12 ways to give your child dyslexia

Have you fallen for some of these dysfunctional reading theories?

                Proponents of sight-reading and whole-language rely on the inaccurate theories of Frank Smith’s, Understanding Reading, as well as other misguided publications. These practices can actually cause reading problems and exacerbate dyslexia:

1. They argue that early reading is bad for children.
2. They say that reading is discovered, like language.
3. They encourage children to guess at words by initial letter, word-length, and context.
4. They consider phonics to be lower-order, sub-skills. 
5. They promote cooperative learning, where children help each other discover.
6. They use picture clues for words in isolation.
7. They use a cueing system (hints for guesses).
8. They call errors, “miscues.”
9. They believe that spelling and grammar will come by the osmosis of reading books.
10. They had to develop remedial, reading-recovery methods to try to counteract the failures of students to learn.
11. They believe that comprehension and meaning-making are of primary importance when reading a word not seen before.
12. They guess, “What would make sense here?”

                While some of these theories look good on paper, they do not work in practice. Decades of educational decline cannot be ignored! I have shown in several, previous articles why these ideas fall short.

                The early learning-window, of ages 2 to 5 years old, is so important to catch and take full advantage of before it’s gone. Introducing phonics now, the right way, prevents dyslexia and increases your child’s capacity to learn for life. My son, River, has proven the statistics wrong. He should have learning disabilities because of his birth mother’s lifestyle choices, but he doesn’t. His IQ is 116, above average, mostly because I taught him phonics early the right way. This helped him get ahead and stay on track. Dress your child’s mind for success with The Godfrey Method. Single and low-income parents can help their kids beat the odds, too.

                Young children are hungry to learn new things. Children make all kinds of learning leaps if given the right foundation. One mother taught her preschool daughter Kaitlyn the lower-case-letter phonics and words using The Godfrey Method. Then Kaitlyn taught herself which upper-case (capital) letters match the lower-case ones by playing on the computer. Her mom opened a blank word document for her to play ‘typing.’

                All the letters on a keyboard are written in upper-case letters. So as Kaitlyn pushed an upper-case key, a lower-case letter would show up on the computer screen. She quickly figured out which upper-case letters to push for the lower-case letters desired. Capitals weren’t necessary for her to learn reading at first.

                With TGM one young boy, Datan, learned to read so well that he started reading his books upside down for more challenge. His mom took that as a cue to insist that his teacher move him up in reading level at school!

                Even if you send your child to preschool, you should still use TGM at home [especially since several preschool chains teach sight-words, ugh]. A wonderful preschool teacher, Karen, started using TGM in her preschool and the picture-letters worked far beyond her expectations. She has been teaching preschool for over 20 years, now. She says this is the best program that she has used for helping the children associate and remember the sound that each letter makes. She also said that they learn faster and easier than any students ever before. She recommends that parents get this and use it with their children at home to reinforce what she teaches at preschool.

                Have you ever watched a child learn to throw a ball? He tries it a few times and his mind naturally adjusts his body to make the ball go higher, lower, further, and/or faster. Did he have to read a physics textbook to learn to throw a ball? Did he have to know the equations for initial velocity, gravity, force, angle, distance, or the trajectory of the ball? NO!!! Your child’s mind is a super-computer that makes internal learning leaps. It’s the same for reading, again: if given the right foundation.

                This is not an argument for self-discovery. The child must be instructed directly to learn well, just like s/he learns to throw better with coaching. However, this is an argument to Keep It Simple for Success. You don’t have to read a huge manual on the mechanics of reading, nor have a teaching certificate, to teach your child, either. The Godfrey Method is simple, effective, and the child never forgets.

                Reading is hearing with your eyes. Only phonics instruction wires reading on the hearing-side of your brain. Sight-reading wires it on the other side and causes a mass of confusion. One of its names is dyslexia.

Without these preventatives, the cracks in your child may be dyslexia, speech problems, resource remediation classes, being teased at school, low self-esteem, insecurity, childhood depression, low self-confidence, lack of imagination, lower IQ, slower learning capacity, and/or caught in the downward educational trend. They all may be preventable or curable. You, mom and dad, are the key. It’s not rocket surgery!

http://thegodfreymethod.com/blog/open-world-12-ways-give-your-child-dyslexia