Find out why reading out-loud is so important for comprehension!
When I couldn’t homeschool anymore due to the economic needs of my family, I still taught the younger children to read phonetically before kindergarten – at a basic level. The problem is, some of my children became confused from their school’s sight-reading methods, and I didn’t notice until a few grades later, when they began to struggle.
Of course, I always read out-loud to them when they were small, which was a good foundation, but I failed to continue after they were in school for awhile. Shame on me! However, the fix for helping them get back to their phonetic roots in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade was to have them read out-loud to me.
While my child read to me, I had much the same experience as Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld, mentioned in Vol. 6 of my book It's Not Rocket Surgery!:
“I can confirm this tendency… to read [by guessing context] from my own experience as a tutor. For ten years I tutored a retarded young man and taught him to read by intensive phonics. Yet, he often made the kinds of errors [of sight-readers]. Whenever he came to a word he could not read, he substituted a word which made no sense phonetically. In other words, sounding out the word was not his first means of word attack, even though the word might have been one he had previously read correctly. Whenever he did this, I had him spell out the word, and suddenly his phonetic knowledge came to the fore, and he read the word correctly.”
In other words, as a couple of my children struggled with sight-word training while reading out-loud to me, I reminded them of sounding-out each syllable phonetically. Their early phonics training kicked back in and overcame the school’s error. Thank goodness I had taken the time to give them that foundation, regardless of my busy schedule.
“Recently we received a letter from England written by an intelligent, accomplished and motivated adult who has a "reading problem." He had been taught to read by look-say and exhibits the usual symptoms of dyslexia, and he wanted to know how to cure his disability. Since there are many adults in America struggling with this same problem, we thought it would make an excellent subject for a newsletter. So here is the gentleman’s letter, with its original spelling errors, followed by our cure:
“Dear Mr. Blumenfeld,
“I have just received the information package you sent me. I saw your advertisement in the “New Dimensions” magazine and thought it might be of interest but having little relevance to English/German education methods. Upon receiving and wading through the mass of articles etc., I read the education letter dated Jan. 1988 regarding dyxlexia. It was extreemly interesting, logical and above all explained the whole problem. It gave me important clues as to my own disabilities with reading and writing. I do’nt remember which method of reading I was taught; and to this day I still have problems with reading or should I say misreading and especially spelling. I intend to purchase your books for my children, when I get around to having some and perhaps for me to learn what I did’nt whilst at school. If you have any information or advice that could help me I should be very grateful, my problems are as follows.
READING:
- I can read well enough, but I have to concentrate.
- For some reason I miss words or don’nt see them.
- I have a fear of reading aloud in public even with family or a child.
- I miss-read or insert the odd word, but I manage to stay within the context of the message.
- I have a little difficulty in pronouncing new words, I seem to make them fit what I think they should be or I look at a word to quickly and ad-lib, Eg. Alpha-Phonics at fist was Alphonics.
WRITING:
- Bad handwriting although it is getting better, I don’t have patience for it.
- Punctuation and especially spelling are substandard, but with rereading and the use of a dictionary I can eliminate most mistakes.
- Sometimes I totally forget how to spell a simple every-day word.
- I have difficulties with the ‘i’ and ‘e’ relationship and the rules regarding word end changes.
“To read this letter it might seem as if I have quite a problem but I don’t, I speak very well (posh some might say); with a little effort, concentration and the aid of a dictionary I can write quite constructive letters, although the hand-written variaty have to be rewritten a few times. Thank God for the invention of this Word Processor. But essentially reading and writing should not take so much thought, it should pass almost effortlessly from eyes to mouth and from mind to pen. I should be grateful for any assistance with this particular journey that I’m on and thank you for your help this far.
Yours Sincerely R. W.”
Dr. Blumenfeld responds, “It’s unusual for a dyslexic to be able to see his own problem as clearly as this individual does. Many dyslexics are so crushed, so embarrassed by their disability, which – they fear – is the result of a defective brain, that their sole way of dealing with the problem is to hide it.”
“First he must realize that the cure to dyslexia lies in becoming a phonetic reader. That is, he must retrain himself so that instead of looking at our written language as a series of still pictures to be interpreted by spoken language, he will see the written word as a direct, accurate transcription of the spoken word. The sight reader associates the printed word with an idea or picture, as if it were a Chinese ideograph. A sight reader may see the word “father” and say “dad,” or see the word “horse” and say “pony.” He or she does not hear the written word because the association is between the printed word and an idea rather than the printed word and the actual speech sounds the letters represent.”
