WORLD OF LEARNING: LEARNING TO READ AND HAVING A REASON TO DO SO

Nice dialogue with "4th-8th" set in motion by my review of The Reading Zone on my Goodreads page :

message 1: by 4th-8th 2/9/10

Book choice is often the only way to inspire reading. My experiences with two sons who struggle with reading actually brought me to Goodreads as the perfect data base for reviews and making lists of books. If a book sounds good I check out the vocabulary and readability on Amazon with the books that have the “look inside” feature. Then it is on a list or I am off to the library or book store. And I certainly agree that reading personally chosen books will never replace a systematic reading program for those who have language based disabilities such as dyslexia. The whole language approach will not give a dyslexic student the tools they need to decode text. Mastery of text needs to be in place before reading can be a somewhat satisfying experience. Our education system cannot take this for granted in the equation of helping to make a reader.

message 2: by Lars 2/9/10

Thanks for the thoughtful comments. I've noticed that sometimes high interest can push reading levels up, and there is some research that backs that up. Kids have to learn how to read, but they also have to have a reason to read.

message 3: by 4th-8th 2/10/10

Your last sentence is dead on. My oldest son seems to have both now. The youngest is still working on the reason, and I am hoping for that leap. He is the big audio book fan. Jonathan Mooney of 'Learning Outside the Lines' said he did not learn to read until he was twelve. Perhaps it has something to do with executive function developement at that age, as long as high interest books and remediation have been provided.

message 4: by Lars 2/10/10

If you ever have a chance to see Mooney speak (if you haven't heard him yet), he's great...a wild man full of enthusiasm and a shining example to kids that you can be different, you can struggle with things, and yet you can still be successful.

Kurt Fischer, the director of Harvard's Mind, Brain and Education Program, spoke at a conference I went to a few years ago, and referred to a study done on boys diagnosed as dyslexics who became successful readers. The commonality was that most found a subject area they were passionate about around seventh grade. The commonality in that subject area was war, and specifically the Civil War. I just thought that was fascinating, even if it is one isolated study.

In line with that and your observation about Mooney learning to read at twelve (although he says he still has to work hard to do it), a recent article in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/health/research/21brain.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1) mentioned a study where "scientists found that the brain’s ability to link letter combinations with sounds may not be fully developed until age 11 — much later than many have assumed."

Thanks for getting me thinking about this stuff, 4th-8th.