How Did We Ever Lose Sight of Vision?
Almost a century ago, Samuel Orton, a physician posited that visual difficulties were at the root of problems in learning to read. Among other things, he thought that children who failed to learn to read saw things backwards (e.g., perceiving saw for was). That, in fact, was not the case but it led people at the time to view visual skills as central to reading. Even now, it is because of Dr. Orton that people still think that "dyslexia" means seeing words in reverse.
Ironically, while that incorrect idea hangs on, the rest of Orton's interesting views were essentially discarded. How did this happen? It came about when researchers found that all children showed a range of visual difficulties when they start on the path to reading. As a result, the idea took hold that visual "problems" were not problems at all, but rather a normal part of development that would automatically resolve themselves as the children mature. Hence there was no need to give any special attention to the area. And so after a rush of interest in visual processing, this realm fell into the background.
It was a most unfortunate turn of events. Reading requires a host of visual skills--skills that are never taught nor are they given any consideration in the design of the materials children are offered. In the belief that development will take care of everything, nothing is done. The end result is that many children are bereft of critical skills they need for reading.
For example, among the skills needed are the visual memory skills that allow a person to retain the "images" of words. When this skill is not in place, children are left to sound out the same word over and over again--because there is no memory for the word. This is now such a common phenomenon that teachers think repeated sounding out of the same words is "natural" and expected. It is not! It is a sign of a serious problem. Imagine what it would be like if you had no word recognition and had to rely on reading this page by "sounding out' each word you see. Unless you are a paragon of patience, you would stop after just a few words. The process is simply unbearable.
Fortunately, with the proper techniques, the necessary visual skills can easily be developed. That's why all the material and techniques throughout Phonics Plus Five have been designed to develop, support and reinforce the visual skills that are so critical to being and feeling successful in reading.
Comments
Dear Dr. Blank,
Your system was recommended to me this morning by a child psychologist friends who had a client that raved about your program. I looked at your website and I applaud you for what it seems you are doing--providing phonics AND sight words to kids. I have ordered your book to learn more about your work. Just as you say that some schools do not do sight words with kids, my first grade son's Gifted and Talented public school (one of the best in the city) uses the Balanced Literacy Program, with very little emphasis on phonics. As a result, many kids were not learning how to read and many of the parents taught their kids phonics at home during kindergarten. I was not one of them and my child is now paying the price. I have started a blog about his experience that you may find interesting to read. (There is also an article on "How to Teach Your Child to Read" on the same website as the blog. That article is posted under the "elementary school" section.) I will investigate your system and see if I will use it going forward. In the meantime, if you have a chance I ask you to take a look at the blog and see what you think about the amazing story of how Balanced Literacy had failed my child, how his school didn't realize it (he fooled everyone into thinking he was reading because he was able to memorize every single book the teacher read to him) and how I taught him how to read at home. I recommend going to "Helicopter Mom--all Posts in Chronological Order" to get the story from the beginning. You are welcome to post your comments, and also about your system, if you are interested in doing so. Thanks for your work in this area. My son's lagging behind the class was traumatic for us all and getting him up to speed has taken months of time and worry. I am a professional writer and I write the blog with the goal of sparing other families what my family had to go through. As you know, teaching a child to read can be a lovely, joy-filled process once a family really knows what they need to do.
Best,
Irene
Posted by: Irene Daria | March 2, 2007 03:44 PM