Annotated Bibliography Book Review

Annotated Bibliography Book Review1

Arkansas Tech University

C. LaWanda Mounts

Shaywitz, Sally, M.D. (2003). Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based

Program for Reading Problems of Any Level, Knopf Doubleday Publishing, Inc.

Dr. Shaywitz writes of dyslexia as one who has studied it and the brain for many years. She includes ways to identify dyslexia and the characteristics of the learning disability within the intelligent population. She taught at Yale University and did an extensive study on the students with dyslexia. In her book she describes the challenges, failures and ways to overcome these. Her knowledge comes from students that she has encountered over the years and the first-hand experience that her program has taught. She speaks in the book of famous people who have dyslexia and the creative thinkers they were. Over several chapters she goes into great detail on how parents can help their child learn to cope with dyslexia even including some brain exercises that will help retrain the brain. This will definitely be a book for reading specialist or dyslexia therapist to keep in their personal library to refer educators or parents to.

Schultz, Philip, 2011, My Dyslexia, W.W.Norton Publishing

This had to be my favorite of all the books I read because it is Schultz own experience as a dyslexic person writing about his personal struggles. He talks of how he was diagnosed after his son was diagnosed with dyslexia. He was a middle age person who had gone his entire life feeling stupid. Schultz tells that he was 11 years old before he learned to read. His mother was very supportive and knew he wasn’t of lower intelligence, but his father was very passive about his struggles. His son was diagnosed before Schultz discovered he too had this disability and this was what had caused him such struggles throughout school. After his diagnosis he wrote a poem then wrote some books. It was after winning the Pulitzer Prize for a poem he wrote that he was speaking at a school for learning disabilities he spoke of his lifetime of struggles as the speech was very hard for him to give. This day changed his life because he was able to relate to these students so well he now heads a school teaching writing. Reading this book puts you into the shoes of someone with dyslexia as he explains how his mind works and how language in a crowded room comes in as a jumbled mess just as the written words to until taught to decode with phonic rules. This book would be an extremely good read for parents or teachers of students who have recently been diagnosed with dyslexia. My library will be loaning this book out on a regular basis for others to rethink this disability.

Davis, Ronald D. with Eldon M. Braun, 1994, Perigee Books, The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some

Of the Smartest People Can’t Read…and How They Can Learn.

Mr. Davis, the author of this developed a reading program, Davis Dyslexia Program to teach students with dyslexia to read. He started a foundation, Davis Dyslexia Association International and is a published author recognized by the dyslexia association worldwide. Davis’s method is multisensory working with visual perception. It teaches the student to control the perception they hold in the brain because he says that dyslexics can move around the mind pictures allowing them to read this way with distorted perception. It gives adults the ability to control the images and way the mind reads them. His method and book were a harder read for me because of the terminology he uses to transform these images in the mind. This is not a book that I would recommend for many to read because of the depth of language and method. It might be more appropriate for someone working with adult dyslexia students.

Pritchard, Heather, (2011), Tate Publishing, Got Dyslexia?

Ms. Pritchard wrote this simple book in the third person about a boy named Matthew who has dyslexia. This little boy gets words confused and talks about his special modifications in school along with his reading specialist. It is very age appropriate for children ages 5-9 and could possibly be used for older students since learning disabilities sometimes ensure immaturity. This book is so cute and will definitely be one that I will use often as a dyslexia therapist to help students with the acceptance of their diagnosis and the challenges of the social aspects.

Foss, Ben, (2013), Penguin Random House, LLC, The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan: A

Blueprint for Renewing Your Child’s Confidence and Love of Learning.

The author, Ben Foss is an entrepreneur and activist who travels the country as an inspirational motivational speaker. He writes this impressive book as a guide to parents and educators in the quest to unlock the inner learning of students diagnosed with dyslexia. In his book he talks in depth about how these students use other avenues of learning so we must tap into these methods in order to teach them the joy of reading. These avenues he considers innate skills of verbal, social, spatial, kinesthetic, mathematical, visual, auditory and musical abilities are their unique keys to learning which have to be accessed in order to teach them to read. He speaks at great length about how these individuals are gifted learners instead of disabled people. Mr. Foss speaks for dyslexia individuals because he is one who had to find his unique avenue of learning. He speaks in simple terms helping parents to find their child’s strengths in order to pinpoint how they learn best. In this plan he helps parents and school systems learn to motivate dyslexic students by developing individual plans to aid in the learning process. His robust personality has gained him recognition all over the world as he speaks to motive others. This is an excellent work of wonder produced by someone who can speak from experiencing this life daily.

