Hey there! I’m writing a ‘multigenre paper’ on defining a reading disability… would any teachers or individuals with a reading disability be willing to answer some questions… I’ld really appreciate it… here are a couple of questions:
1. Could you please tell me how old you were when someone noticed that you may have a reading disability… and what brought you to their attention?
2. Could you give me an idea of what it is like to have to read?
3. What form of treatment, if any, did you receive?
4. Do you think labeling a child as reading disabled (learning disabled) helps or hurts the child?
5. Teachers: could you describe what techniques you use to teach kids with a reading disability
Anyone who responds will be cited in my paper… if they wish… feel free to give your full name and which city you live in… Thank you very very much!
Re: LD paper
One of the biggest chasms in my education was that reading methods were given a “brief overview” — and that’s not what it takes to teach someone who struggles to read. The folks who figure out how to read with a “brief overview” don’t get into LD classes :-) The techniques I have learned also do not lend themselves to a few paragraphs.
However, a couple of important fundamentals were:
— a reading or language problem can make an otherwise intelligent student seem much, much less intelligent (and teachers therefore unintentionally lower expectations).
— bright students are really good at — often without intending to — masking their reading/language problems. Teachers assume that they can read well, when they’re using their intelligence to make inferences.
— really bright students can deeply and seriously believe that they are not. Simply telling them that they are doesn’t change that perception. You would think that because they’re so smart, they would be able to figure out that they were smart — but it ain’t so. They need success, and proof of success, before they will start being “constructive” learners instead of students who are trying to survive this thing called school.
Well, I’ve been posting here for a couple of years about teaching reading, and a while ago I collected together my how-to-teach-reading notes, which are in progress towards becoming a book. It’s not a matter of a few words or even a few paragraphs. If you would like a summary of a few pages, I will be glad to give one. If you would like to see all the notes (please respect copyright), I’ll send you the whole packet. Email me at [email protected]