I was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child. I went through countless reading programs and my parents to me to multiple doctors to figure out how to help me with dyslexia. Last year, at the age of 33, l graduated with a masters in speech sound disorders. Next month I will graduate from a clinical fellow to a full on SLP. I say all this because dyslexia is a phonemic sound disorder. Teaching kids to "guess" what they think the word is- is like teaching kids to become dyslexic. As a dyslexic student, I would "guess the word. I would not decode it, which lead to me not reading the word. Which then lead to reading comprehension difficulties. I am beyond happy to hear that people are starting to do their own research when it comes to reading programs because at the end of the day if we want our students to learn, to be better - we as educators need to DO better. I LOVE how this episode shines a light on the fact that children want to read but don't because of their struggles with decoding. I hope that more people listen to the science.

Awesome series, I am dyslexic and hated to read. My third grade teacher identified the issue and we worked on phonics and within six months I was reading everything in sight. Schools do not teach phonics, reading, and comprehension. Your series was on point and reinforced the need for phonics. Have you talked to Mississippi Department of Education? Their national test scores went from almost dead last to the top. I’m 72 years old and I cannot get over the number of kids that cannot do simple math or read.

😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

I found this by happenstance when I saw an article about Steubenville’s success in a newspaper I couldn’t access. Knowing of the town via the Catholic university there, I was intrigued and thought, there must be a podcast about this. And this is it! I’m a behavior analyst and although I don’t teach reading, direct instruction is a behavioral pedagogy which we learned in our pedagogy class in grad school. My husband and his entire family is dyslexic. My son who is in second grade, has lots of difficulty with reading and writing. He goes to catholic school, which uses lots of phonics based instruction. I was actually upset they didn’t use leveled readers when he started there because that’s what I had known the public schools used when I worked in them. I now know why they don’t use them. However some teachers there have worked in public school and do inadvertently use cuing methods. I was wondering why he kept looking at the picture! He enjoyed listening to this podcast with me. I’m looking into getting certified in Orton Gillingham. My cousin is in college for her teaching degree at a state university in MA and she sent me a pic of the first chapter in her teaching reading to ELs text…. It said look at the picture. Ugh! Still lots of work to do. Thank you for all your hard work detailing this national tragedy.

Wow, I have never left a review for any podcast, ever. I scoured the internet for a place to thank you!! By the 6th episode I was in tears. Having 2 struggling readers this podcast put everything into place. Our kids have had incredible teachers who have loved and supported them but it just wasn’t working! Both of our kids have IEP’s. I was going through old paperwork last week noticing that in K/1st our kids were “on level” but by 2nd 3rd grade were so far behind I would lay awake at night worrying. For our daughter reading finally clicked around the end of 5th grade. Our son is still struggling. We are doing dyslexia tutoring and it finally seems to be helping. THANK you for this work. Our massive district (Indianapolis Public Schools) changed the reading curriculum last year. Hoping other children won’t have the same struggles moving forward.

The teachers trusted authority without question. Those that wanted change eventually quit because there was/is no support from the decision makers. Critical thinking skills and intuition need support, autonomy, and choice. Every person deserves this. I wonder how many adults are relying on images for information these days….

I had two different friends share this podcast with me. I took my children out of public school and began educating them at home several years ago. My oldest told me he was not really taught letter sounds… fast forward to today- all of my children are readers today. So eye opening…

Fascinating report. We all learned a second language in high school or college and were told how the letters “sound” different in the new language. I hope she investigates math next. How can college students not know basic math facts?

I was astounded to hear how reading is taught, has been taught and how those ways have ruined lives. I recommend this to every parent and teacher. I was near tears hearing what harm was done in the name of well intended teaching. We need to go back to teaching the sounds letters make and not discard the phonics. Amazing series. Thank you.

This entire series should have been boiled down to 3 or 4 shows — at the most. It’s packed with the needless quotes and pointless puffery.