"Reading is a ladder out of poverty. It is probably one of the best anti-poverty, anti-deprivation, anti-crime, anti-vandalism policies you can think of."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on the launch of the National Year of Reading, 2008
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The National Institute for Literacy's "Learning Disabilities" Discussion List
The purpose of this list is to provide an on-going professional development forum where literacy practitioners, adult educators, administrators, and researchers, as well as others with a stake or interest in serving adults with learning disabilities can have a targeted discussion in the area of literacy and learning disabilities. Feel free to join at www.nifl.gov!
Below is one of my recent posts (6/16/09)...
(Thoughts about Discussion Lists) I joined this Discussion List because I wanted to support the National Institute for Literacy's good works and to learn more about what literacy providers are thinking and doing, discerning what is being said and hoping to become more effective in doing 'my bit' in our efforts to move America's noble literacy agenda forward. I haven't posted for a while but I have been reading daily. Literacy is the cornerstone to education. Literacy is the basic skill that allows us to write our postings in this discussion and read what we have written to each other. Technology is a great partner and facilitator. But the basic skill of being an independent reader and writer is a far greater marvel, to me, than the computer. Stay focused on teaching us to read.
I could not find the person who originally posted the list below, but I recall the positive feedback by other members about this list. I wanted to respond at that time but I was traveling. I was very pleased to see this list because many of these deficiencies made it difficult for me to learn to read, it was not my being learning disabled (see my major problems in red).
We are dealing with students who can have multiple deficits such as those below as well as others not stated:
1) problem solving, critical thinking
2) memory and recall
3) social skills
4) receptive and expressive oral language
5) visual and auditory processing***
6) organizational skills
7) math basic concepts & operations
8) handwriting and written language
9) reading fluency and comprehension
***BIG problem
At the age of 48, I was properly diagnosed and treated for the above mentioned problems. The key was proper instruction following the proper diagnosis. This list, in my opinion, is the professional language that should be used to be specific in identifying deficiencies and prescribing treatment. It is critical that professionals adopt this kind of language to communicate among themselves and to the world if we are going to break the cycle of illiteracy.
Literacy is an education issue, but it is also a civil and human rights issue. Words have power and professionals need to be explicit when using them. I am hesitant to discuss the term 'learning disabled' with you again. I know some of you feel like it is heresy on my part or that I really do lack social skills.
Words have always been a challenge for me (and I did not really understand what a complete sentence was until I learned to read) so I learned to use metaphors and analogies to communicate with others to help me express my feelings and my position… In the late part of the 1950's and early 1960's I was watching and listening to television with a great deal of interest concerning the struggles of African Americans (referred to as Negros or worse). I had heard more than once, an African American adult male expressing how demeaning it was to be called a 'colored boy.' I did not understand what their complaint was because the expression was widely accepted as polite language and people who used this expression did not necessarily see it as demeaning. One evening, as I was listening to this discussion for the tenth time, I just GOT it. I knew that it was demeaning to the people it was labeling and I never used the expression again. I'm hoping by repeating myself that somebody's going to 'get it.'
JC
Below is one of my recent posts (6/16/09)...
(Thoughts about Discussion Lists) I joined this Discussion List because I wanted to support the National Institute for Literacy's good works and to learn more about what literacy providers are thinking and doing, discerning what is being said and hoping to become more effective in doing 'my bit' in our efforts to move America's noble literacy agenda forward. I haven't posted for a while but I have been reading daily. Literacy is the cornerstone to education. Literacy is the basic skill that allows us to write our postings in this discussion and read what we have written to each other. Technology is a great partner and facilitator. But the basic skill of being an independent reader and writer is a far greater marvel, to me, than the computer. Stay focused on teaching us to read.
I could not find the person who originally posted the list below, but I recall the positive feedback by other members about this list. I wanted to respond at that time but I was traveling. I was very pleased to see this list because many of these deficiencies made it difficult for me to learn to read, it was not my being learning disabled (see my major problems in red).
We are dealing with students who can have multiple deficits such as those below as well as others not stated:
1) problem solving, critical thinking
2) memory and recall
3) social skills
4) receptive and expressive oral language
5) visual and auditory processing***
6) organizational skills
7) math basic concepts & operations
8) handwriting and written language
9) reading fluency and comprehension
***BIG problem
At the age of 48, I was properly diagnosed and treated for the above mentioned problems. The key was proper instruction following the proper diagnosis. This list, in my opinion, is the professional language that should be used to be specific in identifying deficiencies and prescribing treatment. It is critical that professionals adopt this kind of language to communicate among themselves and to the world if we are going to break the cycle of illiteracy.
Literacy is an education issue, but it is also a civil and human rights issue. Words have power and professionals need to be explicit when using them. I am hesitant to discuss the term 'learning disabled' with you again. I know some of you feel like it is heresy on my part or that I really do lack social skills.
Words have always been a challenge for me (and I did not really understand what a complete sentence was until I learned to read) so I learned to use metaphors and analogies to communicate with others to help me express my feelings and my position… In the late part of the 1950's and early 1960's I was watching and listening to television with a great deal of interest concerning the struggles of African Americans (referred to as Negros or worse). I had heard more than once, an African American adult male expressing how demeaning it was to be called a 'colored boy.' I did not understand what their complaint was because the expression was widely accepted as polite language and people who used this expression did not necessarily see it as demeaning. One evening, as I was listening to this discussion for the tenth time, I just GOT it. I knew that it was demeaning to the people it was labeling and I never used the expression again. I'm hoping by repeating myself that somebody's going to 'get it.'
JC
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