This topic comes up again and again. After one session, a parent will ask, “maybe I should do a reading assessment for my child?”
Many pupils have difficulty at school with reading subject matter, understanding text, and also no real interest in books, which stems from not really collecting the information efficiently. Most children with reading problems prefer comics as they can guess what is happening and do not have to read and remember every detail. Teachers would recommend doing an assessment when they see this frustration with reading.
Are reading assessments really effective, and do they explain the hardship and give answers on how to deal with the reading problem? Or is the whole thing brushed off with the concept “Dyslexia”? The school advisor recommends reading assessment, and of course, the internet is full of advice about it as well.
Limitations of assessments
Being a teacher of children with learning challenges for over 30 years has given me a different perspective on the benefits of reading assessments and has shown me the limitation of those assessments. I have asked myself again and again; are these reading assessments truly effective? I see parents, teachers, and children using the titles they have been given, such as dyslexia, in ways that are often not beneficial in dealing with the problem but rather giving legitimation that they have a difficulty, so let’s not really deal with it and find ways to get around the hardship.
Merav’s mother called to ask if she should send her daughter for a reading assessment. She had been coming to me for a few weeks at the time, and I curiously asked for the motivation of the reading assessment. We knew how intelligent Merav was, and it was clear that she had not yet reached her potential of getting the full benefit from reading material. Her mother explained to me that it was important for her to receive higher marks in her matriculation examinations so it would open studying opportunities for her in the future. She knew that if Merav would be assessed, she would get some special facilitation from school, such as more time.
Before answering, I wanted to talk to Merav. I knew already, after having worked with her, that she didn’t want to take on the responsibility of making an effort when it came to reading texts or answering questions. I knew that even when she could read a text, she would often respond with, “I don’t know, you tell me!”. During our lessons, she often asked, “so what should I write as an answer?” and I would answer: “what do you think is the answer?” I would encourage her to think about the different options we have as an answer, and usually, she then knew what to write.
I had the feeling, that as soon as she would get her reading assessment, it would be much easier for her to rely on someone else’s opinion and not make an effort for herself and instead would use the assessment as an excuse “but I am dyslexic or dysgraphic.”
An assessed dyslexic story
It reminded me of the story of Gad. He has just contacted me a few days before the phone call from Merav’s mother. Gad came to me just before going to university. We had worked together when he was in junior school, and he was then assessed as dyslexic. He now came back as a grownup and wanted to know how to study without his ability to read fluently. “But why can’t you read?” I asked. “Because I had three reading assessments, and they all told me that I was dyslexic and wouldn’t be able to read fluently,” he answered.
I told him that the word dyslexic doesn’t mean anything to me, and I suggested that we focus on how to overcome and deal with his reading difficulties rather than focus on them. We learned where the problem lies, and he managed to read, read and understand. The skills he would need for his university studies. It is not that the assessments were not correct, it was that they didn’t help him find a solution. They focused on the problem rather than on ways to solve it.
The secrets of body language
One can tell a lot by just taking note of body language. The way a child walks, talks, and dresses. It can be with what a child wears or the way they fix their hair. It can even show in things like how they organize their pencil box. When a pupil walks in, dressed to make an impression, it means that they care about the way they feel and what others think of them. When looking at how their pencil box is organized, one can see their care for details and organization.
Sometimes, body language is more effective than the reading assessments that are handed to me (and which I never read), as it reveals so much. When Merav walked in, she gave me the feeling of not wanting to try for herself. She sort of slinked in and sat down with a face of failure before even starting. She did not organize her hair, and she wore clothes that were bigger than her body as if to say, “I don’t want you to really see the true me. So much to learn from simple things.
Sharing thoughts with pupils
In our lesson this week, I told her that her mother had asked me about sending her for a reading assessment. I asked her why she wanted to do it. Suppose you went for an evaluation; what sort of things would you imagine it will help you with? She said she wants to get “less writing” in school and perhaps someone to read to her because at the end of the text she doesn’t understand what it is all about.
