John Bald/language and literacy

Fixing reading and spelling problems 1. Principles.

To help anyone with a learning difficulty, we need to identify what it is in their thinking that is preventing them from learning as they wish to, and help them to adjust their thinking so that they can learn. This involves close observation of each individual, to see exactly what they are doing wrong, and why.

For reading, it is essential to investigate sensitivity to light as part of the process. People who are sensitive to light find it difficult to focus on the page in the first place, making learning to read more difficult, and sometimes impossible, until the issue is dealt with. Warning signs include frequent rubbing of the eyes, headaches, very short concentration spans,  and losing place or skipping lines. The British Institute of Optometry's screening kit is easy to use and the cheapest option for schools. Arnold Wilkins' Reading Through Colour is a useful, if expensive, introduction to the field - perhaps best read in a library.

The key point in teaching reading and spelling problems is to give the person a clear view of how English spelling functions, and how to use it.  As set out in previous postings, English spelling is an example of "fuzzy logic".  Words share most, but not all, of the chief characteristics of the system, and, generally speaking, consonants are more regular than vowel (voice) letters, as we have around 25 voice sounds in English, and only seven letters - aeiou, y and sometimes w - with which to represent them. With vowels - voice letters - in particular, we have to know what the letters are indicating to us in each word. This creates stumbling blocks at different stages in learning to read and spell, and each of these needs careful explanation.

The key maxims remain those set out in earlier postings.

1. The language is 1000 years old, and if we were 1000 years old, we'd have a few wrinkles.  The main wrinkle is the French connection, which can be explained by means of shared words - table, fruit, centre. The Youtube animation of the Bayeux tapestry is an interesting illustration of the story. The teacher needs to know French to explain this - just the main links between English and French words.

2. We use what the letters tell us, but we don't believe the letters tell us everything. Some things we have to know, and remember. This includes variations in the normal correspondences between sounds and letters. A key teaching technique is to reinforce any new word with others with the same pattern of letters and sounds.

3. We do not use any technical term where the idea can be expressed in normal English. Some children take linguistic terminology in their stride. For others, it is an unnecessary obstacle. Young children do not need terminology derived from Greek.

4. We make everything very clear, and then practise. I'm grateful to Susan Williams for making this point clearly as deputy head at Harrington Hill School, Hackney. When we've learned a new word, we return to the beginning of the paragraph or sentence and read from there, so that the person reads it again in context. If it is not read accurately, we return to the word group for more practice.

For younger, complete non-readers, I usually start by making their name with plastic letters and having them put the letters in the right order. I use a capital for the first letter, and explain why capitals are important. (There is no need, ever, to use the term "lower case", which is derived from obsolete printing methods.) I then use the Ditties from Read Write Inc, as these contain no irregularities, and so provide a very clear introduction to phonics. I then usually work through the reading books in the series, moving to other books once the child is reading regular words confidently and accurately. When introducing the links between letters and sounds, I always qualify these by phrases such as "usually," "most of the time" or "nearly always", so that the child will not be confused when the letters do not behave as expected.

For older readers, from secondary school onwards, I try to use whatever materials they have to read for their school or college courses, or for work. I explain the spelling system in terms of sounds, groups of letters, letters giving information about other letters - eg final -e, soft c and g (with the proviso that some of these do not work all of the time), and then have them read to me. Most older readers have some knowledge of the links between letters and sounds, but do not use these effectively, and often guess, sometimes because they have been told to do so. Whenever a word is misread, we move to another with the same pattern of letters and sounds, unpack and explain it. Then another, having the learner distinguish between the two. I add more until I get a look that says, "This is too easy," at which point I present the original word, which is usually read correctly. We then return to the text as in point 4 above. The goal is to give the learner the satisfaction of reading at least a short paragraph, accurately, by the end of the session. It does not matter much how long this takes - getting the adjustment to thinking in in the first lesson is the key to confidence and future success. My latest pupil, aged 18 and unable to read because of guessing, has made immediate progress using this approach, and is now reading Dickens. So, indeed, has every other student with whom I've used it.

For spelling, I use the Slimmed Down Spelling approach, first published in The Times Educational Supplement in 2003, which considers spelling in terms of sound - if we hear a sound, we need at least one letter for it - groups of letters, extra letters and history. We only use any of the last three categories when we've learned the word needs them. An account of the approach is here.

For handwriting, I use French lined paper Grands Carreaux, which provides more horizontal and vertical guidance than any other, though I use it more flexibly than its inventor, the librarian Seyes, intended. I strongly recommend this for anyone with a handwriting difficulty, including almost all left-handed writers.

The best way for schools to avoid problems arising in children's understanding of English spelling in reading and writing is to use the simple qualifications, such as "usually," "most of the time", "nearly always", in the earliest teaching of reading and phonics. If children are prepared for letters, or groups of letters, not to indicate the same sound each time, they will not be surprised when this happens. Otherwise, they hit serious problems when faced with the full range of English spelling in the books they read.

