Artificially Induced Dyslexia...

"Traditional phonics - learning to read by sounding out letters and blends of letters in order to read the word - went out the window in favor of  'look-say' reading - where students supposedly learn to read by memorizing 'whole' words or by associating words with pictures." - Mel & Norma Gabler (What Are They Teaching Our Children?)

In their book, the Gablers reveal how students' test scores dropped significantly in the United States after the 'look-say' reading method was implemented in the public schools.  As early as 1974, college textbooks were being rewritten at 8th & 9th grade reading levels due to the large number of college freshmen who were unable to understand the language of college-level texts. 

Also, the Gablers' research into dyslexia has brought to light the possibility that dyslexia can be artificially induced in students who are taught the 'look-say' method of reading, rather than a phonics-based method.

In short, the 'look-say' method treats a word as if it were a picture or an image to be 'interpreted' by the reader.  Not every 'look-say' reader will interpret the word the same.  No true reading is being done.  It is more like a guessing game.  The method is similar to a toddler/preschooler learning to recognize the word McDonald's mostly because of the golden arches which make up the first letter of the word.  The word is not being 'read'.  Instead, the word is seen by the 'reader' as a symbol which means McDonald's.  The 'look-say' method of reading may work for some words - short, familiar words; but there will soon become a time when there will be too many letters in a long, unfamiliar word that has not been memorized.  What then?  Without a knowledge of phonics, those words will be impossible to decipher. 

It is critical for students to master phonics in grades K-2.  Without proper phonics instruction, a child will never become a skilled reader, and certainly will never be able to spell or write.  A child who cannot read well due to this lack of proper phonics instruction, will soon be labled with a 'learning disability', regardless of the fact that he or she may not really have a disability. 

Author, Samuel Blumenfeld said this, "Never have we had more reading experts, remedial specialists, and doctors of education devoted to reading.  Never has more money been poured into reading 'research', and never have we had more illiteracy affecting every level of society."

Blumenfeld goes on to quote a Columbia University professor who said the first two years that students spend at college "has been, and remains, reparative."    The high number of college freshmen who must take remedial math and English courses is a testament to that.

It is obvious that the teaching of the 'look-say' method of reading that is being done in many of our public schools has raised up children who cannot read and cannot spell, and are unjustly being labled as 'learning disabled'.