Hello, I’m new to the forum. I have a 16 month old which I am starting on reading and math with LR and LM. Then someone told me the whole word method can cause dyslexia in normal children. Is there such a risk?
Hi - I specialize in working with students with dyslexia. These students sometimes attempt to memorize every word in a language (whole word approach) as a coping mechanism. The real weakness is typically in phonemic awareness skills and auditory discrimination (which are not taught in isolation in a phonics approach or whole words approach). Most students just pick up phonemic awareness skills by listening to others talk, they also just pick up reading/spelling rules through repetition. A student with dyslexia needs to be taught these rules systematically. Your friend is misinformed. Also, you can teach phonics when your little one is a little older and a little more logical if you’d like. LR doesn’t preclude that and I def. recommend it.
On that note though, i don’t like how your baby can read shows the shape of the words without the word in it, as looking at the shape of a word is not a very effective way to recognize it and causes mistakes. That being said I’ve NEVER heard tell of ybcr being associated with dyslexia or whole word approach.
Also, i teach sight words to every student in a whole word manner, as it helps up their reading vocabulary while working on the more slow going auditory discrimination, phonemic awareness and spelling/reading rules.
Dyslexia is most often associated with reading and writing however it goes much deeper then that. People that have it severely are affected in all parts of life. It is not a reading disorder as much as it is a disorder of the way the neurons fire in the brain. Some neurons may be “talking” to one side of the brain but the other side will not “talk” back. This can affect them in all aspects of life but since many letters and words look similar this affects them the most. The most common thing in dyslexia is mistaking a b,p,q due to the brain not being able arch the neurons to talk to each other. These people many time will have a talent for math because they are better then most at concentrating for one side of the brain. So you see its not something you “develop” it is something you are born with. By the way dyslexia is not a bad thing. Some people who have it are(were) Albert Einstein, George Burns, Hans Christian Andersen and Alexander Graham Bell.