Would you want someone to write and read for you? I asked. Do you want to do your tests orally? Do you want to go out of the classroom and get help? She was a bit puzzled at these questions. It made her think perhaps, that she would be taken out of the general classroom and made into a “special case.”
“Why shouldn’t we first try and improve the things that you find you are struggling with?” I asked. “Why don’t we try and strengthen your weaknesses? Why don’t we deal with the problem instead of getting a certificate that you have a problem? Are reading assessments effective? Do they solve the issue? Do they help pupil strengthen their willingness to overcome? Do they motivate pupils to find a way and make a bigger effort for themselves?
How to start
When a pupil gets to matric, and I find that given more time would help achieve a higher mark, I am all for the assessments, but before we get to that stage, I prefer the child to learn to make an effort. True, it is much easier to ask someone else to do and to assist, but sometimes we must find our own way to get to the answers.
Merav sat down and said, “I need help in chemistry! I didn’t understand anything in the lesson today.” She took out her notes and sprawled herself on the table without any feeling of ‘I am going to tackle this one and overcome.’
“So, what must I write?”
“Firstly, let’s sit up straight and take some deep breaths, making our spine stretch and allowing oxygen into our brain,” I suggested, “and then we will start. “
How do we learn
“I don’t understand the question,” she said.
“That’s okay. I am not a chemistry teacher and am not sure that I ever learned this, so I don’t understand it either. Let’s look at the subject matter together and try and understand that first, and then the questions will be easier to fathom out..
“What does the word element mean? “She asked.
I knew that she expected me to answer her. Usually, she gets answers for her homework from her parents or teachers, who tell her what to write. I knew that I needed her to take responsibility for dealing with things on her own. I was actually happy that I didn’t know much about chemistry.
“Why don’t you google it and then explain to me what an element is?”
She explained what she had discovered, and then we went to the information she had in her book and discussed each sentence. She marked the different elements with different colors and suddenly understood it all and could answer the questions. Slowly her breathing became deeper, and she automatically sat up straighter in her chair. This was also a point that we could talk about reading pace. When reading slowly, it is much easier for a lot of people to gather all the details. If she had read this text quickly, there was no way there would have been understanding.
Summarizing the learning procedure for herself
We then discussed how things became interesting when she did something for herself and how she could cope with new information. I shared what I saw happening in her body with her, and she shared the feeling of achievement and pride, doing for herself.
For me, teaching a pupil to read is giving them tools for life. It is not only about reading but about facing a challenge. Do reading assessments give us tools for life skills? Do they provide tools for children to deal with the many challenges on their way? Sometimes they do, but they are often being done too early, and then they just help the pupil avoid their difficulties, and thus they miss out on the wonderful feeling of overcoming a problem and a feeling of “I did it!”
The process of learning
A big part of the process of teaching a child to read has to do with what stops them from reading. You can claim that this is what reading assessments aim to do, but the outcome is very different. The process of teaching Merav showed her how to make an effort and convince herself that she could do much more than what she believed she was capable of. What was the actual problem with her reading? She just read too fast, and there was no way that her brain could analyze all the bits and pieces of information and achieve an understanding of the material. She read without giving herself time to think about what it was all about. So, in fact, she had to learn to read slower and also how to collect information on the way.
The process of learning is about facing difficulties and finding a way to overcome them, just as in life.
When a pupil finds their unique way of learning, it helps them overall in other fields of their life. Merav’s body posture has changed; she started to take care of her appearance, felt more confident in her class, and enjoyed exploring for answers on her own instead of asking what she should write. We’ve never discussed the option of going to a reading assessment again as she didn’t think she needed it anymore.
I have a very basic belief. Everyone can learn. The only question is “how?”.
