Do YOU Worry About (Your) Kids (or Adults!) Who Struggle with Reading and Writing? I Worry Too, So I Called Upon Some Neurons!

My first book Calling All Neurons! How Reading and Spelling Happen will be published this spring! You will be able to find it on Amazon and all your favorite online book retailers too.

SO I WROTE THIS BOOK…WHY?

Well….

It is my belief that all children have the right to be taught literacy skillls. According to literacy gurus, 95% of all human beings have the capability to learn to read and write (may not be at the high school or college level, but certainly learn to read and write at a basic level). Sadly, that is not the case, as only 33% of children today read proficiently for their grade placement in the United States. Even more sadly, 70% of all adults in the United States who are in prison are considered illiterate. And even more sadly, most adults have literacy skills equivalent to typical 5th grade who read proficiently. All of this exists despite educational initiatives and monies spent on curricula and professional development for teachers.

This is a matter of educational equity, for minority students, who have even lower levels of educational achievement.

Do you have children and/or students who struggle to attain literacy skills?

WHAT WAS MY INSPIRATION?

When I was a young mother, the now out-of-print book entitled How You Talk by Paul Showers (copyright 1992). arrived as a gift to my young children. This was such an interesting book to me as an educator of students who struggled to learn to read, write and spell. Upon reading this book to my own children, I gave the content of this book a good deal of thought.

You see, the book was a lesson to children on how the mouth, vocal cords, throat (and yes, even the nose is involved!) move to make the sounds we use when ‘we talk’ and develop oral language skills. Just look at several of the pictures!

I read this book to the students (yes, students of all ages!) I tutored as one of their first lessons. That’s because learning to read and spell is dependent on learning to, well, speak (and hear others speak). Oral language precedes written language…always. Oftentimes, They found it quite interesting. I also read it to the teachers I taught to help the adults understand these concepts.Teachers, too, were interested and many had never really thought about sound production as it relates to teaching reading and spelling.

“Learning to read and spell is dependent on learning to, well, speak. Oral language precedes written language.“

~Lori Josephson

And then I got to thinking….why not extend the concept of ‘how you talk’ to ‘how you read’ and ‘how you spell’? I sat on this idea as I worked in the field literally for decades. And finally, I had the brain space to bring this idea to fruition by writing this book.

I have spent my entire career trying to ensure the best possible educational outcomes for students, as well as educate their families and teachers in many states. It is time to bring the knowledge about how the human brain ‘learns to read and spell’ directly to children ages 8 and up, to parents/caregivers who are mystified by the process (this is especially true if their children struggle), and to teachers (or busy parents) who may not have the energy to read the vast body of existing brain research explaining how the brain learns to read and spell.

WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS?

Well, the characters are “the neurons” themselves. I created these fun creatures to help explain the complicated process of how the brain learns to read and spell in a more simple, fun, and engaging way. Many thanks to my illustrator, Jamie Sale, who is bringing my ideas to life! The neurons are so cute, if I do say myself!

The human brain actually creates new pathways to activate reading and spelling. Our brains were never ‘hard wired’ to read and spell as they are for oral language. Oral language develops naturally—but not so for the printed word.

These neuron characters must work together to create the new neuronal pathways…and miraculously, most people are able to be successful when taught the most efficient way, which involves learning and developing:.

• speech sounds of the native language
• the ability to blend individual speech sounds in order to read
• the ability to segment individual speech sounds in order to spell
• the letters which represent those speech sounds
• the development of sound/symbol associations
• practice with the code of the sound/symbol associations
• automatic recognition of many, many words over time
• practice with phrasing to develop reading fluency
• correct handwritten letter formations
• vocabulary, including the ‘meaning parts’ of words (for example, that adding an ‘s’ or ‘es’ to the ends of words means “more than one”)
• background knowledge about the world

You may have read or heard about The Science of Reading in the news, as it’s been on the educational forefront for a good while. Thankfully, many states are embracing the concepts aligned with The Science of Reading to the point of mandating curricula usage to teach literacy in accordance with SoR (as Science of Reading is commonly known). To find out more about SoR, go to my website, lorijosephson.com.

WHY SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

Wait until my next blog when I will share more about my ‘neuron’ characters and why they will help you to understand the reading and writing process! Feel free to comment and send questions! I look forward to hearing from YOU!