“Alphabetic writing is a sound-symbol system in which the basic association is between letters and sounds. When properly taught, the pupil is drilled in the letter sounds so that an automatic association between letters and sounds is developed. This then permits the pupil to sound out the words he or she is reading. The reason why phonetic readers read with ease and enjoyment is because once they’ve developed this automatic association between letters and sounds, the reading process becomes as effortless as speaking or listening.”
“The reason why the English alphabetic system must be taught in a logical, systematic way is because we have only 26 letters to represent the 44 sounds in the language. This anomaly, or mismatch, is due to the fact that the Roman conquerors of Britain imposed their Latin alphabet on the local inhabitants, who, it must be admitted, did a rather ingenious job of adapting it to their own language. Indeed, they did such a good job that writers, using the system, have managed to produce some of the world's greatest literature, including the King James Version of the Bible, the plays of Shakespeare, the poems of Milton, etc. In other words, the English alphabetic system has served the writers of English very well indeed.”
“However, when you use 26 letters to stand for 44 sounds, you will have to make some rather interesting and novel accommodations. Some of the letters will have to stand for more than one sound, and some of the sounds will have to be represented by more than one letter. For example, the “th” sound is represented by t-h; the “sh” sound is represented by s-h; and the “ch” sound is represented by c-h. The letter a stands for at least four sounds: long ā, as in apron and April; short ă, as in cat or bat; the “ah” sound as in car and father; and the “aw” sound as in all and call. How does one know which sound to make when the letter a appears? By having learned the appropriate sounds in their spelling families.”
“Actually, there are about 20 vowel sounds [diphthongs] in English, but we use only six letters to represent them. That’s one of the reasons why English spelling requires a little effort to master. Another is that English pronunciation has changed over the centuries but the spellings have not. Plus, English has incorporated words from Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, Yiddish, Arabic, etc., all of which has complicated our spelling. Attempts have been made to simplify English spelling, but with very limited success.
“This should not disturb us, for our spelling, or orthography, is a remarkable repository of information about the history and origins of our language.”
“Now comes the more difficult part: transforming or changing a sight reader into a phonetic reader. That can only be done by having the pupil read aloud, interrupting him whenever he makes an error, no matter how small, and by teaching him to apply his phonetic knowledge.
“My own experience as a tutor has taught me that look-say reading habits do not automatically disappear after a pupil has learned the alphabetic system. It requires conscious effort on the part of the pupil to overcome these bad habits. And that is why it is very important to make the pupil aware of his misreadings.
“Most look-say readers are not aware of the errors they make because they were taught that accuracy is not important and they were encouraged by their teachers to guess and “take risks.” Today’s teachers, in particular, do not even bother to correct sloppy reading, let alone sloppy spelling. But pupils know the difference between what is correct and what is not. And that is why they don't want to read aloud in class, for fear of appearing stupid. Accuracy may not matter to the teacher, but it does matter to the pupil who is terrified at the thought of making a fool of himself in public.”
“And the crippling goes on. In the United States today children are taught to read by the much-touted “whole language” method, which is just another form of look-say. The Washington Post of 11/29/86 reported, “The most controversial aspect of whole language is the de-emphasis on accuracy.” The article quoted Julia Palmer, president of the American Reading Council, as saying, “Accuracy is not the name of the game.” What, then, is the name of the game? Sloppy reading! How can we help the letter writer become an accurate, confident reader?” [Your baby CAN’T read, after all!]
“Being able to see the syllabic structure of a multisyllabic word is the key to becoming a phonetic reader. That is why it is important to break up each new multisyllabic word into its syllables. He must continue to learn to read all new words in this way—that is, see words in their phonetic structure and associate the syllables with their sounds.
“Incidentally, a syllable is a unit of speech with one vowel sound. It can have none or many consonant letters attached, but it can only have one vowel component. For example, all of the following are one-syllable words, a, at, meet, -prom, prompt, thrust, scrunch. It is Two-syllable words can be as simple as a-go, and a-men or as complex in spelling as prompt-ness, earth-quake, or spend-thrift. Dictionaries show how to divide multisyllabic words into their syllable components or pronunciation units.”
“Obviously, this can be a laborious process. However, if the learner chooses reading materials that are interesting and worth reading, then the retraining can be more of a pleasure than a pain. I have found the Reader’s Digest to be an excellent source of interesting articles on a wide variety of subjects. Chapters from books of high interest to the learner are recommended. The subject matter may indeed be so engaging that the learner will be strongly motivated to read the entire work, regardless of its difficulty.”
“While learning to read phonetically, the student might as well be learning something else at the same time. That’s, why the choice of reading materials is important. We read for knowledge and enjoyment. Most schools, however, force children to read materials that provide neither knowledge nor enjoyment. And that is why so many children get the notion in school that reading is boring and irrelevant.”