I dedicate my life to helping pupils succeed. Grownups often tell a child who has difficulties in school, “you can do better,” but forget to mention how to do better in school. It is easy to spot problems, and it is even easier to tell somebody to improve. But when was the last time it helped you learn when somebody said that you could do better?
Any pupil that experiences difficulties in school go through moments where all their brain can say is, “I cannot sit here any longer. I cannot understand anything”. I surely had moments like this when I was a pupil. Many know the frustration when they feel that their brain shuts off and they fail. And then the teacher tells them that they can do better in school if they only try. A pupil’s way to success is learning how to learn and helping themselves during those moments of frustration.
To understand how a studet learns
It is difficult to learn when, emotionally, the student is in the space of feeling a failure in front of friends and themselves. How often do we as teachers look at how a student isreally feeling? How often do we try and understand how they learn?
Uri has been my student for some months. When he came in last week, he looked very joyful and full of energy.
“Did you have a good day at school?” I asked
He blushed, “I ran away from most of the lessons,” he said while looking to the floor. “I went outside to play basketball.”
“And the teachers didn’t notice?”
“They did and punished me for it with eight pages of homework. But I wanted to come here with a clear head, and I get angry and come here frustrated if I sit in the classroom all morning.”
Uri is a bright student, and I am always excited to see and explore learning together with him. He gets so disheartened and angry at school. How come he developed his learning at such a speed with me while he seemed to fail constantly in the classroom. His parents told me that his teachers are full of motivation and want to help. They often say this famous sentence to him that he can do better if he tries harder.
BEING FLEXIBLE WITH TEACHING MATERIAL
We started the lesson with some physical exercise, as we both knew that it helps him concentrate better after these activities. I then proudly showed him what I had prepared for him. He had told me the week before that he didn’t understand geometry, so I had decided I would prepare material explaining what it was all about. I spent two hours reminding my brain what geometry was and how I would have wanted it explained to me as a pupil. Sitting in front of me, I started to explain all that I had learned. He looked at me with empty eyes. And I wanted to cry for the time I wasted preparing. Suddenly I had an idea, and I could see how, what I prepared should be used differently, in a way that would be suitable for him.
“I will give you a new notebook, and will read and explain the first sentence. Then you can write it for yourself in your own way.” I said. I knew that he loved teaching others, and when he explained things that mattered to him, he was clear and accurate. I started with the first sentence and asked him to explain it back to me. He did and we continued in this fashion. It was fun. It was almost the same, but it was his. He wrote how he understood, and it was his creation! After doing this for one page, I asked him to close the notebook and explain what he had written. He remembered it all.
He understood it so quickly, and he even could show me and explain to me some parts that were not clear to me but very understandable for himself. The difference was shown not only in his ability to learn but also in his body posture and his eyes that showed success.
Listen carefully to what the pupil needs
In earlier times as a teacher, I might have insisted on teaching my pupils according to what I thought was best for them, especially when I already invested so much in preparing the lesson. But now I know better, and it is about listening carefully to what the pupil needs rather than what I prepared. I know today that I teach pupils not only to read or do maths but also to learn how they face challenges and find their own personal way to overcome any difficulties if they know to listen to themselves.
The question of how to do better in school is one with many answers. Each student is unique and therefore requires something else. It might be that an hour of basketball is a much better way for Uri to prepare for class than sitting quietly. That Uri has to explain things in his own words, and only then can he understand. Maybe his best way to learn is when he needs to teach somebody else. When we listen to the pupil, we can hear what they need in order to learn. From that moment on, it is not about how to do better in school, but the process itself of learning becomes interesting, and the student starts to achieve better marks in school.
Don’t tell me I should do better. Show me how
When I reflect on my time in school as a pupil, I remember teachers often telling me that I should do better. However, nobody showed me how. I studied in a school in South Africa when not much was expected of me being a girl. The boys in the class were envisioned to become doctors, lawyers, professors, etc. I was sent to learn bookkeeping – something I had no passion for. I failed with any exam they gave me. There are very clear memories of words in my brain from my school days. “You can do better! Why don’t you try harder! If you continue like this, there is no chance of you succeeding.
