Month: September 2024

Some time ago, the Sunday paper of the New York Times ran a front page piece on Lucy Caulkins, the major theorist of “Balanced Literacy,” who was offering some type of retreat (apology) for the philosophy she espoused, of which schools across the country fully subscribed.

When I read the Times article on Caulkins’ “retreat,” it seemed that this was too little, too late. Decades of damage had already been done, but Caulkins was already promoting a new program, apparently with more balance than balanced literacy.

Balanced literacy was an outgrowth of another theory that is still entrenched in education, i.e. “Whole Language.”

Espousing terms terms like, “top-down,” “balanced literacy,” “higher-order thinking,” and the like, probably 95% of the schools and education departments in universities have been behind them for decades, as noted in the NYT article. Programs like Reading Recovery, embrace Whole Language principles, along with other Balanced Literacy methodologies.

These theories see reading, spelling and writing development as a “top-down” process. With these theories, reading develops naturally. It’s analogous to handing a child a tennis racket and telling them to go play tennis, without teaching any basics, as if it will happen magically.

These theories are fine for the children who learn to read by osmosis. I call them the “smooth roaders.” The smooth road types are fairly immune to whatever is given to them, even when questionable methods such as Balanced Literacy are used. From a very young age, their reading (spelling and writing) progress down a smooth road in a natural process.

For the remainder of the children (on the “rough road”), these methods are the opposite of what they need.

Even though these children of concern have been struggling since kindergarten, few have been directly taught how to overcome their challenges. That’s not how it’s done in these “top-down” models.

Before you write me off as a “get off my lawn” type of crank, who isn’t on board with modern, progressive approaches, I felt exactly this way when I was much younger in the field. My views have changed very little from my 25-year-old self.

When I attended NYU for my Masters Degree (a long time ago in a galaxy far away), this top down movement was then an emerging groundswell.

As I sat there listening to what seemed like nonsense to me as these methods and theories were presented as truth, I couldn’t help but think about a boy, 9-year-old Frankie, who I then had in my resource room class. When I screened him with words like “cat,” “them,” “for,” and “house,” he looked at me shrugging, unable to read any of the words.

I asked the professors what to do with Frankie, and in lock-step they answered with concepts from these very hot theories – “You start with comprehension and present stories for him to internalize in his higher-order thinking and…(“blah, blah, blah”).

“Yes,” I said, “But he can’t read words like, ‘dog’ and ‘house,’ so not sure where higher-order thinking comes in.”

It didn’t matter. The “blah blah blah” went on and I had still Frankie to deal with the next morning. It was astounding and very eye-opening.

Fortunately, I went to a workshop presented by the late Dr. Gerald Glass, who presented an exact opposite approach embodied in a method he had developed, the “Glass Analysis for Decoding.” Glass spoke disdainfully of the emerging Whole Language, “Balanced Literacy” movement.

There was no higher thinking in Glass’ approach. It was pure meat and potatoes, bottom-up word instruction. First teach children how to read words, then later, once this skill has been mastered, comprehension will follow.

Of course, the Whole Language professors and proponents of that model scoffed at Dr. Glass as old-school and out of touch with modern theories.

When I used Glass’ method with Frankie he loved it and made clear progress. In a fairly rapid time, he was recognizing words and his whole mood and discouraged demeanor changed. (So did mine.)

Since that time I have met thousands of Frankie.

When they are taught with sensible methods, it’s like giving them oxygen. It’s slow going, but progress is made.

When they are given nonsensical methods that do not work for them, they remain shut-down and discouraged.

Have questions or thoughts about this post? Please drop a comment below. I always respond! 

To contact Dr. Richard Selznick for advice, consultation or other information, email shutdownlearner1@gmail.com.

As we discussed last week, it is helpful to have a “roadmap” so you can know what to do next with your child.

The late Dr. Jeanne Chall provided such a roadmap many years ago. While she is not often referenced any more, I believe that what Dr. Chall highlighted is still as relevant today as it was when she first published, Stages of Reading Development in 1983.

Regardless of whether the child does or does not have a learning disability, the concept is that a child is somewhere on a continuum from the first stage (referred to as Stage 0, by Chall) through to the final stages (Stage IV and V).

When you embrace the stages, these can be used as guideposts, helping you to know what should be done currently and what should be the next step.

Here is a thumbnail of the Stages:

Stage 0: Typically Stage 0 goes from preschool through kindergarten. Within this stage children should be learning their letters and the sounds that go with them.  If a child is struggling with learning letters, it doesn’t presume the child has a disability, but it certainly is something to monitor and may represent a “red flag” of later difficulty.

Stage I: Children in Stage I usually progress from the end of kindergarten through to early first grade. The primary skills of this stage include being able to automatically read basic sight words, while starting to show early decoding of basic word patterns such as ones that have consonant-vowel-consonant patterns, such as “rip,” “tab” and “get” or nonsense words, such as “tat,” “bif” or “rab.” When a child struggles within this stage it is not time to wait. Try and seek tutors who specialize in developing these skills with sensible, research supported methodologies.

Stage II: Stage II typically corresponds to the second through to the middle of third grade.  This is a fun stage, as you can move into reading real books for practicing and reading out loud. Doctor Seuss was a genius in recognizing how this stage should be practiced. Have the child read out loud a lot. Make it as fun as possible.

Stage III: Once your child is in the third stage of reading development, they are now reading fluently and word decoding is no longer an issue. They have moved from “learning to read to reading to learn.” Typically, this stage corresponds from the middle of third grade into middle school. Within this stage, you should be practicing an array of different comprehension skills, such as developing inferences and increasing vocabulary.

Stage IV: Typically, Stage IV is high school and beyond. Within this stage, sophisticated reading is taking place, preparing the child for the more complex reading that often occurs within high school and college.

Take Away Point: The descriptions above are basic thumbnails of what Dr. Chall described within each stage. They help to guide you on what should be targeted to enhance skills and move the child along the continuum.  It is crucial to understand what stage your child is in their development.

Hope this roadmap makes sense for you.  Please email me if you have questions or comments at drselz@shutdownlearner.com.