Does Your Child(ren) or Student(s) Struggle With Reading? I’m So Passionate About Helping Kids Learn To Read and Spell, I Wrote A Book!

WHY DO I SUGGEST STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE READING/SPELLING/WRITING BRAIN PROCESSES?

Let’s talk about this phrase: “Knowledge is POWER.” Don’t you agree? The more students of any age know abour how a task is accomplished, it’s got to have a positive outcome.

Children and parents alike are often confused and upset when things aren’t going well for the kids at school. If you or anyone you know has experienced struggles related to mastering the written word, you can relate. Many of the struggling students I’ve had the privilege of teaching have told me of the trauma school days engendered for them. One student in particular would literally come to my office telling me, “there are only 179 days of school left” on the very first day of school, religiously continuing ‘the countdown’. Others had upset stomachs, headaches, and yes, many tears. Many struggling students keep it together during the school day, only to have a major meltdown upon home arrival after long and stressful days. Many of their parents shared their angst with me due to the struggles they had getting their kids’ homework completed–often taking hours–far more hours than one would think necessary.

“The negative consequences of reading failure for children their parents, and their teachers are debilitating and life changing.”

~Dr. G. Reid Lyon and Margaret Goldberg from the 75th Anniversary Perspectives, The International Dyslexia Association 2024

This need not be the case at all. All of us can benefit from learning about the processes involved in attaining literacy. All stakeholders ought to be aware of what it takes to turn the dots, lines, and curves creating letters, words, and sentences into meaningful thought.

READING GREETINGS!

All human beings are ‘hard wired’ for oral language—not so for written language. The invention and evolution of wrttien communication using visual symbols to represent speech is akin to a ‘miracle’. My hope is that in sharing this literacy miracle in a concrete way, children, parents, families, caregivers, and educators can use the information to foster language and literacy from the moment a child is born. 

These are the fun and lively ‘neuron characters’ who explain the complex process the brain undergoes when learning to read, spell, and write.

The neurons in the brain specialize and constantly interact with each other to create ‘reading networks’, becoming more efficient over time. You will have the opportunity to get to know these lively neurons starting with executive function golden neurons, who help coordinate the entire process and help students focus attention on the task at hand. You will learn how the green auditory neurons pick up speech sounds, isolate them and interact with the blue visual neurons to match these speech sounds to letters and/or groups of letters. You will learn how the sounds and letters match up with the meanings of words using the red neurons in the language area of the brain. Running up to the other specialized neurons are the purple motor neurons, who are responsible for moving our mouths, hands and eyes as we speak, read, spell, and write. The neurons themselves are not specific colors; I color coded them simply to help explain the processes in a more concrete way kids can understand.

SPEAKING BEFORE READING, SPELLING & WRITING PLEASE

As you can see from this diagram, all 6 areas listed above are involved in the process of human speech. If you don’t believe me, try saying the word “nose” while holding your nose…impossible! Try saying the words “beans, bananas, butterflies and bread” while tamping your tongue down with a spoon…impossible! Finally, say the word “baby” while putting your hand on your throat (larynx) and you will feel the vibration of your vocal cords.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE!