Caveat Emptor: Buyer Beware!

http://people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/fads.html Fad, Fraud, and Folly in Education

http://illinoisloop.org/research.html Education Research

"Telling the difference between baloney and serious claims about what works"
http://people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/Telling%20the%20Difference%20Between%20Baloney%20and%20Serious%20Claims.doc

www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s922638.htm ''In this age of science and discovery and a very proper emphasis on evidence-based treatment for all kinds of health problems, it seems surprising that a lot of people still remain very gullible. Professor of Psychology Margot Prior from the University of Melbourne is troubled about the various treatments offered, particularly when it affects the lives of children who are too young to make real choices for themselves about what should happen to them''.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article1329353.ece 'Test teaching ideas before imposing them on children'. Children are missing out on the best possible education because teaching techniques have never been tested rigorously, one of Britain’s most senior scientists has said. Education needs to learn from medicine and other scientific disciplines by using rigorous experiments to determine which approaches work best, according to Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, the country’s largest independent funder of bio-medical research.

Could part of the problem be that very few primary teachers have a science degree? 'Only 227 of the 10,000 trainee primary teachers recruited on to PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) courses, or 2.3 per cent, have previously studied maths, science, technology or engineering to degree level' www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article4152307.ece

The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations: 'a set of experiments from the March 2008 edition of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, which elegantly show that people will buy into bogus explanations much more readily when they are dressed up with a few technical words from the world of neuroscience'. (Badscience.net) http://jocn.mitpress.org/cgi/content/abstract/20/3/470

'Research says....' is just the start. Then you have to find out what TYPE of research it is.
If the research you're offered as evidence is described in the following way, then, however great the volume or the impressive-sounding credentials of the researchers, treat it with extreme caution:

Observational studies
Qualitative
Descriptive
Anecdotal
Based on questionnaires
Based on interviews
Non-mathematical analysis
Subjective
Based on tacit, non-scientific knowledge
Ethnographical
Ideological perspectives
Action Research: Used by the DCSF to 'test' programmes. “Action Research is a fancy way of saying let’s study what’s happening at our school and decide how to make it a better place.” ''Those who carry out ‘conventional’ research may well criticise action research, often alongside other qualitative approaches, for lack of research questions, quantification, control, objectivity, etc.. (www.becta.org.uk - research paper)

''If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion'' Robert A. Heinlein.

'(I)f you think you know the truth without having to collect any data, that saves a lot of time'' (Stanovich p382)

Therapies, Treatments and Programmes for 'dyslexics' :

''There is an established, and very rewarding, dyslexia industry. There is considerable academic and commercial vested interest. There seem to be as many aetiologies for (causes for or origins of) dyslexia as there are researchers into it, give or take, and as many wonderfully special assessment methods, remedial schemes, dedicated schools and distinguished gurus as the market will carry''(Kerr p89)

www.irlen.com/

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;102/5/1217 Dyslexia and Vision.

http://dyslexia.mtsu.edu/modules/articles/displayarticle.jsp?id=68 Optometric Visual Training (a critique)

www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_4_28/ai_n6100519 Seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses

http://dyslexia.mtsu.edu/modules/articles/displayarticle.jsp?id=49 Tinted Lenses Critique

http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2003/12/irlen_lenses_sc.html Saying Irlen lenses can cure dyslexia is quackery.

www.thelearningsociety.com/en/index.aspx 'The Raviv Method is a focussed and effective neuro-cognitive programme that consists of stimulating the brain to generate the specific brain structures that are essential for the learning process, practising strategies for controlling brain activity and training the brain for well-established two-dimensional perception.'

http://www.sunflowertrust.com/index.php 'We use Applied Kinesiology. This is a muscle testing technique that allows the Sunflower Practitioner to determine exactly what the body needs moment-to-moment to achieve balance and harmony...

www.samonas.com/info/f_info.htm 'Spectral activation of Sounds is one of the essential features of Samonas Sound Therapy. Spectral activation trains the auditory system by providing those elements that trigger the human ability to discriminate and to listen in a pure and enriched form...'

www.self-voice.com/ A.R.R.O.W 'An internationally successful self-voice learning approach that improves reading, spelling, speaking, memory and listening skills. The result is a better attitude to work with a growth of higher self esteem.'

www.tomatis.com/English/index.htm 'Reading is a complex act that requires the ears and eyes to work together synchronously. As the eyes see a letter, the ears identify the corresponding sound even when reading silently. Then, the vestibule leads the eye from letter to letter and the cochlea translates each letter into a sound. Ideally, both operations should happen almost simultaneously. The trouble starts when the delay is too long. So, if the vestibule and cochlea are not in sync, the eyes and ears are not in sync either.'

