Fad, fraud and folly in 'dyslexia' and the teaching of reading.

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

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.

Personal beliefs or evidence-based practice?
http://literacyblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/personal-beliefs-or-evidence-based.html

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' www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/jocn.2008.20040

www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/06/seduced_by_the_flickering_ligh.php?page=1
Seduced by the Flickering Lights of the Brain

http://scienceblogs.com/purepedantry/2008/06/must_read_paper_on_fmri_and_th.php?utm_source=readerspicks&utm_medium=link
fMRI paper.

http://www.pitt.edu/~perfetti/PDF/Brain-behavior%20relations%20(B&L).pdf
Charles Perfetti, Professor of Psychology and Linguistics, points out that there may be various interpretations of the studies involving brain scans of dyslexics.

'(T)here is a mistaken belief that current knowledge in [genetics and neuroscience] is sufficient to justify a category of dyslexia as a subset of those who encounter reading difficulties' (Elliott/Gibbs p475)

http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/all-news/dalyell-prize
Video of a lecture by Prof. Della Salla (Professor of Human Cognitive Neuroscience) “Tall Tales about the Mind and Brain”

www.dystalk.com/talks/60-evaluating-alternative-solutions-for-dyslexia
Video: Prof. Bishop discusses Dore, cognitive dissonance and evaluating research.

http://www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=3686
Personalised learning = 'well intentioned waffle' or an euphemism for 'catch-up classes'

'Research says....' is just the start. Then you have to find out what TYPE of research it is.
If the only research you're offered or can find as evidence is described, or could be 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
- Case studies
- Qualitative
- Descriptive
- Anecdotal
- Based on questionnaires
- Based on testimonials
- Based on interviews
- Non-mathematical analysis
- Subjective experience
- Based on tacit, non-scientific knowledge
- Anthropological
- Ethnographical
- Ideological / academic / theoretical / socio-cultural... 'perspectives'
- Action Research.“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

Alternative 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)

'(T)he word "dyslexia" has taken on a variety of interpretations over the years, and it has provided a vehicle for people who want to make a quick buck from distraught parents' (Prof. Tymms. TES.04/11/05)

'It is time that the dyslexia industry was killed off and we recognised that there are well known methods for teaching everybody to read and write', says Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley, Manchester (Stringer.12/01/08)

Alternative therapies, ''generally have a weak (or non-existent) evidence base and poor efficacy, and often rely on the superficial attractiveness of a promised instant (and comparatively effortless) ‘cure’' (Singleton p22)

Caveat Emptor: Buyer Beware!

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/pediatrics;102/5/1217
'Vision problems can interfere with the process of learning; however, vision problems are not the cause of primary dyslexia or learning disabilities..Diagnostic and treatment approaches that lack scientific evidence of efficacy, including eye exercises, behavioral vision therapy, or special tinted filters or lenses, are not endorsed and should not be recommended.'

www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/eyequack.html Eye-related Quackery.

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

www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/health/26real.html Eye exercises do not relieve dyslexia.

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.

'Wilkins et al. went on to conclude that the wearing of tinted lenses is unlikely to have a direct effect on the child's level of reading skill' (Muter p 179)

'(T)here is no evidence supporting a causal link between visual stress and dyslexia...assessment of visual stress and response to treatment is usually by subjective report'' (Rose 2009. p115)

www.thelearningsociety.com/ '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... Sunflower Therapy also incorporates NLP 'Magical Spelling' -see link below.

'(C)ontrolled trials show that the claims of applied kinesiology have no basis in reality' (Singh/Ernst. p164)

www.magicalspellinglimited.com Magical Spelling is 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'' Magical Spelling is incorporated into Sunflower Therapy. 'After just a few sessions, Carolina says she can get dyslexic children to spell eight-letter words backwards. "Kids are often taught to learn through writing, left to right, and that doesn't often help dyslexic kids, so we use the whole body to learn through movement," she said. Carolina will show a child a word and tell him to visualise it. Then, she teaches him to spell using the whole body, often jumping or waving an arm to each letter, or spelling the word from the outside in, rather than from left to right' www.thisisexeter.co.uk/features/Carolina-helping-challenged-children-overcome-problems/article-915264-detail/article.html

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.learning-solutions.co.uk/listening_program.php 'The Listening Program's psychoacoustically modified music and patent-pending production techniques are designed to stimulate, or "exercise" the different functions of the auditory processing system'

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

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

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'.
Sense About Science 'Brain Gym' leaflet: 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.'