I know now that my teachers didn’t’ listen to me, and instead, they forced me to learn what I didn’t want. Not only that, they pushed me to succeed while not offering any way to do so. Today, each time I prepare a lesson for one of my pupils, I smile to myself. Suddenly things I failed at in school become so easy as I learn in my own way and the sky is the limit when I trust myself in my own path.
Each child and person has a different motivation for learning, and they learn differently. If we, grownups, would listen to the child that seeks our help and support them in discovering their way of learning, I am sure that we would be better teachers and better companions. I am sure that children would find that they can do better at school with way less frustration.
What was your way of learning when something was challenging? Which teacher do you remember from school and for what reasons?
I have a very basic belief. Everyone can learn. The only question is “how?”.
Opening the gate and watching pupils walk in gives an insight into how the lesson might start. He walked heavily up the stairs. Not very happy. It was after a school outing which he did not particularly enjoy. But he was the one to have asked to come, even though he knew there would be an outing that day. His mother had written that he had had a reading failure in class that week. Lots of anger fumed out of his body language.
Body language
However, the message from his body was not only anger. It was carrying a huge weight of failure. Reading failure was not the only failure he felt; it was a failure of many years and a feeling of ‘lost hope.’ A feeling of ‘maybe I am stupid after all.’
The body message that comes with such a feeling is beyond the moment. It was clear to me that if he felt like a failure, it would impact every part of his life. As soon as I saw him, I was determined to help him change that negative feeling about himself.
Failure
The concept of reading failure or failure in general is something I often think about; Where does this come from? Who decides someone is a failure or not?
Is it an inner feeling of not being up to standard? Or something that is given to us by others?
What is the measure of failure? Parents? Teachers? Is it about comparing oneself to siblings or other pupils in the class? Is failure the end or a beginning of change within ourselves and our understanding?
Making a session into a partnership
“I am happy that you made the effort to come (needing to put something positive in the entrance),” I said. I told him that I could see how tired he was, and was curious as to what he would choose to work on; would he relate to the reading failure that everyone claims he has.
“I think, reading.” He mumbled under his breath. I could barely hear his words.
I knew him already; he always started his answers with “I think”:
I think I have difficulty in mathematics (even though he works everything out in his head and writes down answers).
I think I am no good at writing.
I think that I do not understand fully in English class -even though his mother is from an Anglo-Saxon background, and he has no problem speaking the language.
I listened and asked him- “will you tell me about your reading.
What sort of projects do you have in class? How do you manage with them?”
“We are given an article to read and then have to answer questions. I am not sure what the answers are and how to get to them.” A beginning of the reading failure feeling.
“Truth is,” I said, “that I also don’t always enjoy reading articles.
Are you okay with starting our reading with a book? It might be a more enjoyable activity for us both.
“I think that is okay!” The ‘I think’ answer gives space for going up or down in one’s feelings and achievements.
Choosing the right material for a given moment
This is a critical moment for me. I had prepared two books that he could choose from ahead of time. But then, at that moment, with his heaviness, I felt that I had to make a “perfect” choice (If there is such a thing). I considered a book that would be of interest to all kids his age. Every detail matters: I knew it should be a book that would not be too many pages. The font had to be a certain size; the cover had to be attractive. I chose three books; One with pictures – but not something which would make him feel it was for younger children. The second book had bigger spaces between the lines and the third with an interesting beginning – not much written but printed invitingly.
I put the books out on the table, including the ones I had chosen beforehand for the lesson. Discussed and looked at each one in turn. He then chose the one that started with half a printed page, and the subject seemed interesting to him.
How to start reading a book
Because he is not an avid reader and there is a difficulty for him, in a deep understanding and collecting of the information, I decided that I would start, and we would discuss a bit after each sentence. What were the important words or information in each sentence? Why did the author write this specific word – what did he mean, and what questions could we ask about the text so far.