www.primarymovement.org/ 'Primary Movement is a unique movement programme which seeks to replicate the early movements of the fetus and to enhance the maturation of the central nervous system. It has been shown to have a significant impact on the educational attainments of children with specific learning difficulties including dyslexia'.

www.b-i-r-d.org.uk/ 'Our treatment is known as 'Developmental Reflexive Rehabilitation.' It is based on a series of movement patterns which facilitate neurological feedback to the brain. These carefully designed movements inhibit the 'primitive' reflexes that have either not developed properly from the infantile reflexes present in everyone in the first year or two of life - or which have been re-released at a later stage through brain injury.'

www.sensoryintegration.org.uk/ 'For most children sensory integration develops in the course of ordinary childhood activities. But for some children, sensory integration does not develop as efficiently as it should. This is known as dysfunction in sensory integration (D.S.I.)'

www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/patterning.html Quack Watch examines Doman and Delacato's 'patterning' theory.

www.srmhp.org/archives/patterning.html Psychomotor Patterning =pseudoscience

www.theness.com/articles.asp?id=56 Psychomotor Patterning: an expose of a cruel psuedoscience

http://www.badscience.net/?p=705 BadScience on Dore

http://psyweb.psy.ox.ac.uk/oscci/dbhtml/abstracts/pdfs/Bishop_Dore%20-%20Miracle%20or%20cure.doc Dore: Curing dyslexia and ADHD by training motor co-ordination: Miracle or myth?

www.braingym.org.uk/ ''Brain Gym® is an educational, movement based programme which uses simple movements to integrate the whole brain, senses and body, preparing the person with the physical skills they need to learn effectively'' www.badscience.net/?cat=32 'Brain Gym is a set of perfectly good fun exercise break ideas for kids, which costs a packet and comes attached to a bizarre and entirely bogus pseudoscientific explanatory framework' www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/Neuroscience%20Commentary%20FINAL.pdf Sense About Science: www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/pdf/braingym.pdf

www.inpp.org.uk/ 'Primitive reflexes develop during uterine life. They should be fully present at birth and are gradually inhibited by higher centres in the brain during the first 6 to12 months of post-natal life. If they are activated by minor stimuli in the environment at a later age, they can interfere with the development of more complex skills.'

www.levinsonmedical.com/home.html 'Dr. Harold Levinson's groundbreaking research has continued to demonstrate that the symptoms of dyslexia or Learning Disabilities (LD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and related Phobic symptoms are due to a simple signal-scrambling disturbance of inner-ear (cerebellar-vestibular) origin.'

www.peakperformancetraining.org/sitefiles/dyslexia.htm 'Part of the cause of dyslexia is believed to be due to an imbalance in brainwave activity. The training will gently train you back to a state of mental balance resulting in quite astounding positive changes.'

www.dyslexiatreatment.com/ 'Once a learning profile has been established, a programme of mental and physical exercises is compiled which is tailored to enhance the strengths of their individual learning pattern and to overcome the accompanying weaknesses.'

Learning Styles Approach to Teaching and Learning promoted by the DCSF: www.dfes.gov.uk/curriculum_literacy/access/styles/
Go to Learning styles and Multiple Intelligences

www.davistraining.co.uk/ 'The Davis® Dyslexia Correction Programme was developed by Ronald Davis to overcome his own learning difficulties. Davis sees dyslexia as a talent...The Programme helps the individual to discover his innate gift, and to apply it to the learning difficulty. In this way the blockages to effective learning are removed. Clients are shown how to clear up confusions regarding letters, numbers, words and language symbols and are aided in the process by the use of clay.' Also, www.thelearningpeople.co.uk/

http://dyslexia.mtsu.edu/modules/articles/displayarticle.jsp?id=71 'The Gift of Dyslexia' by Ronald Davis (a critique)

www.magicalspellinglimited.com/ Magical Spelling, based on the work of of NLP practitioner Robert Dilts http://nlpu.com/Articles/artic10.htm 'a remarkable quick way to improve your spelling, reading, memory and dyslexic symptoms, in any language...the way that nature intended, by being able to visualise'' www.seeingspellsachieving.com/

www.innovative-therapies.com/fastforward_uk.htm Fast ForWord.This is a teaching programme that focuses on helping learners become more fluent at processing rapidly changing sounds. Its underlying hypothesis is that dyslexic learners' brains can be taught to operate more like those without dyslexia. The programme offers training designed to help learners hear sounds in words by exaggerating and slowing them down (DfES) “The collective results of our studies suggest that improvements in language abilities after FFW training did not result from changes in temporal processing. It is possible that similar improvements in language may be obtained from a variety of interventions that are presented on an intensive schedule, that focus the child’s auditory and visual attention, that present multiple trials that vary task complexity as a function of response accuracy, and that reward progress.”
Looking back: A summary of five exploratory studies of Fast ForWord. Ronald B. Gillam, Diane Frome Loeb, Sandy Friel-Patti.

