Customer Reviews

Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book contains large amounts of interesting and important information about dyslexia, much of which is not readily available elsewhere. It will be of interest to dyslexics, the friends and family of dyslexics, teachers, education administrators, and indeed to anyone who wonders about how people learn and how people think.

One particularly attractive feature of the book is that it covers many areas of concern: not just the science of dyslexia, but also the techniques of testing for dyslexia and teaching to dyslexics, the social and personal implications of dyslexia, policy and administrative implications of dyslexia, effective advocacy for a dyslexic child, misconceptions about dyslexia, and so forth. A special treat is the epilogue, which provides the life stories of seven dyslexics who have been extraordinarily successful as authors, physicians, businesspersons, or politicians. I particularly note that many of these successful people regard dyslexia not as a burden to overcome, but as a gift that forces them to think where others rely on rote memorization.

I bought this book because my son is dyslexic. After reading it, I am also nearly convinced that I am dyslexic. (Before you read too much into genetics, let me tell you that my son is adopted.) Other apparent dyslexics I know are my father (a self-made multimillionaire who has difficulty spelling words of four or five letters) and my Ph.D. thesis advisor (a highly creative theoretical physicist, winner of the Wolf Prize and the Boltzmann Metal, who told me not to fret overly about my poor spelling, because "the ability to spell anticorrelates with intelligence").

The book does not deserve five stars, however, because it is seriously schizophrenic. Most of the book, particularly parts I, II, and IV, takes the position that there are many different kinds of students, who enter school with a variety of backgrounds and a variety of objectives, and that this variety demands a variety of teaching approaches. For example:

"Every child is different." (page 193)

"There is no one perfect school environment that will suit every child." (page 302)

"Good readers and dyslexic readers follow very different pathways to adult reading." (page 314)

They are poor schools that "pride themselves on uniformity." (page 297)

My observations, both as a parent and as a teacher, support the soundness of these conclusions. After all, every shirt manufacturer knows that it's *not* true that "one size fits all". If we need variety in such a simple thing as shirt sizing, isn't it clear that we also need variety in something as complex as thinking, teaching, and learning?

Yet part of Shaywitz's book (much of part III) flatly rejects this need for variety and replaces it with a doctrinaire insistence that there is only one way to learn reading, namely phonics:

"A young child *must* develop phonemic awareness if he is to become a reader." (page 51)

The child "must understand that spoken words come apart" into short sounds. (page 176)

"All children must master the same elements." (page 262)

Fluency training "invariably works." (page 273)

"It is only by reading aloud...that real gains are noted." (page 235)

"There is no other way." (page 263)

It is abundantly clear that such statements are dead false: deaf children do not -- cannot -- learn to read by associating letters with sounds, as phonics demands. Furthermore, I assure you that I do not read this way. I simply do not understand the complex rules about vowels on pages 200 and 201 -- rules that Shaywitz claims *must* be understood by second graders to enable them to read. (While reading these rules, I could only think that, in comparison, quantum mechanics is utterly trivial.) Perhaps this is related to the fact that I've never been able to play a musical instrument, or to sing, or even to hum. But surely I am a counterexample to this arrogant insistence that "there is no other way".

Shaywitz claims that her insistence on phonics as the only way to learn is supported by the report of National Reading Panel. In fact, that panel draws exactly the opposite conclusion, namely that "Not all children learn in the same way and one strategy does not work for all children."

It may well be that deaf people and I don't read as efficiently as other people do. It may well be that phonics is the most efficient place to start when attempting to teach a child to read. But to insist, as Shaywitz does, that it's the place to start *and* the place to stop is contrary to both common sense and the evidence.

The book's dual-headed character is sometimes frightening in its contradictions. On page 358 Shaywitz recounts vividly how awful it is for dyslexics to be forced to read aloud in class. (The same can be said for those with speech impediments, for those with non-standard accents, for poor readers who are not dyslexic, and for those who are just plain shy.) And on page 235 she writes with pride that, due to her contributions to the "No Child Left Behind Act", soon all children will be forced to read aloud in class.

The tragedy is that due to the adoption of the "No Child Left Behind Act", and due to impending changes in the "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act", our country is moving away from the sound practice of "one strategy does not work for all children" and towards the one-size-fits-all doctrine of "there is no other way."

I have been searching for this book since my son was in preschool. While all the other children were repeating the alphabet, my son turned 5 and still could not. We would show him the letters and he would forget them moments later. We decided to hold him back a year so he entered the first grade one year behind - and still couldn't recite the alphabet when shown the letters. When reading simple picture/word books he would guess the words, ie: when the page showed a puppy and had the word below, he would say "dog". When told the answer was incorrect, he'd then say "puppy". Unfortunately the teachers weren't catching on to his sly ways, because all too often the word would fit the picture (a ball always looks like a ball). We struggled with the educators, I told them that my father is a dyslexic and I know this is often hereditary. They kept saying we needed to wait, that something like dyselexia couldn't be diagnosed until he was older. I didn't wait. I had the school do a thorough IEP on him and found that he excelled in everything except reading. We put him in Reading Recovery, hired private tutors, we read with him at home. This year I found Dr. Shaywitz's book and I thought, "finally, someone knows exactly what I'm going through with my son". I pulled out my yellow highlighter and underlined scores of pages in this book. I kept saying, "this is my son". His difficulty with reading and with his difficulty in finding the right words when speaking aloud. Don't wait to get this book. It's not intimidating. It's written in such a way that anyone can understand it. Purchase a yellow highlighter while you're at it.....

