Learning to read – One Vowel at a Time

By Sheryl Bennett-Wilson

“She’s just not applying herself.” “He needs to pay attention in class.”

Those are probably two of the most common remarks that teachers make to parents when their children aren’t doing well. And while this inability to pay attention can be a passing phase, it isn’t so for quite a few children and what happens to them? Just ask Minna Trower.

Minna, a learning disabilities specialist, has in-depth knowledge of learning problems for not only does she have the academic background but more significantly, she has learning disabilities herself. Learning disabilities are a neurological condition that affects the neuro-transmission of messages from the senses such as the ears and eyes to the appropriate centers in the brain. Minna, for example, had considerable difficulty processing auditory information, especially in her formative years. So even though her ears functioned well, the messages her brain received lacked clarity. It was as if she was listening to a radio that wasn’t quite tuned to the station. This effect resulted in significant problems with her language development, articulation, reading and writing.

Luckily for Minna her disorder didn’t affect her learning abilities in all subjects as she did well in math and science. She also did very well in sports. In fact, sports became a pivotal point in her life as not only did the joy of participation release some of the school related stress and frustration but her accomplishments built confidence and earned the respect of her peers – factors which led to the enhancement of her self-esteem. And since self-esteem is not restricted just to the situation which nurtured it, it gradually extended to many other aspects of her life. For Minna, sports allowed her to develop her potential.

Eventually Minna did become a proficient reader and this occurred when she was about 20 years old. She attacked her problems with determination. Fortunately she fell upon some techniques that proved to be invaluable. One was to read aloud as this allowed her to catch misread words. The rationale here is if the sounds the ears hear don’t match the letters the eyes see, the brain signals a glitch and thereby prompts the rereading of the sentence. Another technique she used was to finger point as this prevented her eyes from darting about and catching a word from the line above or below and incorporating it into the sentence being read – an occurrence which isn’t that uncommon among people with learning disabilities. Once the mechanics of reading were in hand, her focus turned to comprehension – the essence of reading. To accomplish this she would ask herself questions which addressed both fact gathering and critical thinking and et voila – proficiency in reading developed. And, with time her need to read aloud and finger point slipped away. However, to this day she still finds it difficult to write and she often struggles to find the right words. Yet Minna went on to get a Bachelor of Education Degree, a Diploma in Special Education and a Diploma in Physical Education from McGill University.

So what are some of the clues that your child might have this neurological disorder or more specifically a neuro-transmission problem? Minna advises to check for the following:
• information processing problems – difficulty with language development, reading, writing and/or math
• a short attention span
• memory problems
• lack of organizational skills
• poor gross and/or fine motor skills
• behavioural problems
• problems with emotional and social development
• an aversion to school for no apparent reason (the child is not being bullied and has good social skills)

It’s important to note that not all of the symptoms occur in each case and that the degree of intensity of a symptom can vary from one individual to another.

Penny and Kelly’s Story

Clinical Psychologist Penny R* and her husband were delighted when their daughter Kelly* started reading phonetically as a pre-schooler. Kelly was keen to start school and early indications suggested her IQ to be above average. Penny’s dealings with high school students in her practice had given her a keen insight into how a learning disability can be overlooked. She was relieved then when Kelly went off to school and everything seemed to be fine.
Kelly loved school at first, but by the end of senior kindergarten she would come home distressed and frustrated. She didn’t want to go into Grade One at the end of the year because she thought it would be too hard. Kelly advanced through to Grade Two, but the work she handed in was riddled with spelling mistakes. Her teachers kept telling her “you just have to work harder” or “you just don’t want to please me.” Kelly grew more and more frustrated. She loved reading and stories and had a great imagination, but she just couldn’t keep up with the rest of the class.

“These kids spend so much energy trying to fit in; they are often exhausted at the end of the day.” Penny R.
Luckily, Kelly was quite articulate about her problem, “Mom, I just can’t learn the sounds.” That’s when Penny realized that Kelly was finding vowels and other non-phonetic sounds very difficult. She couldn’t differentiate individual sounds. After being unable to get Kelly’s teachers to realize that there was a problem, Penny pulled Kelly out of school and decided to teach her at home.

Penny soon realized that Kelly had a severe disability that applied to all non-phonetic sounds. She came up with a game to help her daughter learn. She called it ‘Word Shooting’. Penny surmised that if she could learn one sound properly the others would come more quickly. She worked on one sound at a time and didn’t mix it up with other non-phonetic or vowel sounds until Kelly had one down pat. Penny made it fun and a little competitive. The laughing and winning really helped Kelly and gave her back some of her self esteem, much to Penny’s relief.

“Some of these kids know there is something wrong, but they’re not skilled enough to put their finger on it.” Penny R.
Penny knew from her own patients that kids can have self-esteem issues. These kids self- humiliate because they see they can’t do something. For many of these kids, dreams get derailed early in their school career. Penny says that if they are trying to learn a second language or are in some kind of an immersion program, the problem can be even more difficult.

From her own experience, Penny says that many of the programs geared to help these kids are part of the problem because they’re keyed into the school curriculum and often it’s the curriculum that’s the difficulty for these kids. She thinks programs like “Darwin” are helpful because they focus on other areas and issues.

