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Click on the name
below to read a brief synopse on their study...
Sally E. Shaywitz, Ph.D.
Linda Kreger Silverman., Ph.D.
Virginia W. Berninger, Ph.D.
Maryanne Wolf, Ph.D.
Ronald D. Davis (discovered root cause and corrected his own
dyslexia at the age of 38)
Resolve the Factors that Trigger Disorientation in Reading
(for Dyslexics)
Sally E.
Shaywitz, Ph.D.
"...Dr. Shaywitz explained that the words we speak are made up of individual
sounds called phonemes. In spoken language, the brain automatically combines
these sounds to form words. To make normal conversation possible, such sound
pieces are strung together rapidly--about 8 to 10 per second--and blended so
thoroughly that it's often impossible to separate them.
For people with dyslexia, the problem arises
in converting this natural process to print. Written English is a kind of code:
The 26 letters of the alphabet, either singly or in combination with other letters,
stand for the 44 letter phonemes in spoken English. Dyslexic readers have extreme
difficulty with phonological awareness (breaking spoken words into their component
sounds) and with phonetics (the ability to match these letter sounds to the
letters that represent them)...
...The dyslexic readers found it difficult to read nonsense rhyming words, such
as "lete" and "jeat." This task is designed to measure the
phonologic principals underlying reading and is far more difficult for dyslexic
readers to complete than rhyming actual words, which they may have previously
memorized.
When performing such tasks, the dyslexic readers in the study showed less activation
in a brain region linking print skills to the brain's language areas, in comparison
to normal readers. Specifically, dyslexic readers showed reduced activity in
a large brain region that links the visual cortex and visual association areas
(angular gyrus) to the language regions in the superior temporal gyrus (Wernike's
area).
In the article, the authors noted that their findings are consistent with those
of earlier studies of acquired inability to read (alexia). In both alexia and
dyslexia, the same brain regions appear to be affected; however, in people with
dyslexia, the study shows the impairment is a functional one, whereas in alexia,
it has been attributed to a tumor or brain injury due to a stroke.
When they performed phonologic tasks, the dyslexic readers also showed activation
in the brain region known as Broca's area, which has been associated with spoken
language. In contrast, the normal readers did not show any increased activity
in Broca's area when reading. Dr. Shaywitz explained that the dyslexic readers
may have used this brain region in an attempt to compensate for impairments
in the brain regions normally used for phonological skills..." Read more
at...National
Institute for Child Health - Dyslexia
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Linda
Kreger Silverman. Ph.D.
"...Visual-spatial learners who experience learning problems have heightened
sensory awareness to stimuli, such as extreme sensitivity to smells, acute
hearing and intense reactions to loud noises. They are constantly bombarded
by stimuli; they get so much information that they have trouble filtering it
out. They tend to have excellent hearing, but poor listening skills. Their
ability to retain and comprehend information auditorily is weak and they have
difficulty with sequential tasks.
These children are highly perfectionistic, which means that they cannot handle
failure. They usually refuse to attempt trial-and-error learning because they
can't cope with the failure inherent in this technique. They have an all-or-none
learning style (the aha phenomenon). They either immediately see the correct
solution to a problem or they don't get it at all, in which case they may watch
quietly (while pretending not to watch) or avoid the situation completely because
it is too ego threatening.
Visual-spatial learners have amazing abilities to "read" people. Since
they can't rely on audition for information, they develop remarkable visual
and intuitive abilities, including reading body language and facial expressions..."
Read more at...Gifted
Development Center
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WHY SPELLING IS IMPORTANT
AND HOW TO TEACH IT EFFECTIVELY
Written
by: Virginia W. Berninger, Ph.D.
University of Washington, Seattle, USA and Michel Fayol, Ph.D.
Université Blaise Pascal & CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Published online: 2008-01-22 14:57:52
Spelling is a code that uses letter sequences
to represent specific words that have an associated pronunciation and meaning
within the mental dictionary. Three kinds of codes contribute to spelling: a
phonological code (coding and awareness of sounds in spoken words), an orthographic
code (coding and awareness of letters in written words), and a morphological
code (word parts at the beginning of words that modify shade of meaning and
at end of words that mark tense, number, or part of speech). For example, the
word “jumped” has five small sounds in it: /j/, /u/, /m/, /p/, and
/t/ (these sounds are called phonemes). However, it has six letters. That is
because the last two letters correspond to a word part (morpheme) that marks
the past tense but corresponds to a single sound. In other words, that sound
might be /d/ as in “named” or /ed/ as in “wanted.”