“The letter writer [R.W.] also wants to improve his writing. His bad handwriting can be improved with some patience and effort. First, he should learn to write the cursive letters in their proper forms and then learn how to connect them correctly and legibly. This should be done slowly, using good models. Speed will increase with proficiency. But proficiency should always come first.
“As the letter writer learns to read phonetically, this should also improve his spelling. Punctuation is learned by simply reading and copying good texts and understanding why the punctuation marks are where they are. The purpose of punctuation, of course, is to make the text easier to read and understand and reduce ambiguities. It provides the text with the graphic equivalent of inflection and rhythm. Quotation marks and apostrophes clarify meaning. Commas, colons, semicolons and dashes help organize thoughts on paper.
“In a sense, writing should be as easy as reading phonetically. However, painstaking writers will often write and rewrite until they are satisfied that they have expressed exactly the ideas they want to put forth. Rewriting, revising and editing are parts of the process of thinking. In speech, we often find the right word eluding us. In writing, we can take the time to find the right word. Good writing, in fact, is little else than refined speech or thoughtful speech.”
“Spelling rules are writing conventions that must be learned by study and practice. The more one writes, the better one learns the rules [for] consistency, common sense, and logical practice. A writer who constantly makes spelling mistakes has simply not stopped long enough to study the words he keeps misspelling. What he should do is make a list of the words he most often misspells and [place] the correct spellings next to them. He should refer the words back to their spelling families so that he can learn their spelling patterns. As the sight reader becomes a phonetic reader, his spelling will improve.”
“Language is the tool of thought, and before one can make maximum use of that tool, one must master the basic mechanical skills of reading and writing.
How long will it take for the letter writer to become a proficient phonetic reader? It all depends on how much time and effort he puts into the task and how badly he wants to get rid of his disability. Motivation is the key to success. It is the driving force that enables people to overcome insurmountable obstacles.”
It is so important for parents to read to children, and have their children read to them, whether attending public, private, home, or preschool. It’s equally essential for parents to give their children a strong foundation in phonics, as best as their situation will allow. The Godfrey Method can help.
Frank Smith, author of Understanding Reading, the bible of whole-language educators, was wrong! As researcher Edward Miller’s theory showed, “the two ways of looking at words — the configurational and the phonetic — were mutually exclusive, and that once a child achieved an automatic ability to look at words in a spatial-holistic fashion, it created a cognitive conflict with the phonetic method.”
“Frank Smith, however, insisted that none of these methods were mutually exclusive. But if this were so, then why didn't those who were trained to read phonetically ever become dyslexic, and those who were taught to read ideographically did?” Frank Smith is responsible for the misconception of the century! http://www.donpotter.net/PDF/Miller-Blumenfeld_Dyslexia_Article.pdf
As we now know and have proven, dyslexia is induced. Continuing, “In other words, the federal government has spent and is still spending millions of dollars looking for the genetic causes of dyslexia. This line of investigation is the official line of the Interagency Committee on Learning Disabilities in its 1987 report to the Congress.”
“What this meant was that Miller had to prove, in a manner acceptable to the scientific community, that his theory was correct. Miller believed that he could do so by means of a simple test that anyone could duplicate and verify. He had already seen how dyslexic children could read their controlled vocabulary books with great speed but were stymied when faced with simple newspaper stories. The question was, at what point did the child become a committed sight reader and develop a block against learning phonics?
“It took about ten months of experimentation before Miller finally came up with a testing instrument that would indicate clearly whether a child was a sight reader or a phonetic reader and at what point the child's reading mode became permanent. The test would scientifically measure the child's word-identification strategies and accurately measure the severity of the child’s dyslexic condition.
“The test was composed of two sets of words: the first set consisted of 260 sight words drawn from two Dr. Seuss books, Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat. The second set consisted of 260 equally simple words drawn from Rudolf Flesch’s word lists in Why Johnny Can’t Read. The sight words were arranged in alphabetical order across the page. They included such multi-syllabic words as about, another, mother, playthings, something, yellow, while the words from Flesch’s book were all at first-grade level, one syllable and phonetically regular. In other words, for a child who knew his or her phonics neither set of words posed any problem.
“The purpose of the test was to measure the speed at which the child read both sets of words and to count the errors, or miscues, made in reading the two sets of words.
“The first children Miller tested were the five children of the Norman family, a family Miller had known for many years. He discovered that the two oldest boys, Deidric and Cameron, could read both sets of words with no difficulty, indicating normal, phonetic reading ability.
“However, their brothers Travis, 11, and Jason, 7, were a different story. Travis read the sight words at 51 words per minute with no errors, but read the phonetic words at 17 words per minute with 91 errors. Jason read the sight words at a speed of 44 words per minute with no errors, but read the phonetic words at 24 words per minute with 47 errors.