http://dyslexia.mtsu.edu/modules/articles/displayarticle.jsp?id=34 Fast ForWord ® for Children with Dyslexia (a critique)

www.evidencebasedprograms.org/Default.aspx?tabid=147 Fast ForWord -ineffective.

Beeps, boops, and beanbags: Psychologist Dorothy Bishop looks at ‘cures’ for dyslexia, focusing on DORE and FastForWord:
http://psyweb.psy.ox.ac.uk/oscci/dbhtml/abstracts/dyslexia_cures.pdf

http://dyslexia.mtsu.edu/modules/articles/displayarticle.jsp?id=70 Ingestive Treatments for Learning Disabilities (a critique)

www.badscience.net/?cat=66 Omega-3 Fish Oils.

Dyslexikit. http://dyslexikit.co.uk/ For a review of this programme: www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=2601 The ineffective content of this programme is shared by the other derivations of the original Orton-Gillingham programme, designed to 'remediate dyslexic-type literacy difficulties'. Look at What not to do to assess the content of other dyslexia programmes.

Laughable:

www.free-daily-affirmation.com/free-affirmations/affirmations-dyslexia-add.html Affirmations to heal dyslexia and ADD.

http://www.wddty.com/03363800372013996123/brilliantly-wheat-free.html

http://www.wddty.com/03363800372545638226/dyslexia.html

http://www.wddty.com/03363800373046903953/cutting-out-plastic-food-cured-dyslexia.html

http://www.wddty.com/03363800370186088335/dyslexia-how-virtual-scanning-is-helping-our-readers.html

"The true believer is never swayed by evidence, and will continue to believe despite any amount or strength of evidence. And remember, the believer not only wants the delusion to be true, but in most cases desperately needs it to be true.'' James Randi.

Whole-word reading schemes:

www.oup.co.uk/pdf/oxed/primary/ORTParentGde_0603.pdf 'Oxford Reading Tree recognises that young children can understand and remember a simple story before they are able to intepret the individual words and letters to make up the story. It builds on this ability by using a story-based approach to reading, tackling reading skills in the order meaning-> sentences-> words/letters... 'Key' words are repeated throughout the storybooks and are introduced at each stage to build up a bank of sight vocabulary. 'Context' words such as 'tomato sauce' and 'cornflakes' are used when needed for the storyline, ensuring that the language remains as natural as possible.'

What's wrong with the whole-word method?

Whole-word, 'remedial' reading programmes:

Popular, whole-language, remedial programmes like Reading Recovery and Catch Up believe themselves to be exempt from the DCSF phonics programme self-assessment scheme because, they say, it is 'designed for Early Years phonic programmes' only. This is despite the fact that the DCSF state that 'High-quality phonic work, as defined by the Rose review, should be a key feature of literacy provision in all the ‘waves’ of intervention'.

http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ioe/cms/get.asp?cid=9263 Reading Recovery is an early intervention programme designed by the late Marie M. Clay (New Zealand) It uses supportive conversations between teacher and child as the primary basis of instruction and is funded and promoted by the DCSF. Review of Reading Recovery: www.rrf.org.uk/newsletter.php?n_ID=186 Review of the core text 'Marie Clay: Lessons in Literacy Part Two' (2005)
www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=2774

www.uncw.edu/people/kozloffm/readingrecovery.doc Reading Recovery: an anatomy of folly.