“We’re becoming more knowledgeable that learning disabilities can be fairly specific for some people and that they put a lot of energy into trying to hide it or cope around it.” Penny R.

Kelly is happy to be back in a regular classroom. She understands the problems she has, and Penny had a long talk with Kelly’s teachers. The teachers, now that they are aware of the issues, aren’t as concerned. They understand why her spelling will always be spotty, but realize that she is articulate, has good ideas and is great at conceptualization. Kelly has gone from wondering if she even had the skills to be a waitress to thinking about being a teacher or following in mom’s footsteps and be a psychologist.

Susan and Terry’s Story

Susan M* knew from an early age that her son, Terry*, showed an acute sensitivity to noise. He would be easily distracted by sounds – like the sweeping of a broom, or running water – sounds that most of us are able to tune out. Susan thought he would out-grow these distractions. She also knew that Terry had some difficulty in social situations. He would often speak out of context, or speak too much or too loudly. There was nothing that she could exactly pinpoint as a disability besides, Terry had been tested as gifted and academically he did quite well. He had a high degree of motivation to learn and do well at school, so Susan and her husband were puzzled by frequent teacher’s notes about a failure to pay attention.

“We recognized that there was something “amiss” but had difficulty pinpointing it. Because he was managing academically, we just ignored it for years.” Susan M.

Everything changed when Terry went from a quiet private school to a large class at a public school. Susan remembers him coming home frustrated and upset. He was becoming more anxious and insecure about social interactions. Susan thought that some of it was attributable to a new school and teen angst. Terry blurted out, “Mom, I can hardly hear what my friends are saying in the hallway and I know I’m missing instructions from the teacher in class.” Terry finally admitted to his parents that he’d had trouble with his hearing for sometime, but didn’t want to tell them because he thought he’d have to wear a hearing aid. Susan immediately had Terry run through a series of tests. His auditory testing was normal, but other tests revealed a central auditory processing problem.

Terry was relieved and so were his parents. His auditory processing problem made it extremely difficult for him to focus on conversations in a group. He was unable to screen out background noise in the classroom. A tapping pencil in class would be enough to distract him from the teacher’s instructions. Susan realized that she and her husband hadn’t recognized these behaviours because they usually interacted in a one-to-one basis with their son.
Terry is now much more open with his friends and teachers about his problem. In conversations he tells people that he has a hearing problem. Susan has talked to his teachers so that he gets a desk closer to the front of the classroom and Terry writes his exams in a quiet classroom – no distractions. Terry just finished his year with excellent marks.

*For privacy their names have been changed

So is there help?

Yes. “Darwin the Dragon Reading Program” was developed by Minna to provide parents and tutors with tools that help children learn to read. This innovative Program is applicable to reading problems of various origins (including dyslexia) and students of all ages. It was designed to be taught by individuals who lack a background in teaching and to accommodate this, the Guide contains clear teaching instruction, detailed lesson plans, tutoring training techniques and a workbook that reinforces the skills presented. As the Program is comprehensive, it not only teaches the mechanics of reading but also teaches comprehension – the essence of reading.

In addition, the Guide presents discussions on the nature of learning disabilities, homework, study skills, promotion as well as social and emotional development – areas which frequently require attention when there are significant academic difficulties.

Minna points out that there is a misconception (one held by more teaching staff than one would like to think) that students with learning disabilities are intellectually slow. This is definitely not the case. Actually one of the criteria of the diagnosis is that one must be of at least average intelligence. In fact, there are many individuals with learning disabilities who obtain university degrees and lead successful professional lives. To further complicate matters, once the label of slowness has been bestowed, these students then appear to be fair game for an occasional hurtful remark. The following two anecdotes from Minna’s school days address these issues of intelligence and humiliation well – both experiences occurred when she was twelve years old.

One day the principal came to listen to us read. Because I couldn’t decode words phonetically, I got stuck on a simple word. So he had me place my index finger on my temple and give the abbreviation for mountain. The letters are M.T. but their sounds produce the word ‘empty’. As this was done in front of the whole class, you can imagine how degrading it was.

Now on the other side of the coin, once the teacher asked a question to which no one was responding. I knew the answer, but being terribly shy, I was reluctant to speak up. However, the teacher was getting upset so I raised my hand. Everyone was stunned to hear me present the answer. In fact, because of that reaction, I remember the answer to this day – more than 50 years later.

The symptoms of this disorder show up early in life. Often they are ignored. Parents sometimes assume that their child will outgrow his/her problems. At times doctors fail to recognize the symptoms and consequently don’t request diagnostic testing. Teachers lack the resources or time to deal with a student who seems to be just ‘goofing off’. Needless to say, without appropriate remediation, these students flounder.

There are several possible causes of learning disabilities and the two prime ones are genetics or problems arising from the birthing process. Whatever the cause, Minna Trower believes that with guidance, family support and a program like hers – one that has already helped dyslexic students, slow learners, high functioning intellectually handicapped individuals as well as an individual who suffered a severe brain injury – parents can put this disorder into perspective and their children can learn to adapt and thus develop into well-adjusted, productive members of society.

For more information on Minna’s Program, go to www.abcofreading.com.