MP says dyslexia is "cruel fictional disorder"

[mender]

Could you perform that miracle on my son, please?

~~ Paul

I'd love to but I doubt it would be that easy. It sounds like your son is making progress though, and thank you for the mnemonic about the greater than and less than signs. I always struggle with that!

DD, I'm not inclined to get into a protracted discussion. As you suspected, just venting. Personal opinion with no substance behind it. The school system has no problems that I know of. Sorry that I don't have the specifics that you are after. Sounds like you have it in hand.

 

[kerikiwi]

Another mnemonic for < > :
The big end points to the big number, the small end to the small number, so big,big,small,small.

I showed my daughter how to remember left and right : hold your hands up straight out in front of you with thumbs extended: the 'L' denotes the left hand. Quite useful, except she did it with palms facing her ...

 

[borealys]

Another mnemonic for < > :
The big end points to the big number, the small end to the small number, so big,big,small,small.

I showed my daughter how to remember left and right : hold your hands up straight out in front of you with thumbs extended: the 'L' denotes the left hand. Quite useful, except she did it with palms facing her ...

My first grade teacher told us that the < > signs were alligator jaws, and everyone knows that the alligator wants to eat the bigger number, because alligators are always hungry.

Funny how I never forgot that one.

Also, I remember my kindergarten teacher showing us how to distinguish b from d : hold your hands out in front of you and make circles with your thumbs and forefingers, with the other fingers sticking up, so that one forms a b shape and the other forms a d shape. Put them together and you have something shaped roughly like a bed. Since bed has a b at the beginning and a d at the end, it's easy to see which is which. (Wow, that takes a lot more space to try and describe when you can't just show it!)

 

[Darat]

Another mnemonic for < > :
The big end points to the big number, the small end to the small number, so big,big,small,small.

I showed my daughter how to remember left and right : hold your hands up straight out in front of you with thumbs extended: the 'L' denotes the left hand. Quite useful, except she did it with palms facing her ...

I'm right handed so the mnemonic "I write with my right hand" works for me, all you have to do is say/think that and go as if to pick up a pen. After awhile it becomes almost like a muscle twitch but sometimes you will still see me clenching my fingers on my right hand as I work it out. (A cousin who is left-handed uses "I don't write with my right hand" to the same effect).

 

[Dancing David]

DD, I'm not inclined to get into a protracted discussion. As you suspected, just venting. Personal opinion with no substance behind it. The school system has no problems that I know of. Sorry that I don't have the specifics that you are after. Sounds like you have it in hand.

I just have found most teachers to be using the standard, there are some who are crazy , as in any profession. So I was wondering about your use of 'pop psychology' more than anything else. In my district there is enough in the curriculum to do without any extra room. So I just always follow up, specifics vary and lots of schools violate the laws and guidelines at any given moment.

NCLB statistics are part of district PR and widely available, the statistics about the demographics are always very telling. In my employer's district we have so many issues that it boggles the mind. besides the issues of poverty and lack of resources, the second biggest impactor is that we have very low unemployment in my county. So people from all sorts of areas move here on a regular basis. NCLB does not have any sort of mechanism for tracking and weighting it.

The biggest issue that i see in education is the gross misfunding, first off in Illinois the funding streams are archaic and a mess. Secondly there is absolutely no extra support for the 'slow learner' those with an IQ below average and above an IQ of 70, so 15%-25% of students are falling behind at all times and will never catch up. Then there is no support in my district for many learning disabled kids, it is payed lip service but that is it,

Especially dyslexia. My employer, which is a progressive district has NO support services for dyslexia, teachers with training will help the kids in special ed, but no formal system is in place.

Then there is the issue of how people who have the resources to pay for private services often demand the most from the public sector.

 

[tkingdoll]

I'm right handed so the mnemonic "I write with my right hand" works for me, all you have to do is say/think that and go as if to pick up a pen. After awhile it becomes almost like a muscle twitch but sometimes you will still see me clenching my fingers on my right hand as I work it out. (A cousin who is left-handed uses "I don't write with my right hand" to the same effect).

I have a weird mental block with left and right. I use my knife and fork in the opposite hands to most people, but I pick them up by instinct. So if you said to me 'which hand do you usually have your fork in?' I couldn't tell you, even by imagining myself picking them up or miming it.

Equally, I really struggle with figuring out other people's left or right. Even if I imagine them as a mirror image of me or imagine they're behind me or whatever, I have problems sorting out what their left is.

I'm fine with my own right and left though, I know which is which and I can turn to directions etc, but struggle to project it.

 

[mender]

From the sounds of it, we have much better funding here, and a lot less issues to deal with. The local demographic is such that adverse effects from experimentation are minimal. As a result, it seems (to me at least) that the cirriculum is "played with" a lot more as well. I find this quite aggravating.

DD, it sounds like you are a lot closer to the front lines than I am. My apologies for not taking that into account. That would place my opinions and observations in the "whining" category by comparison. Keep up the good work, every student deserves the best education we can provide.

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Another mnemonic for < > :
The big end points to the big number, the small end to the small number, so big,big,small,small.

We use this, too, but I'm not sure it works for my son.

~~ Paul

 

[Soapy Sam]

I was wondering how it's even possible to have a mnemonic for < .
Then I realised I was thinking about abbreviations. (DUH!)

One problem I had with maths , even at a very elementary stage, was that I couldn't "read it".
I still can't. I have a high school maths book in which symbols such as "<" are scored out and the words "is less than" written in very small below the line.
I'm not dyslexic, but I assuredly have some form of picture / symbol blindness.

Or I'm just a bit dim. Or both.

 

[69dodge]

< looks like L, for "less."

No, no, L is for "larger."

 

[Dancing David]

From the sounds of it, we have much better funding here, and a lot less issues to deal with. The local demographic is such that adverse effects from experimentation are minimal. As a result, it seems (to me at least) that the cirriculum is "played with" a lot more as well. I find this quite aggravating.

DD, it sounds like you are a lot closer to the front lines than I am. My apologies for not taking that into account. That would place my opinions and observations in the "whining" category by comparison. Keep up the good work, every student deserves the best education we can provide.

Nope, i just don't see that much pop psychology. I am a support person, I am not a teacher. the kids like computers and most adults like the application support.

There is no need to say that you are whining, I am just curious because there are unsound practices out there.
Curriculum is a strange beast, first off there is the national push and then there is the state and local. I get to make cool web pages to help the kids (just little linky things)and help them navigate around a computer. Unfortunately there is a barrage of standards to pass. And then the percentage of low students and the one to five in every class that is seemingly disruptive.
I am not happy that my son who is in eigth grade has his class time disrupted on a regular basis as well.

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

No, no, L is for "larger."

You bastard! It's a good thing such tricks only have to work, they don't have to be bulletproof.

~~ Paul