Reading as a disability
Sandra Dodd
Joyce wrote on the unschooling and reading thread: "The problem is
in believing that since reading is enough and best for
some, that it's enough for everyone."
I don't think it's enough for ANYone, and those who claim it should
shake off their book worship.
I've lost it, but some years back someone sent a link to a little
article about some people who could ONLY learn from reading, and
there was a name for the condition. I'd love to have that again, if
anyone kept it or knows what I'm talking about.
Because of the "idiot savant" cases, I know it's possible, but it's
not ideal. The term "idiot savant" is from French, is a couple of
hundred years old, and describes people who have one extreme genius
trait, but otherwise can hardly wipe their own asses. It's saved
for really extreme cases, like a concert pianist who can't dress
himself or someone who can do sums and calculate pi, but doesn't know
where he lives. (I made those up, maybe; I'm not going to check
particular case studies, but am going on memory of readings and
accounts from psychology professors when I had those guys in my life.)
I had a friend who had done a master's in geology, in Philadelphia.
His thesis involved the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico, their
formation, and their volcanic/geothermal this'n'that. (For those
who might be reading aloud, it sounds like "HAYmess.") When he was
in his 30's, he came to see me and I drove him up into the Jemez. He
was verbally knowledgeable, and was telling me things I'd never
known, but the emotion of him seeing those features and the soda dam
and the sulphur spring and the waterfalls and the Valle Grande (a
huge caldera that doesn't look so big until you realize that the ants
are cattle and the bales of hay are pickups) was huge. He was
learning right there, in front of me, seeing that GIGANTIC mountain
sky from where he was already 8,000 feet up. I think it was like
someone who had read about and written about chocolate, but had never
smelled it or touched it or tasted it.
If someone could recite "times tables" but had never so much as
counted on her fingers, what would she "know"?
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
in believing that since reading is enough and best for
some, that it's enough for everyone."
I don't think it's enough for ANYone, and those who claim it should
shake off their book worship.
I've lost it, but some years back someone sent a link to a little
article about some people who could ONLY learn from reading, and
there was a name for the condition. I'd love to have that again, if
anyone kept it or knows what I'm talking about.
Because of the "idiot savant" cases, I know it's possible, but it's
not ideal. The term "idiot savant" is from French, is a couple of
hundred years old, and describes people who have one extreme genius
trait, but otherwise can hardly wipe their own asses. It's saved
for really extreme cases, like a concert pianist who can't dress
himself or someone who can do sums and calculate pi, but doesn't know
where he lives. (I made those up, maybe; I'm not going to check
particular case studies, but am going on memory of readings and
accounts from psychology professors when I had those guys in my life.)
I had a friend who had done a master's in geology, in Philadelphia.
His thesis involved the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico, their
formation, and their volcanic/geothermal this'n'that. (For those
who might be reading aloud, it sounds like "HAYmess.") When he was
in his 30's, he came to see me and I drove him up into the Jemez. He
was verbally knowledgeable, and was telling me things I'd never
known, but the emotion of him seeing those features and the soda dam
and the sulphur spring and the waterfalls and the Valle Grande (a
huge caldera that doesn't look so big until you realize that the ants
are cattle and the bales of hay are pickups) was huge. He was
learning right there, in front of me, seeing that GIGANTIC mountain
sky from where he was already 8,000 feet up. I think it was like
someone who had read about and written about chocolate, but had never
smelled it or touched it or tasted it.
If someone could recite "times tables" but had never so much as
counted on her fingers, what would she "know"?
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]