Other sources of knowledge also contribute
to spelling. These include vocabulary knowledge(semantic features or meaning
clues), phonotactics (permissible and probable sound sequences, patterns, and
positions in spoken words), and orthotactics (permissible and probable letter
sequences, patterns, and positions in written words). For example, in English,
words do not begin with the /m/ sound followed by the /l/ sound or generally
end with /h/. Also, u not a follows q and the letter x does not double at the
end of words but l, f, and s may. Further complicating matters is that the same
word pronunciation may be associated with multiple meanings, which linguists
call polysemy. Syntax (part of speech for a particular word and the permissible
word order of the language) provides the clues that help the writer clarify
which of the multiple meanings for that pronunciation is intended (e.g., He
wound the clock. The wound did not heal. The boy read the red book. )
Spelling knowledge may be expressed as rules,
statistical patterns, or procedures and these different kinds of knowledge have
various implications for instruction. Examples of English spelling rules include
generalization about (a) when to double final consonants in syllables as a function
of accent patterns(e.g., when the accent is on the second syllable, double the
last consonant in the second syllable, but when the accent is on the first syllable,
do not double the last consonant). This rule is shown when “refer”
becomes “referring” but not when the accent is on the first syllable
as in “secret” which becomes “secretive” not “secrettive”)
or (b) when to drop or add letter(s) to the end of a base word when a derivational
suffix beginning with i is added (e.g., final silent e is dropped when adding
“ing” as in “tame” becomes “taming”) (Dixon
& Englemann, 2001)...
...The contrasting instructional implications
of these different kinds of knowledge will now be considered. Rules are articulated
declarative knowledge, applied at the metacognitive level in guiding, self-checking,
or revising spelling. Teachers verbalize these rules and ask children to verbalize
them too. Linguistic awareness is not acquired by verbalizing rules but rather
by conscious reflections and operations on phonological, orthographic, and morphological
word-forms and their parts in conscious memory. For example, children may engage
in word sorts in which they have to reflect about common and unique sounds or
morpheme patterns in written words as they classify them into categories. Little
is known about how to teach children to abstract statistical patterns related
to sound sequencing or letter sequencing, however, it may help to draw their
attention to these patterns by playing games in which children judge whether
scrambled sequences of sounds in spoken words sound like words in their language
or scrambled sequences of letters look like written words in their language.
Using anagrams in which they unscramble the letters to spell a real word may
also benefit their spelling. Research reported later shows how specific procedures
can be taught through modeling for helping children generate word spellings
at the levels of phoneme-grapheme correspondences, onset-rimes, and whole words.
Not all of the necessary spelling knowledge can be taught as declarative knowledge
or rules..." Read more at Literacy
Encyclopedia - Canada
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Maryanne
Wolf, Ph.D., et al
In the study below (please visit this study
at the website below) there were two major facets focused upon. Detecting learning
challenges early on in youth via separation/distinction in identifying dispairment
in phonological performance vs. naming speed...
(kindergarten children are) "...similar
in color and object naming speed but...letter and number naming speeds are significantly
slower from the outset, with letter-naming slowest (this is despite adequate
knowledge of letter names). Thus, impaired readers begin their early primary
grades with both a general naming-speed deficit and a particular deficit for
automatic, alphanumeric symbols. Similar to average peers, rapid increases in
speed occur by the end of Grade 1, with the most large increases made by the
end of Grade 2 (Wolf, Bally & Morris 1986) ..." Read more at Tufts
University
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Anatomy of a Learning Disability by RONALD D. DAVIS 1985
- "The individual encounters an unrecognized
stimulus.This could be a word (written or spoken), symbol, or object that
is not recognized.
- The lack of recognition causes a feeling
of confusion.
- Confusion naturally and automatically stimulates
or triggers disorientation.
The individual uses disorientation to mentally examine the stimulus in an
attempt to bring about recognition and resolve the confusion.
- Disorientation produces false sensory perceptions.
The different views and perceptions the individual is examining mentally are
being registered in the brain as actual perceptions.
- The disorientation and resulting false
perceptions brings about the assimilation of incorrect data.
- The incorrect data causes the individual
to make mistakes.The individual cannot recognize the incorrect data as incorrect
because it is registered in the brain as actual perception.
- The mistakes cause emotional reactions.
No one likes to make mistakes. The individual is simply experiencing a human
reaction.
- Emotional reactions bring about a condition
of frustration.
The frustration is a result of the cumulative effects of the mistakes and
emotional reactions.
- Compulsive solutions are created or adopted
to solve the mistakes.
A solution will be a method of knowing something or a method of doing something.
It will have worked at least once, and it will be compulsive. These solutions
usually begin to appear around age eight or nine. Now instead of the confusion
triggering a disorientation, it will trigger the compulsive solution.The disability
aspect of a learning disability is composed of the compulsive solutions the
individual acquires. These compulsive solutions are what disable the learning
process.To effectively unravel this sequence, the underlying reasons for the
need to formulate and adopt compulsive solutions must be addressed. These
are disorientations and the feelings of confusions that trigger them."
Read more at...Davis
Dyslexia Association International
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Resolve
the Factors that Trigger Disorientation: Ron Davis
The reason that controlling disorientation
is not enough to resolve dyslexia is that the disorientation is a response to
confusion, frustration or stress. In the case of reading, this response is triggered
by confusion over letters or words. As long as this confusion exists, and there
is no picture for what a word represents, the student will continue to become
disoriented when reading.
For reading, writing and spelling improvement, the Davis method involves three
basic steps:
Mastery of the alphabet and basic language symbols.
Mastery of words for which the dyslexic has no picture or meaning.
Building sequencing and comprehension skills during reading.
Read
more at...Davis
Dyslexia Methods
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