[NLA] Practitioner-based research long

[Sioux Falls Area Literacy Council]

Good food for thought here, Andrea.  Thanks for the effort to do something
with my post so late at night.  It's appreciated.

Your thought for the evening shall be my "thought for the weekend" when I
recognize our country's being.
You wrote:
"Thought for the evening:  people who don't show respect also don't know
that
 it's all luck, where you end up in life, and what journeys you have getting
 there."

So much truth.  No fiction.  Thank you.  I needed to read that thought
because I indeed feel as though I am among "the fortunate ones" - Good Lady
Luck smiled on me many a time throughout my long life, bringing me to this
place.

Regarding the color overlay thing --
I was amazed that it worked because I poo-poo'ed the whole thing at first.
Now if a learner says (during the registration process) that they were
diagnosed as a kid as having LD, I use 4 different colors to do the reading
assessment, allowing them to tell *me* which color is the most effective for
them.  I've gotten different reactions from every learner.

The reaction that took me aback came from a mid-20 year old woman whose
smile lit the room when I laid a color down which fit her needs.  Big-eyed,
she exclaimed:  "I can't beLIEVE it!  For the first time the words stay on
the *page*!!!"  When asked what she meant, she used her hand to gesture and
said, "The words went that way." (off to her right).

I understand that the tinted lens in prescription lens is part of a therapy
which is offered by some professionals.  Does anybody else know further
information?  So. Dakota is like the widest of deserts when it comes to
services for the LD.  I know that the Rochester Reading Center in Minnesota
exists and that there is another facility in Omaha, Nebraska, but don't
really, truly know what the colored lens do.  Is this a:  "How do learners
read?"

You are right about using a magnifying glass to scrutinize research
perveyors.  It's maybe similar to buying something - like the best new car
or best grill or best washer.  Anything with "outstanding features" -
correct?

Allow me to think hard over my vacation weekend about questions I'd like to
find answers for through research.  I thought I put several of them right in
the email you just read, but allow me to gather them in a "short list".  But
not today.  While you answered in the late evening, I am racing to beat the
postal worker to the postal box for pick up of several letters before I go
home from work.

Thanks for your response and for reading it to its end.

Happy Fourth Everyone!
Nancy Hansen
sfliteracy at mcleodusa.net
Sioux Falls Area Literacy Council


----- Original Message -----
From: <AWilder106 at aol.com>
To: <nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 2002 9:21 PM
Subject: Re: [NLA] Practitioner-based research long


> Nancy,
>
> What an effort!  No way can I reply as you deserve at this late hour, as
you
> know I keep farmer's hours.
>
> I first ran into the color overlay at a conference this spring, it had to
do
> with providing a focus for vision, so letters wouldn't wiggle.  The
> patient/student (she was both) reported that a yellow overlay, I think it
> was, stopped the wiggling, It may have been blue.  Anyway, she switched to
> yellow (or blue) tinted glasses.
>
> I just don't think teachers like yourself have time for the large research
> projects, when would you teach?  Maybe others can do both at the level you
> work--intense, productive, multitasking all the way-- but I don't see how.
I
> still think partnerships are the way to go, people in the field, and
people
> in the academy--or consultants, etc.
>
> You know, research is supposed to answer questions--what would you like to
> know?
>
> Check out researchers as to previous studies, educational background,
> sponsors, mentors, and gut instinct.  There are sharks in every
profession,
> and bad apples, too.  My academic advisor taught me a lot about respect,
> mainly through her respect for me during very frazzling and difficult
years.
> Thought for the evening:  people who don't show respect also don't know
that
> it's all luck, where you end up in life, and what journeys you have
getting
> there.
>
> Andrea
>
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