After reading one and a half pages, I asked him to continue. But I told him we would stop every paragraph and make sure that we understood what it was all about. I often use the word “we” to make it a combined effort. I didn’t want the reading failure feeling but curiosity instead. Slowly his body relaxed, his actual reading became smooth and accurate. He started taking an interest in the story.
“Is this a true story?” he asked.
“I am not sure,” I answered. “But for me, the minute that I feel it is true for me and I feel part of a character, I continue believing it is true. Because it is true for me!”
Reaching our goal
Five minutes before the end of our session, I asked him to write one sentence that would remind him of what we had read. To my surprise, he wrote: “I think this story is written about me.” And shyly, he asked if he could take the book home to read.
I gave him the book with tears in my eyes. His feeling of reading failure was gone, and instead, there was a person who began to become curious about the mystery of books and what will come next. The feeling that overcomes me at moments like this goes beyond the victory over reading failure. It is about the pupil’s ability to adopt a different attitude toward failure. To understand that sometimes it is enough to change something in the setting and the way we do things, to be able to move from failure to success. I could already see how his body language had changed, and he had become taller and expressed more joy and confidence. and actually skipped down the stairs clutching a book in his hand.
What does reading failure mean to you?
I have a very basic belief. Everyone can learn. The only question is “how?”.
What is the connection between stress and reading, between our emotional state and our ability to read? Can children read as soon as they know how to recognize letters and read syllables? Stress and anxiety have a huge impact on our cognitive achievements, and they can very quickly change us from functioning pupils to dysfunctional students. As a teacher, part of my attention goes into teaching the child to let go of stress. Only then, when the child feels more relaxed, can we focus on the reading.
Often, pupils get stressed in exams, and then even students who know the material might fail. When teaching children to read, some physical exercises are added, to ensure their feeling of security and calmness. Stress and reading are not a great match, and it is crucial to make sure that the pupil is not stressed when teaching them to read.
Miracles or Process
If you read Elis’s story, you might remember how he changed his perception from a child who could not read to one that could read already after one lesson. His teacher was amazed at his reading ability- walking in as a non-reading student and walking out as a student reading almost at his age level. She immediately wrote to the school principal, advisor, and staff about what had occurred.
The next day, he came full of motivation to school to show everyone his newly gained skill. He was called into the room where the principal, advisor, and teachers were waiting. A book was put in front of him. To everyone’s disappointment, he went back to stage one of not being able to read one word! Stress and reading, you already guessed correctly, are not a good match.
Joy vs. Stress
Excitement turned into stress, and stress overtook his happiness. Joy is a positive element in our bodies, and stress quickly turns the positive into the negative. Again, the words that overcame him were “I cannot, I am a failure, etc. stress and reading joined together, and his reading went back to what it was before he came into the magical space of calm emotions and an ability of “I can read.” The teacher felt bad for him as well as for the staff who were full of anticipation. Of course, there was an atmosphere of overall disappointment.
Disappointment influences the way we react. Eli was angry and frustrated once again, and everything slid back into his inability to read even one word. When the teacher called to tell me about the incident, I felt my heart shouting- why on earth was he put into such a stressful situation? Why not let him learn to enjoy reading before asking him to perform in front of his teachers?
Negative decision making
Don’t put a pupil into a stressful situation, surrounded by grownups in a place where he had been a failure for so many years. In a situation like this, a student would need the confidence of a super-star to prove his abilities. The truth is that you, as an adult would need the same confidence to perform. Success is not something you achieve in one moment, it is an attitude and it results from many moments of doing and an inner feeling of achievement.
Discussing the situation with his teacher I explained that by putting him under the limelight in such a way, he was brought back into the same negative attitude, of being tested, and the feeling of failure is still very much in his memory and body. The knowledge that he cannot read is sadly very stressful and knowing that the only place he managed so far to read was when he was with me, this knowledge and feeling of achievement was still new and not fixed in his mind. The challenge now would be not only to teach him to read but, more importantly, to let him read in his classroom or at home. To teach him that reading is a joyful activity and HE COULD DO IT!
