at every single parent teacher conference. Ask to meet your teacher before school begins – Understand that your child’s teacher is probably very busy right before school starts and they may not want to meet or meet very long. Try to keep this first meeting short and too the point.
5) If the school wishes to place your child in a special ed classroom you have the right to refuse such a transfer and if all else fails you have t right o change schools. LDS children learn better when main streamed then in a focused special ed room.
6) Join the parent teacher association – be a part of your child’s school as much as possible.

When you through all the homework your child needs support with after school in the evening you might be able looking at a full or at least half time job. So why are you not home schooling again?

Good luck let me know how I can help.
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

New Take on an Old Argument

After years of watching and wishing for whole language reading philosophy to rise in triumphant success over the other methodologies of teaching reading - in particular the evil phonics. I found myself astonished by a nonpartisan report out of New York University on how different reading styles effect reading speeds.

Processes Add Up To Determine Reading Speed, Study Shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 28, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2007/08/070801091500.htm

I would be interested in seeing a comparison of the three system of reading with a dyslexic population. I would suspect that whole language would test higher, but the tests would kill the dyslexic test subjects. Far as I can tell both whole language and word recognition systems seem to suffer from a lack of profit motive in pushing there particular philosophies. Phonics seems to have no shortage of companies making money off of it’s success to such an extent that many of the studies proving it’s success seem a little too well funded. I suspect that reading is like many other skills; those who are exposed to it do it and those that are not exposed to it don’t.

In the mean time, I must admit that perhaps phonics has a greater role to play then I as a non-phonic dyslexic reader care to admit. Or perhaps the greater reliance in this New York University study on phonics in the participants is a reflection of focus on this method of reading in American Schools for the better part of half a century.

4) Humans are capable of learning on a J curve.

This post is part of series on 7 Principles every parent should know about dyslexic children.

The spark of desire is the one true gift a good teacher can give a student. Everything else is just a matter of access and time. Once exposed to the desire to learn something in the modern age where the internet has made any information that you may need immediately accessible. The only thing missing is your child’s desire to know.

Schools were built during an age when it was necessary to create a uniform cultural identity through compulsory schooling. While nationalist may still argue that for the good of the state individuals should be normalized across a wide spectrum of types and religions – I would argue that in a creative economy that normalization will kill the engine that fuels the governments economic success. Government schooling is killing the drive and the ability of the economy to supply the needs of the state.

One of the few good arguments that I have heard for running government schools that makes sense to me is that for many children Public School is the one time a day that they get a good meal. I think that's great - let's build a cafeteria in the pubic library and any hungry person can get a modest meal government paid. Or let's run high school and middle school the way many private colleges are run - you take the classes you want to take from the teacher you wish to learn from.

When your child feels competent and emotionally safe they will learn when they are ready. In human development there are windows of opportunity that open up as the child develops – now is a good time for music, now is a good time for stories, now is a good time for character development Each of these windows open and close with a the development of the human being. I'm not saying you can't teach a old dog new tricks, but... it sure is hard.

I have spoken with teachers who teach college level algebra to 5th graders - but the response they get form administration is - What are we going to teach them in 9th grade algebra?

I’m ranting I know - but I am ranting against an ideology of schooling that says that the smartest - and every student is smartest in one subject - whether or not it is apart of the schools official curriculum - example - boys, cars, or comic books. - the smartest students must wait for everyone else - or must conform to culture that says fit in.. oh the exasperation!