'(I)t is still a concern that there has been a failure on the part of advocates of primitive reflex therapy to establish any convincing connection between infant motor reflexes and the complex process of learning to read' (Muter p 181)

http://www.dyslexiaonline.com/ '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'...'75–85% of medically treated children and adults respond favorably, rapidly, and often dramatically to simple and safe combinations of inner-ear-improving medications and related nutrients'

http://dyslexia.mtsu.edu/modules/articles/displayarticle.jsp?id=69 Neurophysiological Approaches (a critique)

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.'

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, see: http://www.blueberry-centre.co.uk/

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

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)

http://evidencebasedprograms.org/wordpress/?page_id=102 Fast ForWord -ineffective.

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

http://psyweb.psy.ox.ac.uk/oscci/presentations.htm/BDA%202008b.ppt Prof. Bishop examines Dore, fish oils and Sunflower Therapy

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.

Specialist dyslexia teaching and programmes:

UK Parliament's all-party group on 'Dyslexia and Specific Learning Difficulties'. ''Purpose: To understand Dyslexia and learning difficulties across the UK and the need to keep government appraised of the situation in schools and education in general. The group will also look at what statutory and non-statutory bodies are achieving in this field''. The group's chairman, MP Ian Liddell-Grainger, describes himself a 'dyslexic'. www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi272.htm Note that, 'Dyslexia Action acts as the group's secretariat' and Shirley Cramer, CEO for Dyslexia Action holds a staff parliamentary pass. Dyslexia Action is one of the UK's powerful, 'dyslexia' lobby groups and 'provides training for teachers to become specialist dyslexia teachers' (Rose 2009 p190) Shirley Cramer is a patron of ECaR/ UK Reading Recovery, as is Professor Susan Tresman, who was formerly CEO of the British Dyslexia Association.

''(M)any of the things that specialist dyslexia teachers do have not been the subject of much published research'' (Singleton p21)

''Brooks (2007) has described ratio gains of between 1.4 and 2.0 as having ‘small impact’ and being ‘of modest educational significance’; ratio gains less than 1.4 he classes as being of ‘very small impact’ and ‘of doubtful educational significance’. On this basis all the results reported from studies in UK specialist [dyslexia] schools and teaching centres would be regarded as disappointing (or even disregarded altogether), since the largest ratio gain was only 2.0 (except at Moon Hall School [which uses a linguistic phonics programme similar to the Sound Reading System]'' (italics added. Singleton p74)

Dyslexikit. http://dyslexikit.co.uk/ For a review of this programme: www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=2601 The time-wasting and ineffective content of this programme is shared by the other derivations of the original Orton-Gillingham (OG) programme, designed to 'remediate dyslexic-type literacy difficulties'.

A literacy intervention programme based on memorising the high frequency words as global wholes, written by a couple who describe themselves as ‘qualified dyslexia tutors’ ‘The first part of the SNIP Literacy Programme (KS1/2)’ http://www.snip-newsletter.co.uk/pdfs/downloads/literacy_programme_1.pdf

Discussion of the Hickey OG programme: www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=1605
''(I)n it's time - 70s - Orton Gillingham/Hickey was groundbreaking. But that is 35 years ago. A bit like introducing anaesthetics but ignoring antibiotics. Thousands of children have been helped with this method (just as thousands are helped with just a little one-to-one attention). But it simply isn't good enough that so many thousands of children (and adults) have been left utterly bereft after years and years of OG tuition'' (quote from OG-trained tutor)