How to bring success into the classroom?
When the teacher called me for support, I guided her on separating between stress and reading. In other words, how to diminish stress. Firstly, I recommended changing the venue. Find a space that has no memory of failure. Let Eli even sit outside under a tree. It does not have to be a classroom situation, and it should be a place where he feels safe and unthreatened.
Remind him of the feeling of success. Ask him to think back to how excited he was when he could read and what a wonderful feeling it was to succeed. I asked his teacher to instruct him to tell himself that he could do it again, and if he managed once, there is no reason it cannot occur again.
Unlinking the stress from reading makes for a better start. I asked her to read him the first sentence or two, and then ask him to repeat, helping him get back his confidence and familiarity with the words once again and even sharing with him what he is about to read on the page so the reading would flow easier.
The teacher tried this, and it worked. He started reading once again – not as fluently as he did in the clinic surroundings. I explained to the teacher that school has its energies and influences on us all, and in a new environment, there are less stressful forces playing on our emotions. I was surprised to understand that such basic knowledge about the connection between stress and reading was missing, and I wondered how many pupils fail only because no one notices how stressed they are.
Stress plays a big part in the failure
Many things are stressful for a student who has difficulties—comparing himself to his friends who can manage everything easily—not understanding the method that is being taught. Not being able to go out of the classroom when he feels he needs a break. Not being accepted by others in the classroom. Not knowing what to do when he loses his concentration. This is just part of a list of things that are stressful and have a huge influence on the way we learn.
Negative emotions are a serious enemy in a time of trying to prove success to ourselves. If a child feels negative emotions, stress and difficulty in reading will link together, and we must find a way to guide the child toward the positive and let energies flow in the direction of hope and success.
It is essential, as a teacher, to take into account the child’s settings at their homes or school, as it might be that the place that was supposed to teach, in this case- the school, is one of the sources of feeling failure. In Eli’s case, it is important to note that the school’s intentions were trying to reach out to him and help. They did and still do make a major effort to teach him, including the teacher that comes to every lesson with him, the money the parents raised so he could come to private lessons, and the love and attention they direct at him. Now I am sure that they will learn how to invest their energies in a stress-free environment and have no doubt that Eli will be a reading student very soon and they will be proud of his and their achievements.
I have a very basic belief. Everyone can learn. The only question is “how?”.
When children come to my clinic with the question – how can I learn to read? I explain to them that everyone learns very differently, and there is no one method that is correct for everyone. Each child reads differently and learns differently, and therefore each reading problem will lead to different methods and ideas.
When Eli came to his first lesson with me, he didn’t ask – how can I learn to read. Instead, he started telling me that he could not read. When he left at the end of our one-hour session, he looked like he had eaten the most delicious ice cream; he was dancing while talking to the teacher who came with him; “Did you hear? I read. Did you see it? I can read. Bella made me read. She is a magician!”
He could not read
Eli is 10. He came to his first lesson with his teacher. Usually, the adults who accompany pupils are the parents and not the teachers. I was impressed by the strong connection between them. The teacher was also the one who contacted me by phone a few days earlier and said that she had heard about me, and after they had tried everything in school to help but weren’t succeeding, she felt she needed advice from an outside source.
The teacher told me by phone that Eli is intelligent and highly motivated but feels frustrated and an idiot because he could not read. At times he almost breaks the walls down. He is on Ritalin to help calm him down. He comes from a low-income earning family, and parents in the school had donated money to help pay for private tutoring.
It was impossible to say no, and I was curious to meet this child who touched the hearts of the entire school, and they had collected the money to help him.