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~bgrossen/rr.htm Reading Recovery:The Claims Versus the Facts; also, see links at Method1 (scroll down)

www.thecatchupproject.org/pages/home.shtm Catch up literacy intervention programme. '(T)he clearest evidence of the success of the Catch Up Programme is the marked improvement in attitude to reading shown by the children.' Catch Up is a cheaper, UK version of Reading Recovery. A comparison of the recommendations of the Rose Report and Catch Up programme training: www.rrf.org.uk/newsletter.php?n_ID=185

www.myprimary.co.uk/rapidpreview/index.aspx Harcourt 'Rapid' Wave 3 intervention programme- levelled books, multicueing, written by the 'Catch Up' pair Dee Reid and Diana Bentley

http://www.readingquest.org.uk/ 'Reading Quest is inspired by Marie Clay’s Reading Recovery programme'

Fischer Family Trust (FFT) Wave 3. www.fischertrust.org/lit_wave_3.aspx A Reading Recovery clone.

www.cumbria.gov.uk/childrensservices/reading/default.asp Sound Linkage/Cumbria Reading Intervention. A mixture of Reading Recovery and phonological training.

www.wellington-square.co.uk/ Over 10,000 schools in the UK choose Wellington Square for their struggling readers :-(

Superstars programme: 'An adaptation of the [unrevised, whole-language version] Early Literacy Support (ELS) programme for Key Stage 2'
http://www.leics.gov.uk/index/education/support_for_schools/sips/aandi-supportteams/sips_sen/sen_team_current_projects/wave_three_literacy.htm

Government produced literacy, intervention and support programmes:

The DCSF has withdraw 'Playing with Sounds' and 'Progression in Phonics' and published 'Letters and Sounds', a new resource for teaching 'high quality (synthetic) phonic work' -now available online, 'buried' on the CLLD website www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/local/clld/las.html Phase 1 of the new programme concentrates exclusively on phonological awareness activities (sounds only) despite this being an unnecessary pre-requisite for reading instruction. Proper synthetic phonic teaching (letters AND sounds) does not begin until Phase 2. N.B. it is NOT mandatory for schools to use the DCSF programme (though LEAs may incorrectly insist that they do); they can use any high quality phonics programme -but, note the warning below about commercial programmes listed on the DCSF's phonics website.

WARNING: The independent assessment group, which was set up by the DCSF to scutinise the accuracy of the self-assessed programmes on the government's phonics website, (www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/phonics/) recently approved the THRASS programme, amongst others, even though it includes the old, NLS multi-cueing strategies. This is not surprising as two strong advocates of 'mixed methods', Greg Brooks and Nicholas Bielby, are part of the group. This clearly indicates that inclusion on the DCSF phonics website with approval by the independent assessment group, does NOT necessarily mean that a programme IS a high quality, synthetic phonic programme, only that it is 'systematic'. Caveat Emptor: Buyer Beware!

The DCSF 'Wave 2' small group, intervention programmes (ELS /ALS/ FLS) were whole-word based, have been withdrawn and should no longer be used. ELS has now been rewritten (Jan 2008) with the aim of bringing it in line with the Rose Report which stated that, 'High quality (synthetic) phonic work, as defined by the review, should be a key feature of the provision in each of these 'waves'. (Rose 2006. 133) Read Dr. Bonnie Macmillan's careful evaluation of the old ELS programme, first: http://www.rrf.org.uk/newsletter.php?n_ID=93 then, check how many 'no no's' the revised ELS still contains: http://www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/primary/publications/literacy/63469/

'Year 3 Literacy Support (Y3LS)' www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/publications/literacy/1159795/
Discussion of this updated intervention programme here: www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=2900

Commercial programmes claiming to provide 'high quality phonic work as defined by the Rose Review' - but, on inspection, are mixed methods and do NOT follow the synthetic phonic principles.

THRASS www.thrass.co.uk The THRASS programme retains the 'searchlight' strategies (global sightword memorisation and guessing) despite being described as "The natural approach to synthetic phonics". Programme developer and self-declared 'synthetic phonic expert'(!) Alan Davies states that '(T)here is no need to look for a new model of early reading to replace the ‘Searchlights’ model...It is wrong to believe that synthetic phonics is the ‘best route to becoming skilled readers’, as stated in Jim’s report. www.thrass.co.uk/searchlights.htm 'Parents need to understand and use four 'searchlights' for reading with their children: a 'Word Recognition Searchlight', a 'Phonics Searchlight', a 'Context Searchlight' and a 'Grammar Searchlight', as set out in the National Literacy Strategy that the UK Government abandoned in 2005. The Government's new synthetic phonics programme, 'Letters and Sounds', focuses on the 'Phonics Searchlight', an approach which is inadequate for both parents and young children’ (THRASS press release Jan 08)

Splash Phonics. Rising Stars. Written by Gill Budgell and Kate Ruttle. www.risingstars-uk.com/ 'Supporting teachers delivering PIPS, synthetic or analytic phonics, Splash Phonics is the perfect complement to any phonics teaching programme.' Kate Ruttle is joint editor of the whole-language 'Cambridge Reading' scheme. Here is an anti-phonics article she wrote for the TES: www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=392691 and comments on the article: www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=161

