Lucille, 
You say that Orton-Gillingham works when other
approaches fail. I am very interested. Can you please
cite the research that showed this? 
Thanks from Bruce Carmel


--- Lucille Cuttler <l.cuttler at comcast.net> wrote:


> The bottom line: does O-G work?   Does it work when

> other approaches fail?

> YES!  As the old adage puts it, "the proof is in the

> pudding."   There are

> sound reasons for its success, now being established

> scientifically.   I

> have been helping struggling learners since 1986.  I

> know I am not alone in

> my conviction that O-G works when other tools miss

> the mark.

> 

> A new book to look at:  PROUST AND THE SQUID,

> Maryanne Wolf.   This may help

> to illuminate the subject.

> 

> Lucille Cuttler

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov]On

> Behalf Of

> tsticht at znet.com

> Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 12:01 PM

> To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov

> Subject: [LearningDisabilities 1762] Overcoming

> Dyslexia Book Review

> 

> 

> Colleagues: Following is a book review I did a few

> years back when the book

> first came out. The review may still be of interest

> to members of the

> Learning Disabilities discussion list.

> Tom Sticht

> 

> March 1, 2008

> 

> Overcoming Dyslexia

> 

> Currently the U. S. government has a policy of

> having programs for children

> and adult reading instruction use scientific,

> evidence-based methods of

> teaching reading.

> 

> Sally Shaywitz, M.D., was a member of the Reading

> Research Working Group

> that helped pull together the information about

> scientific, evidence-based

> adult reading instruction currently being

> disseminated on the National

> Institute for Literacy (www.nifl.gov) Partnership

> For Reading web site. In

> 2003 she published a new book entitled Overcoming

> Dyslexia: A New and

> Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems

> at Any Level (Alfred A.

> Knopf, 2003 - US$25.95). In the book she reviews the

> history of dyslexia,

> she summarizes research on reading, including some

> of the new research on

> magnetic resonance imaging that shows which parts of

> the brain are most

> active during reading for both normal and dyslexic

> readers, and she offers

> a considerable amount of advice about how to go

> about helping dyslexics,

> both children and adults, overcome their reading

> problems.

> 

> Repeatedly Shaywitz is careful to point out that her

> work and that of others

> cited in the book about reading is based on

> scientific evidence, and she is

> careful to acknowledge the support of the National

> Institute for Child

> Health and Human Development over the years and she

> notes that "For the

> past two decades I have been blessed by having G.

> Reid Lyon at my side as

> my guide and companion. His leadership created the

> modern study of reading

> and reading disability, and his uncommon vision

> forged the science and

> public policy together as a seamless and natural

> whole. I am grateful most

> of all for all his friendship and unfailing support;

> he has been like a

> brother to me." This is an interesting

> acknowledgement of a long time

> relationship with a government sponsor of research.

> 

> While I found the book chock full of interesting

> history and scientific

> research on the brain and reading, and I would

> recommend it for that alone,

> what has impressed me the most are the

> recommendations for practice, that

> is, for teaching dyslexics to read and to overcome

> their reading problems.

> 

> Of most interest to me is that these recommendations

> now have a history that

> are, for the most part more than 30, 40, 50 or more

> years old and have

> little or nothing to do with the "modern study of

> reading and reading

> disability" as defined above.

> 

> For instance, in reviewing programs suitable for

> dyslexic students Shaywitz

> refers to programs referred to "generically as

> Orton-Gillingham (after Dr.

> Samuel Orton and his associate, Anna Gillingham, an

> approach developed as a

> tutorial program for struggling readers."(p. 266).

> These programs have their

> origins in the 1920's and 30's. Among programs she

> reviews are the Wilson

> Reading System, Spell Read P.A.T (Phonemic Analysis

> Training), Lindamood

> Phoneme Sequencing Program (L:iPS), and similar

> programs that, like Orton

> -Gillingham, are "highly structured and systematic,

> tries to engage all the

> senses in learning about letters and sounds, and

> typically is taught

> one-to-one or in small groups."

> 

> In short, there appears to me to be a considerable

> gap between the

> scientific research on reading and dyslexia that

> Shaywitz reviews, and

> which does help to better understand the processes

> and brain systems

> involved in reading, and the instructional programs

> that are discussed to

> help dyslexics overcome their problems. The latter

> approaches have been

> known and used for decades by those trained well in

> the teaching of

> reading. So rather than leading to innovations in

> the teaching of reading

> for struggling readers, the contemporary research

> seems to be more

> confirmatory of what has long been known as useful

> practice.

> 

> Shaywitz also recommends what reading specialists

> have previously referred

> to as an "active reading strategy" and says, "I like

> to divide reading

> comprehension activities into three parts: those you

> can do before opening

> the book, those that are most helpful as the child

> reads, and those that

> help him organize his thoughts and sum the events of

> the story after he

> finishes reading." (p. 241) This is, of course, a

> modification of

> Robinson's 1941 SQ3R study skills method in which

> before reading one

> surveys the text and raises questions about what it

> may deal with (this

> mobilizes prior knowledge), then reads and during

> reading recites in ones

> own words what the meaning of what is being read is,

> and then reviews

> afterwards to firmly set in mind what has been read.

> 

> Though the recommendations that Shaywitz gives for

> helping dyslexics read

> are mostly based on earlier decades of research and

> study of the reading

> process, they are tried and true methods of dealing

> with difficult reading

> problems and she treats topics of vocabulary

> learning, fluency, and

> comprehension very well, with a style of writing

> that relates to the reader

> on a personal basis.  She also gives many good

> pointers for how parents and

> adults can seek help for their own or their

> children's reading

> difficulties.

> 

> While Shaywitz provides a very brief and misleading

> representation of "whole

> language" in support of her approach to "scientific,

> evidence-based" reading

> instruction (pp. 202-203), the book will nonetheless

> return its cost for

> those who want to better understand reading, reading

> difficulties,

> dyslexia, good instruction, and access to help for

> struggling and /or

> dyslexic learners.

> 

> Thomas G. Sticht

> International Consultant in Adult Education

> 2062 Valley View Blvd.

> 

=== message truncated ===



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