Information about the principles behind the government endorsed, Specialist Dyslexia Teaching (OG) model obtained from the Dyslexia-SpLD Trust's 'No to Failure' (NTF) project DVD:
- Multisensory teaching example: 'To spell ‘separate’ - draw a parachute around ‘para’, close eyes, finger write saying letters[names] ‘s.e.p.a.r.a.t.e’ - visualising the letters' (NTF DVD p27)
- 'Deliberate targeting of pupil’s learning strengths, intelligences and learning styles' (NTF DVD p28)
-- All NTF Specialist Teachers 'used an initial session to get to know the pupil, carry out a prose reading test (scored for accuracy and comprehension) so that they could do a full miscue analysis of reading, and to carry out additional formal or informal testing' (NTF DVD p29)

'Dyslexia expert' Neil MacKay: According to Neil, '..academics and researchers appear to be strongly suggesting that if everyone could be taught to read accurately...if everyone was brilliant at synthetic phonics there'd be no dyslexia' -and this is 'crazy'. He thinks it's fine if children read inaccurately, if for example they read <boat> or <ship> rather than <ships> as this 'doesn't affect comprehension'
http://www.actiondyslexia.co.uk/video-2.html

'Dyslexia expert' Lee Pascal: According to Lee, expert readers don't decode, they look at the first couple of letters, shape and context...
http://www.learningwithsouthglos.org.uk/literacy/docs/video/Wave%203/Resources/LeePascalClip1.wmv

Independent schools' for 'dyslexics':

- Maple Hayes: 'The Maple Hayes technique sorts words into morphemes (units of meaning). These are either spelt conventionally by a combination of letters, or represented by simple images called icons. The approach uses only one sense at a time, to block out distractions. Reading is visual rather than aural (early lessons are almost silent), while writing practice is by touch, using cursive script where the pen stays on the paper. To help pupils concentrate, they will be blindfolded at first.' http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6002967
- Fairley House: 'Multi-Sensory Approach: To help learn words beginning with "squ", pupils squeeze oranges. For "shr", they shred paper'.
www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/education/2007/02/03/edys03.xml

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

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 /programmes:

www.oup.co.uk/pdf/oxed/primary/ORTParentGde_0603.pdf 'Oxford Reading Tree Biff and Chip books '(R)ecognises 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'.

http://www.oup.com/oxed/primary/projectx/ Project X.
Scroll down for a damning, but accurate review of this new reading scheme from OUP:
www.amazon.co.uk/Project-Green-Making-Noise-Cluster/dp/0198470878/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236846020&sr=1-6

10 reasons why beginning readers should only use decodable books

Whole-word, 'intervention' programmes:

http://readingrecovery.ioe.ac.uk/ Reading Recovery (ECaR / RR) 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. It is partially funded and heavily 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=3739

http://www.prometheantrust.org/timetstopdigging.htm
Feb. 2009. ECaR: Time to Stop Digging. .

www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/pdfs/Rising_Marks__Falling_Standards.pdf
April 2009. See pages 37-40 for comment on RR

www.thedyslexia-spldtrust.org.uk/article/13/review-of-international-research-published-by-dr-chris-singleton
June 2009. Chris Singleton's dyslexia review slams RR -see p95-118.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmdius/168/16805.htm#a12
July 2009. New government report criticizes DCSF's roll out of RR.

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 clone 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

The DCSF recommended Wave 2 intervention programme, The Better Reading Partnership, was 'developed by Bradford Local Education Authority (LEA) in 1996 and is based on the Reading Recovery Programme'. 'The reading partner notes the child's use of the three BRP reading strategies: grapho-phonic (visual), syntactic (structure) and semantic (meaning). Weaknesses are addressed through prompts: "Does that look right?", "Does that sound right?", and "Does that make sense?" www.literacytrust.org.uk/Pubs/Dunford.html

Harcourt 'Rapid' Wave 3 intervention http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/Primary/Literacy/AllLiteracyresources/RapidReading/RapidReading.aspx
Levelled books and 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'

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

Cumbria Reading Intervention, recommended by Prof. Julian Elliott (CH4 TV Dispatches.The Dyslexia Myth) A mixture of Reading Recovery and Hatcher's Sound Linkage 'phonological training'. www.cumbria.gov.uk/childrensservices/reading/default.asp

