Questions And Comments/Reflections Concerning Beers

1. Beers:  What challenges have you faced when encountering students with dyslexia or dysgraphia, and what strategies do you incorporate to help them achieve their goals as readers/writers?

Comment:  I dare say that a number of teachers may not realize that the challenges that they face with some of their most problematic student cases could be due to dyslexia.  I am under the impression that teachers today have become increasingly aware of the problem, but this does not insure that a number of children will not 'fall through the cracks,' so to speak.  Contrary to popular conceptions (which are, indeed, misconceptions), dyslexia is not a problem with one's vision.  Those with the disorder do not see the alphabet backwards or scrambled.  It is not a matter of seeing; it is a matter of processing.  In addition, not all processing difficulties are a result of dyslexia.  I can see the challenge for teachers, especially inexperienced ones.  When faced with a student who has problems decoding, the teacher must determine 1) whether the student is having difficulty seeing the printed/written text, 2) whether that student is exhibiting decoding problems that have nothing to due with sight, and 3) what might be the source of the problem, dyslexia or something else.

2.  Beers often underscores the relationship between the difficulties in decoding and reading problems among students.  Facility in decoding often corresponds with the degree of one's phonological awareness.  In the past decade, or so, there has been a movement back towards phonics as a means to remedy this problem.  What is Beers position on the 'back-to-phonics' movement?

Comment:  I find it more convincing for some one else to tell my story and, therefore, try to shun the telling of personal anecdotes.  In this case (and for what it's worth), however, I would like to give a brief account of my own experience with reading and writing as a defense of the traditional method of reading instruction called 'phonics.'  I cannot possibly conceive of learning to read without knowing the alphabet, what sounds the individual letters make, and sounding out the words.  Phonics gave me the means not only to read English, but also to learn foreign languages.  It would have been a most frustrating ordeal for me to have attempted to comprehend Mario Pei's description of the sounds of Russian, German, French, Italian, Esperanto, and a number of other languages without the solid foundation that learning by phonics supplied.

Now, I realize that sounding out words does not make a good reader, nor is it the panacea to all reading problems.  However, phonics has made me a good linguist and philologist, and philology drew me into reading, and vice versa.

3.  Beers:  How can I motivate the child that can read better than I?

Comments:  Although I am certain to encounter a child who is a more gifted reader than I, that does not mean that I cannot--nor should not--always improve my own reading.  I have discovered a number of effective approaches to make my reading easier and more pleasurable.  Consider the following:

    1) I try to read books that stretch my mental faculties a bit, but not to the point that I become frustrated because the material is too difficult.

    2) I have studied (and continue to study) Latin.  The study of this ancient, beautiful, and often challenging language has improved my vocabulary, understanding of grammar, and facility with writing.

    3) I have read (and am currently rereading) How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles van Doren.  This book my not speak to everyone, but it has had a lasting impression on me.

The study of Latin, the reading of great books, and the perusal of volumes on how to read and improve one's vocabulary have aided in shaping my success (and intermittent failures) as a reader.  I cannot guarantee that this path will work for everyone, for I realize that each person is unique and different approaches are often needed for different people.  This is the challenge that teachers face (among many), namely to find what works best for each student.