The best way for primary and secondary schools to develop literacy beyond the initial stages is to build literacy into all aspects of the curriculum from the start, and to use this to extend children's vocabulary beyond the everyday. Katie Ashford's chapter in Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers, (Edited by Katharine Birbalsingh) is an excellent starting point.

 

 

Foundation Lesson for people assessed as dyslexic. Illustrations and two more cases.

The foundation lesson gives the teacher immediate insights into a person's reading difficulties and enables him or her to turn the situation round in the first lesson, with obvious savings in time, money and anxiety.

Karina McLachlain, who has observed it, asked for illustrations. Here are two from this morning's lesson, by Skype to Falkirk with a ten year old. I wrote them with a marker on paper, holding them up to the camera for the pupil to see, while her mother took notes.. The pupil ended the lesson by reading the first paragraph of Alice in Wonderland with good phrasing, only slight hesitation, and no errors - an excellent result, and one I would not claim to be typical - not every pupil makes so much progress in one lesson:

Illustration 1

This illustration shows the examples used to explain that letters usually indicate a sound, that they tell us all we need to know for some words, but not for all, and that they won't tell us how to pronounce a longer word. It makes the point that when we learn a word, we should learn another that is like it. Anything that is not fully understood, is explained.

The next section shows that some letters give us information about other letters - final e, softening c and g.

Illustration 2.

 

This illustration shows letters working in groups, first with an easy group, ship, then one where the letters do not behave as we might expect, ti.   Finally, it illustrates vowel groups.  The historical aspect of English spelling was explained using the example of table, from French, which the pupil could pronounce accurately in French.

The teacher in the second case study, also by Skype, from Yorkshire, emailed the following comment, edited to preserve anonymity. This pupil was also benefiting from introduction of a blue overlay, following the YPO course:

Hi John

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this afternoon - you achieved SO much including progress that maybe isn't instantly obvious. Like securing IMMEDIATE  respect and engagement from parent and pupil himself. Both are extremely excited about MORE - WE WILL sort the technology so it works next time

I do suspect that p read much of The Gruffalo from memory. He has MANY strategies already to cope (he is EXTREMELY intelligent) - some of which help him (as you saw today) and equally many that simply avoid... and create mayhem for me/us and further frustrations for him

(note. this issue will be dealt with in lesson 2. The trick is to present the words out of context on cards, and see if the child can still read them.)

I don't quite know how to phrase this meaningfully - nonetheless I have always had a passion for Literacy and language - words, morphology and word play... and how to weave words to create atmosphere, paint pictures etc. Whilst no where like in your league, I can truly say that I have never met anybody in my entire life who shared this interest - so your 'bis' email was one of the most fun that I have had in a LONG time. Will pass this on to my older children tomorrow. As soon as I enthuse the older ones about anything, they all become fascinated. My challenge to them was to explain biscuit in the context of bi as a prefix. They raced for an answer - hence the twice baked!

(Note: Wikipedia to the rescue. The prefix is bis, and in the middle ages, biscuits were cooked twice, the second time in warm oven to dry them out.)

 

Computer monitors and eyestrain.

Sensitivity to light causes problems ranging from mild discomfort to epilepsy. We are all sensitive to excessive light, and the flicker of fluorescent light is a hidden problem for many people - I recently saw it listed as an aggravating factor in autism in The Horse Boy. We spend a lot of time in front of computers, but I know of no research comparing the qualities of different types of monitor - I will update this as and when I hear of any.

I've just changed an ASUS MS236H monitor, that I'd had for around three years, and which I'd always found harsh, even on a low setting, for an HP Pavilion 22xi.  Both have the same screen size, but the HP is much more comfortable for me to use at all settings. It seems to have some kind of anti-glare element on the screen, but I can't tell what it might be. I'll ask HP. In the meantime, if you find looking at a screen uncomfortable, consider this one, and don't hesitate to get in touch with any results. I bought mine from John Lewis for £129, including a two-year guarantee. Other monitors are available - if you have a good one, please reply to this posting.

Making Molly's Memories.

This is Molly, and her story is here. Please read it, and see if you can keep your hand out of your pocket...

Fighting Blindness, Retinitis Pigmentosa research, is here.  A very informative site, and another worthy route for donations.

The private world of dyslexia, and a term that has run its course.

Who exactly is dyslexic, and who is to say?

To begin with, very few people are actually assessed as "dyslexic". It is more usual for a psychologist or other assessor to come up with an opinion that a pattern in test results, at times combined with an analysis of actual performance, is "consistent with" such an assessment. This is a phrase widely used in the medical profession when a doctor can't be sure. 

Virtually every test score that meets this vague criterion includes a weakness in memory. Most include a weakness in recognising words, and in recognising words presented at speed - also a weakness in memory, as the words need to be built up from their constituent parts.

The point at which a combination of weaknesses leads to a "category" judgement is never certain. Categories bring supposed benefits, and, some people say, comfort, in that they understand the issues more clearly.

But do they? And, in particular, does the category of dyslexia (hereafter dx)?

