Flash cards method and dyslexia?

[Nadenka]

Hi! I found by chance these articles that made me very nervous.
http://www.donpotter.net/PDF/Miller-Blumenfeld_Dyslexia_Article.pdf
http://www.donpotter.net/PDF/Miscue%20Analysis.pdf
I hope that "Little Reader"-reader will be different because of the Phonics part.
What do you think?

[Ayesha Nicole]

Dear Nadia09

Take it with a grain of salt because these two educators have an opinion that is unfounded in the medical world.  Blumenfeld coined a term "educational dyslexia" that is very misleading because he is a proponent of teaching via phonics; whereas whole words must also be taught.  That is why Dr. Seuss books are based on the Dolch words list.

However, the fact remains that teaching with the whole words method does not cause dyslexia.  Dyslexia is caused by a biologically based condition within the brain and how it processes information, and it cannot be "induced" by teaching whole words:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dyslexia/DS00224

- Ayesha

[MIP1999]

Chinese characters are whole words and chinese never develop dyslexia because of that, right? 

[Kappasweet]

My belief is that if you are starting at age 4 years or younger with the flash card whole word method, you will not have anything to worry about.  You are giving your child such a jump start that the chances that she will develop any reading problems is practically zero.  I do believe if a child is sent to school at age 5 or 6 with no print awareness whatsoever and very little knowledge of the alphabet, and is made to memorize whole words, and the teacher plays "hide the ball" with phonics, many children never will learn to read, never grasp basic phonics, and won't be able to distinguish words and decode from left to right.  This is for much older children though.  Babies' brains are different and I think you would be hard pressed to find a dyslexic child that was introduced to reading instruction by age 3, even if it was using a method that would not have worked well at a later age

[KL]

We talk about this issue here:

http://www.brillbaby.com/teach-baby/reading-whole-language-phonics.php

Note in particular:

http://www.brillbaby.com/teach-baby/reading-whole-language-phonics/dyslexia-debate.php

[DadDude]

However, the fact remains that teaching with the whole words method does not cause dyslexia.  Dyslexia is caused by a biologically based condition within the brain and how it processes information, and it cannot be "induced" by teaching whole words:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dyslexia/DS00224

Um, these are not "facts."  They are opinions.  Experts disagree on this stuff.  My impression is that many reading specialists do think that the whole word method caused generations of dyslexics.  It depends on what is meant by "dyslexia," which is itself a vague term used in many different ways.

All that said, I'm not sure I would worry so much about kids who learn to decode words at a very young age being dyslexic.  They may be very different.

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