[NLA] Phoneme Awareness is the Key

[Awilderast@aol.com]

Tom,

Spelling does not cause dyslexia. Those who have dyslexia also have problems 
in other naming tasks, dyslexia is not a problem only with reading, though 
the name says it is.  There are at least two neural conditions that result in 
what we call dyslexia, one is an inability to hear letters within words that 
last a short time (Tallal), another is a lag between processing in the visual 
cortex and its organization into words in the frontal cortex (Wolf).  There 
are many other neural conditions which result in what we call dyslexia 
(Rose). 

It is easier to match sound/symbol relationships in Italian because these are 
more regular.  English orthography and how it relates to sound is more 
complex, hence the high number that Reid Lyon ( he funds a lot of research) 
gives for children who do not read well.  When they are well-taught, they can 
read well.  Since 1975 I have heard the 3-5% dyslexic learners used by a 
number of careful resaerchers and teachers.  The difficulty has always been 
how to understand the experience of a large number of children who are poor 
readers.  If this can be understood, then adult literacy teachers  have a 
much greater opportunity of successs with adult learners.

I think what you are describing is what Daphne referred to, in literacy, the 
rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  I am also referring to terrible 
inequities in funding of public education.

Andrea
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