Ritalin is being given too quickly
I had requested that he would come without Ritalin. I think Ritalin is being given too quickly to children to solve their reading and math problems without attention as to its impact. Ritalin doesn’t help the child explore their own unique way of learning. I believe it mainly helps the teacher to be able to handle the behavioral problem in a class of 30 and more pupils. When a child comes to our lessons with the question- how can I learn to read, and they have taken Ritalin the same day, I can see the drug’s effect, rather than the child, as is.
It was impressive that after 23 years of special education experience the teacher had come together with him.
I wondered what the problem could be that nobody had seemed to manage to find a solution after all these years. None of us would have believed that already after one lesson, the difference would be so dramatic.
When they had just arrived, Eli ran up the stairs without hesitation and, almost without breathing, started talking; “How can I learn to read? I need to know how to read like all the other children. Can you help me?” He was hyper, and I didn’t know if it was from excitement, fear, or not taking medication. It didn’t matter to me. He continued to talk rapidly. “I cannot write properly…I cannot read… My maths is not so good.” The minute that I could get a word in, I quietly said, “this room doesn’t want to listen or hear the word can’t. We only accept or even listen to words like ‘I want to improve or try. The best sentence that this room wants to hear is “I will try and will succeed.”
To put the signs together
Eli was right-brained dominant, which means that it was easier for him to see the whole picture or word. In Hebrew, the words have vowels under the letters. Lots of details for a right-brained person to deal with. Firstly, we did physical exercises to calm him down and get his brain working, and then I showed him flashcards with shapes and asked him to look and remember and draw on the board. It was fun for him, and already he was feeling a feeling of success that he could do it. He was sitting quietly and calmly on the chair—no sign of attention problems. I explained to him how to look at a word and put all the signs together. Obviously, when his mind was both active and calm, he managed to organize all the information and use what he has absorbed in the few years he sat in class. I then gave him a page with a short story, I told him the name of the story, and we discussed what it could be about. I wanted him to feel comfortable as much as possible before he read. He then took the page and started reading. Every few words, he looked at me and asked: “Did I really read correctly?”
“Of course,” I said quietly, containing my tears so as not to flow into a river. Eli’s teacher, sitting in the corner, looked at me aghast, shivering in amazement: “No-one will believe this. How did you do it? It was magical!”
Can the system change?
I felt lucky to have been able to connect the parts of all those years that he had been taught and help him to start reading. I felt lucky to have the beginning of the answer to the question: how can I learn to read. I felt lucky to have been part of a miracle of a child who couldn’t read when entering my clinic and leaving as a student that could. We will have to follow up the lesson, continue with the teaching, and get him up to his class standard, but the sentence “I cannot read” would not describe him anymore. He could now ask himself – how can I read better. His understanding and recall were perfect.
Besides feeling lucky, I also felt frustrated. How can it be that after five years of schooling and special education teaching, he was still not reading and that nothing had sunk into his brain? There are methods in the system, but the method doesn’t work for all. Eli had been taught reading as parts – meaning letters and vowels and not whole words. Instead of changing the method, the system wants to change the way a child naturally thinks. How many hours of frustration it would have saved if only the system had found joy and invested in the art of teaching and not only in the method. A pupil is not a method! One must be creative to change a method into the individual need of the pupil. We had achieved in one hour what was almost “wasted” teaching of so many lessons for so many years.
I have a very basic belief. Everyone can learn. The only question is “how?”.
Pupils today are sent for assessments when teachers have difficulty in teaching them. Usually, assessments are done by psychologists who do not have expertise in teaching. Assessments follow students for many years and emphasize a ‘learning disability” instead of ability and the support they need to improve their learning potential. But do assessments work?
Often pupils are referred to me after their assessments. They bring a file with names and definitions, and they expect me to follow what is written there. They are surprised each time I place the assessment aside and start by teaching them. I am interested in the process of learning rather than following terms and definitions. Do assessments work? Probably sometimes. However, from my experience as a teacher, there is a huge difference between teaching or defining a problem everyone knows exists.