I no longer believe it does. Dx is a concept of the late nineteenth-century, when our knowledge of the brain and its operations was far less developed than it is now. At the time, it served a useful purpose in isolating particular difficulties with reading from general learning difficulties that had their own categories, usually socially and intellectually pejorative. More recently, it has come to be used as an umbrella term, which can be extended to cover just about any difficulty with reading except those caused by visual stress - which is itself confusing, as visual stress can cause symptoms that are closely associated with dx.

But let's get back to the hard evidence. If someone has a weakness in short term memory, they can learn to use their memory more effectively, for example by learning to group similar words, and so form artificially the neural networks that immediately successful readers form naturally. If they have difficulty in reading fluently, the task can be broken down and rebuilt, like a music lesson, so that the obstacles to fluency can be identified and tackled. If they have problems with spelling, which is perfectly natural in English (see D Crystal, Spell it Out, for the reasons why) then they can be taught to spell. 

In each case, the hard evidence of a particular cause of difficulty is more descriptive of the problem, and more indicative of its solution, than the umberlla term. This is important, not just because the term creates a sense of victimhood and helplessness, but because, against all intention, it actually gets in the way of designing the teaching that the individual needs. At present I never use the term dx unless someone else does first. We would have a much clearer view of the situation, and the action that is needed, if this practice were adopted by everyone else, and dx seen as a historical, rather than a modern scientific concept.  

Light, the Eyes and Reading. A visit to CPOC

CPOC is the Colchester Primary Ophthalmic Clinic, directed by Dr Annette Grounds (PhD, Imperial College). It offers the rare, if not unique service, of combining established ophthalmic techniques, such as exercises to improve the convergence of the eyes, with tinting and close analysis of the movement of the eyes during reading, using a machine called Readamatics. I had arranged for a pupil to be referred to CPOC using the NHS Choose and Book Scheme - this required a letter of explanation to the pupil's GP, who did not know of the service.

The pupil had weak eye convergence, which led to switches of focus between eyes, and made it hard for her to switch her attention from near to far objects (eg from a whiteboard to her own writing.) She did not have clear left-right dominance, and would often lose her place while reading, sometimes up to two lines. She had, though been making very good progress in reading more complex texts, including Heather Angel's monogram on Macaque Monkeys, which has adult text, but in fairly large font. The smaller the print size, the more problems with reading.

The Readamatics machine allowed Dr Grounds to track the movements of each eye separately as the pupil read, and to see exactly where she lost her place. It was interesting to see the link between eye convergence and reading, but more interesting still that the eyes, as they tracked print, did not move in straight line, but wriggled, as if they were tracking the forms of letters in order to recognise them as the pupil was reading. This needs to be investigated.

In the meantime, the depth of Dr Grounds' examination, and the clear link to reading difficulties that would not otherwise have been established, confirms the view that I have formed in my 37 years' experience that visual factors are a bigger obstacle to reading than has been understood, and almost certainly as big a problem as those associated with dyslexia. Sir James Rose should have paid more attention to the issue.

Sensitivity to Light. Christopher Woodhead and the Sunday Times

At long last, sensitivity to light gets a mention in the Sunday Times in this answer to a question from a parent by Chris Woodhead. He is quite right to say that the problem is common - when I asked children in two primary classes last week if anyone found their eyes hurt when they read, four in one class and six in another said they did. This is typical. I've been writing about this issue since 1987, and getting it through to pyschologists, special needs teachers and even opticians has been like trying to teach social skills to crocodiles. Anyone meeting a child with a reading problem needs to check this out. If you don't you will waste a lot of time and money if this turns out to be the root of the problem.

Lightbulbs and the Ignocracy.

New words are to be avoided unless they're needed, but my modest suggestion of ignocracy to describe the tyrannical imposition of stupid ideas, practices and items for political purposes is increasingly compelling. OED are interested, but need evidence of more widespread use of the word before they can include it. Recent examples of ignocracy include the DCSF's discouragement of parents accompanying children on school trips, Ofsted's thuggish, ill-informed and ineffective approach to inspecting schools and social services, and now lightbulbs.

Professor Arnold Wilkins has been writing about the effects of lighting on work, reading and health for over twenty years. I have written about the issue, over the years,  in the Telegraph, TES, Guardian, Times and Mail on Sunday. Getting on for a full house. The ignocracy - beginning with a former Conservative Minister of State, Tim Eggar, who refused to discuss the issue - takes no notice. It lives in a world of its own, dismissing as "perceptions" any opposing views, whatever their basis. Ignocracy differs from fascism, Stalinism and the Khmer Rouge in that it does not lock up and murder its opponents. Its mindset is otherwise very similar, and its strategy is to marginalise its critics and to ignore them. What an ignocrat says is right because he or she says so. If it weren't right, they wouldn't have said it. Anyone who disagrees is therefore wrong. It's a matter of logic. 

Well, the imposition of fluorescent lightbulbs is not right. It is anti-literate, because it discourages reading - even those of us who are not subject to headaches and illnesses often find it uncomfortable, and it is a hidden cause of many serious educational problems, some of them leading to violent behaviour - see Asberger's or a Reading Problem on this weblog. It's now, at least, got into mainstream media and the BBC News. The ignocracy won't take any notice of that either.