“Obviously, both youngsters had become dyslexic. The fact that they could read the sight words at over 30 words per minute meant that their word-identification mode was automatic and, therefore, permanently fixed. Their cognitive block against phonics had been established by the way they had learned to read. Unless the blockage was undone through intensive remedial intervention, it would remain a major lifelong handicap, preventing them from pursuing careers that required accurate reading skills.
“The youngest child, Nickayla, 6, given a shorter test, read the sight words at 21 words per minute with 8 errors and read the phonetic words at 10 words per minute with 16 errors. She had not yet developed that degree of automaticity with the sight words that would have prevented her from becoming a phonetic reader.
“But Nickayla was tested nine months later, and the results indicated that she had developed the needed automaticity. She could now read the sight words at 39 words per minute with 11 errors, and read the phonetic words at 21 words per minute with 50 errors. In other words, she had become educationally dyslexic in a matter of nine months. This outcome could have been prevented had she been taught intensive, systematic phonics at a time when her word-identification mode was still indeterminate.
“The test had clearly shown its value as an indicator of a child's way of identifying words: phonetically or holistically. It also indicated the degree of dyslexia, or symbolic confusion, the child was suffering from. It could also identify those children who had not yet made a cognitive commitment to either word-identification mode and could still be saved from becoming educationally dyslexic with the proper intervention.”
“In January 1990 Miller obtained permission to administer his test to 68 students at the Ronda-Clingman Elementary School, a rural school with an enrollment of about 600 near the town of Ronda in Wilkes County, North Carolina.
“[The results] meant that 44% of all students in the public schools of that state would emerge at the end of their school careers educationally dyslexic, that is, functionally illiterate.”
“What was happening at the Ronda-Clingman school was going on in every elementary school in North Carolina. Were the authorities concerned? Miller had actually gone to the state education authorities in September of 1989 and demonstrated to them his theory on the artificial induction of dyslexia. Two months later he received a letter from Betty Jean Foust, the state's Consultant for Reading Communication Skills. She wrote:
“In my opinion, all students do not need a phonics assessment. We have never promoted reading words out of context as your assessment does. Time is precious in our schools, and we need activities which promote achievement. [Note: her context-reading is one of the most inaccurate, destructive parts of whole-language; it is educational malpractice!]
“Secondly, I believe all students can be taught to read. Some can read better than others, but all students can learn something. We need to guard against the use of dyslexia as a term for “catch all reading problems.”
“Thus spake the State Reading Authority.” This problem is not exclusive to North Carolina, but is nationwide.
“As Miller has pointed out, a phonetic reader cannot become dyslexic. If what Miller has discovered is true, then the millions of dollars the federal government is spending on finding the genetic causes of dyslexia is a total waste. In addition, the billions of Chapter One dollars the U. S. Dept. of Education has spent in support of reading programs that are causing educational dyslexia are more than a waste. They are being used to commit a horrible crime against the children of this country.
“For years, now, we have been telling the public that the dyslexia that afflicts millions of perfectly normal, healthy children is being caused by the reading-instruction methods used in our schools. Whole language, which is presently sweeping through the primary schools of America like a plague, is the latest manifestation of this insane addiction to defective teaching methods. It is sad to know that millions of innocent children will be permanently damaged by these methods, used by teachers who believe they are doing the right thing.”
And worse yet, parents can start induced-dyslexia at home with commercially-available look-say reading methods for preschoolers. “Get them while they’re young, Eva, get them while they’re young!” (Lyrics from the Evita musical about Eva Peron of Argentina.) Parents, empower yourselves and your children with early reading the right way – The Godfrey Method!
“Edward Miller has gone to great lengths to bring his findings to the attention of the government education and research establishment. His letters and phone calls to top officials have been to no avail. What he has found out is what we have known for a long time: they are not interested.
“They have their own agenda, and it has nothing to do with educational excellence.
“At this point, our only hope is to reach enough parents so that as many children as possible can be saved from the fate of functional illiteracy the public schools have in store for them. We are advising all American parents to teach their children the three R’s at home or have them taught at a trustworthy private school until at least the fourth grade. The most severe, permanent damage is done to the children in the first three grades of public school.
“We believe that home schooling is the best educational alternative for all children. However, we realize that homeschooling is not a viable alternative for many parents. In addition, many parents cannot afford private education. But they must find some way to educate their children correctly in those first crucial three years.
“Parents must also be made aware that permitting their pre-school children to memorize a battery of sight words will cause reading problems later on. They should teach their children to read by intensive, systematic phonics before giving them little preschool books to read. This will "immunize" the children against dyslexia.
“And lastly, pray for those children whose parents, or teachers, do not have this knowledge — and then. . . pray for America.” ~ Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld
http://thegodfreymethod.com