You taught me 15 years ago
Doron called one day to ask if I could help him. He reminded me that I had been his teacher 15 years ago when he was in junior school. He is 22 now and about to register for university. Still, as being dyslectic, according to all the assessments, he already expected all the difficulties he was about to encounter and understood that he needed to improve his English.
“The only teacher I remember that ever managed to teach me to read was you” I first felt flattered and soon after frustrated. Can it be that in 15 years, he didn’t encounter more teachers that helped him read?
I scheduled for us a time and felt a sense of excitement as if I was to meet up with an old friend. The young man that stood at my door still had the same eyes as the child I remembered.
Dyslectic and dysgraphic
He sat down with a shy smile and said, “to this day, I don’t read, even in Hebrew!”
“Why not?” I asked.
“I’m dyslectic and dysgraphic,” he said pretty confidently. “I have been to many assessments, and they all diagnosed the same. Dyslexic and dysgraphic. I only read when I have no other choice.”
“But do assessments work? I asked him. What does it mean that you don’t read? I somehow remember that we were reading together?”
“I cannot read or write properly.” He automatically said again.
I told him that I was not too fond of all these concepts, and preferred if he would say to himself that it wasn’t easy to write or read rather than using those terms of cannot. I explained to the young man that he had become, that the assessments work sometimes, but they give him a title rather than investigate and discover together with him, how to read and how to find the best method to deal with reading. I put a book in front of him and asked him to read. To my surprise, his reading was accurate and fast.
“Your reading is perfect. Can you explain what happens when you read? Why do you believe that you are incapable of reading?
“I keep on starting a book and never finish. After two or three chapters, I am not sure what it is all about.”
“But that has to do with collecting information and not about the actual reading. If you don’t remember the details of characters, places, and plot, the page becomes a whole lot of letters and words without any meaning.” I then suggested he quickly recall the details at the end of each page he reads. I said that even if he doesn’t remember characters, he should write them down on a piece of paper and can always refer back to them.”
The following week, he arrived and admitted that I was correct. He realized that he could read, and the main difficulty was that he lost concentration after a few pages mainly because he couldn’t always remember who was who. It helped him to just jot down names and a word or two to remind him how they were connected to the story.
Learning is a process
So that is another story we must deal with. Concentration. We put our heads together to discover how Doron could keep his concentration level for a longer time. For me, this is what learning means rather than a label given in the assessment. Learning is a dynamic activity, and if I genuinely listen to the pupil, whatever difficulty he encounters and at whatever age, I can then seek methods to help him, rather than listening to his assessment. Instead of the “learning disability” label given so easily to pupils, I call it a “learning challenge’ – it is a challenge for pupils and teachers together. If one is assessed today, it doesn’t mean that he remains in the same situation all his life, and it is just a starting point for improvement and learning new strategies.
Do assessments work? As a teacher for many pupils, I rarely encountered an assessment that helped the pupil or me. From my experience, quite often, it is the opposite. It allows the student to use their title rather than being curious about finding his way to learn.
Doron came because he wanted to learn English. He has a small English vocabulary and has great difficulty in understanding and learning the rules of the different tenses. We are still in the process of finding the method that helps him best to learn and remember. It is a building process between us. We discuss what helps with the recall of rules and vocabulary. We have already discovered that he learns through hearing – not writing or reading. And so, we recorded the different rules of the different tenses and useful words to learn for vocabulary. His motivation is high, and we work as a team, which is a wonderful feeling for us both. I am positive that he will manage in university and that he will be able to read and understand English.
If he had only listened to the assessments he received and not looked for further help, he would continue to relate to himself as a person with reading problems and carry the dyslexic title along with him. If he continues and investigates his way of reading and learning, he will achieve the ability to study at university, but furthermore, he would gain curiosity about his own life. He would understand that a title might limit him and that there are endless ways to improve and learn.
I have a very basic belief. Everyone can learn. The only question is “how?”.