As an adult and scientist with dyslexia, I always wanted to understand the physical mechanism behind the disability. I could never understand why I scored average to low in multiple-choice tests but scored high in reading comprehension. Why I excelled in physical science and math yet was constantly taking remedial writing and English? Dr. Shaywitz's book is excellent in answering these questions. The first step in treatment is understanding the mechanism. A miswiring of the phonologic module explains so much and suggests likely remedies. Her book is written in layman's terms and is easy to read and understand. I wish I could give a copy of this book to all my friends and family it explains so much. Dr. Shaywitz knows her audience and writes with compassion and personal touch. The best part was learning that dyslexia can now be seen to have a physical manifestation by fMRI. Dyslexia is no longer a mysterious disability but has actual biological roots. Most disturbing to read was that in her estimates, 1 in 5 children have some form of dyslexia. As a child that almost slipped through the cracks, I failed kindergarten because I didn't know my ABC's, this is distressing to learn. How many intelligent and potentially successful adults were allowed to fail due to dyslexia? It was only through the diligence of my mother that I ever learned to read. Thirty years ago little was understood about "word blindness" but my mother did the primary research and tried every goofy theory on teaching including writing letters on my back with her finger and asking me to name the letter. Now Dr. Shaywitz gives good advice as well as current research and resources so parents have it all in one book. If you had only one book on dyslexia this would be it. I can't recommend this book highly enough. I give it many more stars then I'm allowed.

This is a wonderful first step to demystifying dyslexia and to empower parents and older children to find the answers they need. If you are worried because your first grader looking at picture of a little dog and the word "puppy" underneath and says "dog" you need this book. If your 4th grader is crying over her homework every night, you need this book. If your 7th grader, who did well in grammar school is suddenly tanking, you need this book.

There is a HUGE amount of disinformation out there--most school districts know little about learning disabilites and dyslexia, and don't want to change--you need to be armed with the facts, not your fears or emotions. This book has facts.

If somebody tells you modelling in clay will make your child's reading all better, you need this book. If somebody tells you the answer is eye exercises, you need this book. If somebody promises you that reading through colored plastic will be much easier and cheaper than anything else, you need this book.

The "now more" parts of the review is that now there needs to be a shorter, easier-to-read, suitable-for-busy-people version or new book.

My friend, who's dyslexic, learned to sound out words in grade school, but she had never read a book until the age of 38, after finding the book, "The Gift Of Dyslexia". The way her brain works may have been described well in the book, "Overcoming Dyslexia", but Ron Davis' book is much more helpful overall. Also, the book "Right-brained Children in a Left-Brained World" by Jeffrey Freed was helpful and sometimes contradicts what Dr. Shaywitz suggests in her book.

I was required to read this book for an educational training in using the Slingerland approach. I teach first grade students who have been pre-screened for the possibility of dyslexia. Teachers and staff do not make that medical diagnosis. However, it was extremely important to realize that students with dyslexia process language using a different part of their brain. Most importantly it emphasized that direct, systemaic teaching may pattern the brain and "rewire" it. A great book for educators and parents alike.

This is a scientific understanding by author Sally Shaywitz of why a struggling reader may be having so much trouble. I think most importantly the author discusses all kinds of various practical treatments to ease the challenge. She iterates that dyslexia is not some affliction of a few. It's simply a neurological difference that makes phonemic awareness more challenging for some people and is actually quite common but in varying degrees.

The author stresses the importance of early diagnosis. Wow did that strike a personal nerve for me. Unfortunately most schools do not recognize these issues until a child is so far behind, remediation is far more difficult than it should be if a child is identified even as early as preschool. Comforting though are the author's ideas to help even dyslexic adults learn to read better. From a personal perspective my child did struggle and thanks to several books like "Reading Reflex: The Foolproof Phono-Graphix Method for Teaching Your Child to Read by Carmen McGuinness (Author), Geoffrey McGuinness (Author)" and the "Lindamood-Bell" reading program, my child was able to learn to read without the severe frustration that can accompany the process for dyslexics.

This "New and Complete Science-Based Program for Overcoming Reading Problems at Any Level" is exactly that - complete - there simply is no need to use a litany of books on the topic if you get this one.

I lov tu reed noww. Thee bok tot me howww to reeed andd wite good!

I, like all the other reviewers, can't say enough about this book. Diagnosis, scientific reasoning, remediation-- it has it all. And it's so well written that it is a joy to read. I wish I could require every educator and every education student to READ THIS BOOK!

I also highly recommend it for any parent who is concerned about his or her child's lack of progress in reading, spelling, and rhyming.

This is the book you've been looking for!!! This is "the Bible" for those of us who are, (or who are working with) dyslexic people. This book is written so naturally that you feel like you are part of a dialogue at this very moment. Dr. Shaywitz knows what our questions are and she answers them! Better, she anwsers with Scientific backup! She offers directions on specific places to go for more help; help that works. I have bumbled along as a parent advocate on my own for five years now...how I wish that I had had the benefit of this book from the very beginning. You can! BUY IT! Buy multiples. SHARE IT...especially with the people at school . I have given copies to my school's Kindergarten teacher, and Special Education department first, because that is where I think it will help the most children immediately. Every educator should read this book, every parent should read this book and certainly anyone with a concern about reading should read this book. I won't go on about the entire content; for that read one of the editorial reviews. This one comes from the heart!