Mr. Mann wrote: << It is estimated that about 15-20% of the population has some type of specific reading disorder. Maybe 1 to 2% of the population has a reading disorder that is so severe as to require special education services, even if best practices are followed in the classroom. >>
these statistics caught my eye. It reminded me of a wonderful article that I read sometime ago which is probably one of the most concise explanations that I have seen of what is a very complicated, and often difficult process - how we learn to read. I don't know that the numbers that I cite below necessarily contradict Mr. Mann's - I offer them up to anyone who is interested in learning more about how we learn to read, and why some children have difficulty. This information comes from testimony before the Senate given be Dr. Reid Lyon, Chief of Child Development and Behavior Branch of the National Institute of Health, in 1998. I could not locate the website from which I pulled my copy of the article, but found the same testimony at http://www.readybygrade3.com/readbygrade3co/lyon.htm. Because reading failure has such a profound impact on the lives of those who suffer from it, the National Institute of Child Health considers it not only an educational problem, but a public health problem. They have a research network of 41 sites on 3 continents that are doing logitudinal work to best examine the many factors that lead to reading failure, and what can be done to ameliorate this situation. (his testimony goes into much more detail about this). In his testimony, Dr. Reid says that about 5 % of children learn to read before kindergarten, in a way that he calls "magical" - with no effort or instruction. Another 20 to 30 % learn to read while in school, relatively easily, REGARDLESS of the instructional emphasis. But for about 60% of our children, learning to read is a much bigger challenge, and for about 20-30%, it is one of the most difficult tasks that they will ever have to master. There is an excellent section in the article that talks about the necessary prerequisites for children learning to read well : 1. understanding how sounds are connected to print (phoenemic awareness), 2. the development of reading fluency, and 3. constructing meaning from print, as well as sections on why some children and adults have difficulties, and which teaching approaches are most beneficial. I'm going to stop now because I suddenly realized that this information isn't Minneapolis specific (sorry, Mr. Brauer) HOWEVER it does provide a straightforward and relatively jargon-free context (it was testimony for a bunch of senators, after all) for a very complex subject that might serve us well if we move forward with the thread about reading instruction in the MPS. susan herridge lynnhurst _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