The Wright Skills. www.wrightgroup.com/index.php/programsummary?isbn=0076034798

For a list of unnecessary and unhelpful content to avoid in any dyslexia / intervention / basic skills programme -See What NOT to do

For details of genuine synthetic phonics programmes see- Resources 10

Other:

DCSF booklet for parents: Help your child to learn -a guide to supporting reading for parents of primary school children. Go to pages 12, 14/15 for advice for children to 'guess' www.parentscentre.gov.uk/_files/7944687B3DAAA1F71B077D7B7C260B20.pdf

'Book Bands for Guided Reading' by Bickler, Baker and Hobsbaum, produced by the UK Reading Recovery National Network. ''Designed to help teachers to audit, organise and supplement a school's existing sets of reading materials (whole-language) at Key Stage 1.'' Jenny Chew evaluates Book Bands http://www.rrf.org.uk/newsletter.php?n_ID=79

The Boxes Font. Crossbow Education. www.crossboweducation.com/The_Boxes_Font.htm. 'Boxes font gives students valuable clues as to the shape of the word and the numbers of letters in each word'.

Sightword Spelling Game. Crossbow Education. www.crossboweducation.com/Sight_words.htm

www.synthetic-phonics.com The Direct Learning Synthetic Phonics Certificate course.
Direct Learning is affiliated to the International Reading Association and the United Kingdom Literacy Association - both organisations are strongly wedded to whole-language methods."Used in conjunction with the Whole Word method, synthetic phonics is by far the best method for teachers and parents, leading to optimum learning for children in reading and spelling." ''It is usual to include more exciting words in beginner reading books, like ice-cream, milk-shake, elephant, dinosaur, MacDonald's, airplane. Despite their length, these words are usually easy for children to read because of the connections they stimulate! ''You will notice them using other clues, like the pictures on the page, or guesses from the meaning of the sentence, and it is good to encourage them to use these clues''.

''Kumon’s English programme has a strong emphasis on phonics in the early levels, with an initial focus on the ‘synthetic’ learning of individual letter sounds and then the sounds of combinations of letters to make words. But Kumon doesn’t do this in isolation, successfully combining that approach with what is basically pretty close to an analytic element, together with a range of other strategies.The students move on from letter sounds to looking at common letter combinations and using rhyming skills to read and spell by analogy.''
www.kumon.co.uk/uploadedFiles/pressroom/Education%20Update%20(March%202006).pdf

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/work/primary/literacy/reading_help.shtml ''Don't correct too quickly. If your child makes an error suggest having another go, searching the pictures for a clue, sounding out the first letter or reading on before you 'tell' the problem word''

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/hfwords/starwords/index.shtml 'As each Star Word is delivered you must choose which shape it matches...This activity provides practice at sight recognition and spelling of the 200 or so high frequency words...'

Steiner / Waldorf The Open Waldorf website is particularly informative about the Steiner stance on teaching reading:
‘Waldorf schools discourage children from reading before the age of 7. In fact, some experts in the Waldorf community consider this type of early development "a tragedy" Why is the Waldorf point of view so different than the bulk of academic research on this subject? The answer can be found in Waldorf's alternative theory of child development, which is based on Rudolf Steiner's clairvoyant insight on the human being. The timing of this proscription against reading corresponds with the "cutting of the teeth," which Steiner indicated as a developmental milestone, with the incarnation of the etheric body in children. Steiner says early reading will hinder the later spiritual development of children’ http://www.openwaldorf.com/academics.html

This is what Steiner himself had to say about the teaching of reading and writing in his book, ‘The Kingdom of Childhood’:
‘'People will object that the children then learn to read and write too late. That is said only because it is not known today how harmful it is when the children learn to read and write too soon. It is a very bad thing to be able to write early. Reading and writing as we have them today are really not suited to the human being till a later age - the eleventh or twelfth year - and the more a child is blessed with not being able to read and write well before this age, the better it is for the later years of life. A child who cannot write properly at thirteen or fourteen (I can speak out of my own experience because I could not do it at that age) is not so hindered for later spiritual development as one who early, at seven or eight years can already read and write perfectly’'.

Steiner educationalists believe that ‘the early development of intellectual abilities’ is a ‘negative development …a tragedy’. They go on to say, ‘We conjecture that, as a consequence, one triggers cristalization processes, leading to eventual precocious sclerosis processes later on in life.’ This is simply mumbo- jumbo and should be treated with the contempt it deserves.

''The simple believeth every word'' Proverbs 14:15