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

Superstars programme: Leicestershire County Council's Wave 3 intervention programme.
'An adaptation of the [unrevised, whole-language] 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 programmes:

The DCSF's 'Wave 2' small group, intervention programmes (ELS / ALS / FLS) were based on whole-language.
- ELS was 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 contains e.g. an RR-style miscue analysis assessment, whole-language reading books from Reading Recovery's Books Bands and time-consuming 'busy-work': http://www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/primary/publications/literacy/63469/

- ALS was transformed (Mar. 2007) into 'Year 3 Literacy Support (Y3LS/Sir Kits Quest)' www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/publications/literacy/1159795/
Discussion of the updated ALS intervention programme here: www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=2900

- FLS, the DCSF's Wave 2 intervention for Y5 is STILL available, unrevised from 2002 and therefore complete with the pre-Rose, whole-language, multi-cueing strategies. Along with Y3LS/ 'Sir Kit's Quest', the unrevised FLS is a key plank in the DCSF's Making Good Progress one-to-one literacy tutoring project for 10 and 11yr.olds.

Independently produced 'scheme of work' to support the government's Adult Literacy Entry level 1. curriculum.
http://skillsworkshop.org/e1scheme.htm

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

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.

The independent assessment group, which was set up by the DCSF to scutinise the accuracy of the self-assessed commercial programmes on the government's phonics website, (www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/phonics/) approved the THRASS programme, amongst others, even though it includes the old, NLS multi-cueing strategies the Rose Report rejected. This is not surprising as two 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'. This point was confirmed by Greg Brooks when he spoke at the RRF's 2007 conference. Caveat Emptor: Buyer Beware! *Greg Brooks was one of the trio of academics who produced the flawed, 'Review of the Research Literature on the use of Phonics in the Teaching of Reading and Spelling' see- Diane McGuinness comments on the review Tom Burkard reviews Nicholas Bielby's book, 'Making Sense of Reading' www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1YCF5MX9CVOEE

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)

For details of genuine synthetic phonics programmes see- Resources 10

Other:

Still available online over three years after the Rose Report: DfES (DCSF)-badged booklet for parents: Help your child to learn -a guide to supporting reading for parents of primary school children. Available on the National Literacy Trust website: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/familyreading/parents/primaryguide.pdf Go to pages 12/15 for advice for children to 'guess'

'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''. Reading Recovery's Bookbands and Cliff Moon's Individualised Reading are both based on the whole language notion of early reading - that is beginners use picture clues, context clues, repetitive text and predictable text to 'read'. This is the opposite approach to the synthetic phonics teaching principles. It means that they are not in line with the Rose recommendations nor the synthetic phonics teaching programmes. For examples of whole-language text see: www.rrf.org.uk/newsletter.php?n_ID=108 (scroll down)

Learning Styles: The following Learning Styles publication is available from the DCSF: http://www.nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/downloader/8f0de18d05b36729b938129fe76d052c.pdf
Yet we learn that, ''(T)he National Strategies have been instructed by the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF - formerly the DfES) to withdraw all their learning materials on the subject. This was as a consequence of a report called About Learning submitted in June 2004 by the Demos think tank to Schools Standards Minister David Milliband. The report declared learning style models to be of 'doubtful reliability and validity', pointing to a lack of evidence that teaching practice was in any way improved by their use - even suggesting, in fact, that the converse was true'' http://www.learningtechnologies.co.uk/magazine/article_full.cfm?articleid=282&issueid=28&section=0
See - Learning styles and Multiple Intelligences

Box Dictations. Recommended by a 'specialist TA holding the 'Hornsby Diploma in SpLD'! : www.crossboweducation.com/box_dictations.htm 'Box dictations are an effective way of providing visual support for spelling for children (and adults) who experience the common dyslexia-related problem of failing to map the sounds of letters onto their shapes'

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 Dr. Richard House, stalwart of the Open EYE early years campaign (see -method 2), is a strong advocate for Steiner education and is a Steiner kindergarten teacher. 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

And, finally: