nellebelle

Was anyone else disappointed in the article titled, "Dyslexia - A Gift?" in the May/June 2005 issue of Life Learning?

It reads more like a book promotion for "The Gift of Dyslexia", than an essay by a proponent of life learning. References are made to techniques discovered by author Ron Davis, yet not a single explanation of these techniques was listed for those who might like to try them on their own. The article ends by mentioning a benefit of going through Ron Davis' training.

The article states that dyslexics may have trouble with math because it "is composed of order (versus disorder), sequence, and time". Children who "do not possess these concepts" must memorize rather than understand math.

"Dyslexic people ... excel at hands-on learning. Because we think in pictures, it is sometimes hard for us to understand letters, numbers, symbols, and written words."

Doesn't everyone do better with hands-on learning? Aren't symbols pictures?

Mary Ellen


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Pam Sorooshian

Sounds like you should write a nice long comment for the "letters" part
of the magazine!

-pam

On May 7, 2005, at 7:29 AM, nellebelle wrote:

> "Dyslexic people ... excel at hands-on learning. Because we think in
> pictures, it is sometimes hard for us to understand letters, numbers,
> symbols, and written words."
>
> Doesn't everyone do better with hands-on learning? Aren't symbols
> pictures?
>
> Mary Ellen

nellebelle

>>>>>>>>>Sounds like you should write a nice long comment for the "letters" part
of the magazine!>>>>>>>>>>>>>

OK, I did.

Mary Ellen

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Julie W

nellebelle wrote:

The Gift of Dyslexia works for a small subgroup of dyslexics who really
think in pictures and can manipulate those items in their mind. My son
could never get the images in his head so it did not work for him. They
also have a theory that some dyslexics have a problem with he written
word because some words have no pictures to associate with them. So
horse or run or dog are fine because the dyslexix can see a picture in
their mind to hang that word on, but a word like but, or, some, the can
cause confusion and send the reader into a downward spiral that effects
the reading of even words they know. One of the Davis things is to build
with clay images (symbols) that would go with the, but, or, some and
then the reader has those pictures/symbols in their mind the next time
they encounter those words.
Like I said this works for a small group of folks who are considered
dyslexic and i have met online folks who say that the Davis Method is
the best thing that ever happened to their kids, normally teens.

--

Julie W

http://jwoolfolk.typepad.com/theothermother/



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

nellebelle

>>>>>>>>>Like I said this works for a small group of folks who are considered
dyslexic and i have met online folks who say that the Davis Method is
the best thing that ever happened to their kids, normally teens.>>>>>>>>>

Are any of those kids unschooled? Always unschooled? *Really* unschooled?

Based on testimonials, it sounds like Davis has found something that helps some people read, or read more easily. But all the stories I've heard are either schooled kids who have suffered due to their inabitity to read when others around them thought they should be reading, or home"schooled" kids. I've not heard of any always unschooled child reach - oh, let's say age 16 or so - not able to read, go through learning Davis's methods, and suddenly be able to read.

>>>>>>>My son
could never get the images in his head so it did not work for him.>>>>>>>>>

Did any of the Davis methods work for him? Did he go to one of the training centers or try stuff from the book?

Mary Ellen

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Julie W

nellebelle wrote:

> >>>>>>>>>Like I said this works for a small group of folks who are
> considered
> dyslexic and i have met online folks who say that the Davis Method is
> the best thing that ever happened to their kids, normally teens.>>>>>>>>>
>
> Are any of those kids unschooled? Always unschooled? *Really*
> unschooled?

Probably not.

>
> Based on testimonials, it sounds like Davis has found something that
> helps some people read, or read more easily. But all the stories I've
> heard are either schooled kids who have suffered due to their
> inabitity to read when others around them thought they should be
> reading, or home"schooled" kids. I've not heard of any always
> unschooled child reach - oh, let's say age 16 or so - not able to
> read, go through learning Davis's methods, and suddenly be able to read.

Probably not since its such a small group of folks who have ever heard
of Davis anyway. The chances of a homeschooler, let alone an always
unschooled child going there seems small. Not that there might not be an
unschooler teen who is not reading who chooses to try their methods to
help them break through whatever block there might be to reading---if
there even is such a block.

>
> >>>>>>>My son
> could never get the images in his head so it did not work for
> him.>>>>>>>>>
>
> Did any of the Davis methods work for him? Did he go to one of the
> training centers or try stuff from the book?
>
Oh no, its way to expensive for us.
Josh did mess around building some words he felt like making, but then
decided he had better things to do, so moved on. We tried the whole
"mind's eye" thing but he could not see it.


--

Julie W

http://jwoolfolk.typepad.com/theothermother/



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]