Why Can't Johnny Read?

You've tried everything. Your child's teacher has tried all that she knows to do, and still--Johnny can't read. Why is this? How does this still happen in this modern age? Is there anything that can be done?

There are three basic reasons why a child, or adult for that matter, struggle with reading. It all has to do with the brain and how it processes information. In order to read, we use auditory processing, visual processing, and language processing. If one or more of these areas isn't working properly, the student will struggle.

The good news is that we have so much more brain research at our fingertips than ever before. We are learning that the medical profession and the education profession must work more closely together. Where the trouble lies sometimes is in the lack of knowledge by either party.

Let me give you an example: If Suzy is struggling, sometimes an incorrect label is placed on her. I just worked with a student recently who both the school and the doctors said that she had ADHD. What was her underlying problem? She had an auditory and visual processing issue. Some people call this dyslexia, which by definition it is. I like to dig further and find out what type of dyslexia it is. This is why I prefer to look at the type of processing problem it is. This student came to Excel Achievement for help with dyslexia, and is now reading at grade level. Does she have ADHD? Possibly, but we also know that many students who predominately use the right portion of their brain tend to fall into this category. We also know that student's with dyslexia tend to use more of the right side of their brain than the left side.

Let's discuss processing. Sometimes we are told that we are auditory or visual learners. These are great labels, but they really don't tell us a lot. When discovering the learning style of a child, I prefer to use Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. These are far more detailed and tell us so much more. (Please see the next blog for further information on these.) This brings us back to processing. I will describe each type of processing and the warning signs of each.

Auditory Processing: This is how the brain processes sounds. It has nothing to do with whether a child can hear or not. In fact, many children with auditory processing problems pass hearing tests with flying colors. People who struggle with auditory processing struggle more with the discrimination of sounds. For example, the "e" sound and the "i" sound may sound identical. "Ar" and "er" may also sound the same. Early warning signs of this are children who struggle with rhyming or the correct pronunciation of words. Children in elementary school with this problem really struggle with phonics (the sounding out of words).

Visual Processing: This is how the brain processes what it sees. Children with this issue may have 20/20 vision, but their brain takes information in a distorted manner. Depending on the type of visual processing issue, children may flip letters or letters or words may even move on the page for them. It is because of early studies with visual processing problems that many people think that this is what dyslexia is. They assume that if their child isn't writing their letters backwards that it isn't dyslexia. This just isn't true. Dr. Terri Bellis's research shows that over 30% of dyslexic children have an auditory processing problem. Therefore, children with dyslexia have a visual, auditory, or language processing problem, and many have a combination. Early warning signs of a child with visual processing problems often aren't seen until elementary school--where a child is asked to read and write. These children may reverse letters in their reading and writing. (Please note that if a child "writes letters backwards" before grade 2, this is developmentally appropriate and not necessarily a sign of a visual processing problem.) Another warning sign is that these children may skip words as they read--especially the "small" words such as "of", "the", "it", etc. They may also insert words or letters that aren't there. They may struggle with tracking and miss entire lines of text.

Language Processing: This is how the brain processes language. These children can speak just fine, but may struggle with getting all of their thoughts out into words. Because this is difficult for them, they may really struggle with writing. Getting words from their head onto the paper is very difficult for these students. In reading, students may be able to decode words just fine, but they really struggle with the comprehension of text.

How can we help students who struggle in one or more of these areas? First and foremost we must know that these children are bright and do want to learn. It is simply that one or more of their processing skills aren't working correctly. It is our job to find out which processing problem it is and then use a correct intervention for that specific processing issue. Once implementing an intervention, we must watch the student closely to find out if it's working. There are many interventions out there, and some of them work better than others. At Excel Achievement Center, we are continually improving our interventions based on the progress that the student is making.

Why Excel?

This is the first time that I am blogging on the advantages of Excel Achievement Center. Normally, I stick to topics about education and ways to improve a child's learning within the classroom setting. Today, I've decided to discuss a system that is already in place. A system that works and a system that is perhaps one of the strongest I've seen.

Some of you may be saying, "Of course you feel that way, it is your business." This is of course a very valid point. My rebuttal to this is that I feel the way that I do based on the results that we get at Excel Achievement. Because this company is so "results driven," we do not come to the end of a tutoring session and say, "Whoops, sorry...that didn't work out." In fact, of the 3-4 cases that we've had during our five years in business that we didn't help a student get to grade level; we went into "research mode" to find out why we didn't. In all cases we called the families and let them know of the answers that we found. The cases are as follows:

Case one was a sixth grade boy who was struggling in math. We used every technique that we knew from hands-on techniques to techniques that work with students with slower processing. We were unable to help this student get to grade level. Because of this, we continued our research and now have implemented "right-brained" math techniques that work beautifully! We now not only help students get to grade level, but have had several literally go from the bottom of their class to the top of their class. As for the original student of whom we couldn't help at first, we did offer for him to come back for a summer free of charge so that he could benefit from these new techniques.

Case two was a second grade boy who was struggling with reading. He was enrolled in our dyslexia program-- a program that had given us great results 100% of the time previously and was just not doing the trick with this student. Again, we went into research mode and discovered several new techniques to help children with visual processing problems. We also learned of a new test that gives us a deeper look at auditory processing issues. We called this student back and tested him free of charge. We also referred him to a visual processing specialist.

Case three was student with severe dysgraphia. We used all of the latest researched methods, and were unable to get her to grade level. This is a case that we are still researching because the lack of research available in this area.

Why am I sharing with you the cases that we couldn't help? I share this because Excel Achievement prides itself on working very hard to stand by its clients. We know that while we can never claim to be perfect, we do work very hard to meet the individual needs of our clients. When people ask me how many clients that I have here at Excel Achievement Center, I respond by saying, "As far as you are concerned, we have one student--your child."