Melillo, Dr. Robert, (2009), Perigee Trade, Disconnected Kids: The Groundbreaking Brain

Balance Program for Children with Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Other Neurological

Disorders

The author of this book is a well-known neurologist who specializes in children. He clumped several neurological disorders together in this book providing a drug-free plan for parents to develop a behavioral plan, customizable exercises targeting physical, sensory, and academic performance and advice for identifying food sensitivities that could play a hidden role. His plan, Brain Balance Program includes a follow-up to make sure that the patient receives results throughout life. The teaching of his program results from the knowledge that the left and right hemispheres of the brain are not passing the correct channels of communication in these neurological disorders. His whole plan is to help these individuals enhance their disorder by bringing about the proper balance within the brain. Close to 1,000 students have completed the Brain Balance Program developed by Dr. Melillo with outstanding results. This whole concept brought about skeptical views on my part but this book was purchased after my child’s ophthalmologist referred it to me because of her neurological disorders. After reading his book at her referral I am still a little skeptical as if this is so real why more people of children with neurological disorders aren’t trying it out. The realist in me says well maybe because it isn’t a swallow this pill kind of fix instead it has a regimented program that must be followed with discipline in all areas of life. My heartfelt conclusion is that this book and program are only for the parents who are truly sold on Dr. Melillo’s theory because it would take true dedication to adhere to the entire program which would not be effective in part.

Eide, Brock L. M.D.M.A., Eide, Fernette F., M.D., (2011), TantorAudio, The Dyslexic

Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain

Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide describe dyslexia as being the advantage because for these people they have learned to work their brain in a way that excels the creative side. These individuals have unique brain structure and organizational skills that have become some of the best mechanically reasoning people like architects or surgeons, artists and inventors. Some of these individuals have advantages in narrative reasoning becoming lawyers and authors while others have dynamic reasoning abilities becoming scientists and entrepreneurs. They use a lot of examples of successful people who use their dyslexia to their advantage. This is an inspirational book that could be used in the audio form to inspire older students who are challenged with dyslexia. The authors research deeply to show the brain structure that these individuals enhanced upon to make their disability into an advantage for each of them. My library will include this book especially in the audio form to loan out to parents and other older students who may have become discouraged with what challenges they seem to face with dyslexia.

Lynette, Rachael, August 14, 2014, 37 Ways to Help Students with Dyslexia Flourish in the Classroom,

This article is full of helpful information that should be handed out to all general education teachers who have students with dyslexia. Ms. Lynette breaks her suggestions into subject areas and gives simple down to earth advice for helping these students. She uses practical advice calling some methods by name and asking teachers to give simple directions. Her advice to teach phonemic awareness and using audio books are very practical. The math suggestions include using manipulatives and teaching math facts. Suggestions are so basic special educatorsmight take it for granite that the general education teachers know and use these strategies within the classroom when in reality they may need to be reminded of the facts. This article is so full of useful advice that it could be used as the groundwork for professional development where general education teachers and special educators refresh on the principals of special needs within the general education classroom. My library and common handouts will include the suggestions within this article.

Bailey, Eileen, May 18, 2017, Creating a Dyslexic Friendly Classroom, Tips for Teachers to

Help Students with Dyslexia,

Ms. Bailey gives teachers implementations that can help the dyslexic student within any classroom. In the beginning of the article she can be quoted, “When you make changes to help students with dyslexia, you are making positive changes for the entire class.” She gives tips for physical arrangements, methods of teaching and assessments or grading that can be beneficial for dyslexic students but also could benefit other students who may struggle but do not have that diagnosis. Tips such as not requiring all students to read aloud in class or allowing them to be prepared if they wish to read aloud. Another one would be to have a quiet area for those students who need calm area to concentrate. She also suggests allowing students to express their knowledge through activities that do not require writing as for instance artwork, technology or drama. This is a very helpful article that could be implemented within all classrooms to help the struggling students especially those with challenges like dyslexia. Her article would help parents as well with advice for helping at home with homework or projects.

Sandman-Hurley E.D., Kelli, (2017), George Lucas Educational Foundation, October

23, 2014, Dyslexia in the General Education Classroom,

This is an article that would be a great resource to keep handy for the general education teacher to understand what dyslexia is and how it affects performance in the classroom. The online version contains a video that has distorted letters and they move around on the page to demonstrate what a person with dyslexia is experiencing when given a paragraph to read especially timed. She writes about dyslexia myths and stresses that these students are capable of learning when given appropriate instruction with structure and multisensory activities. She gives suggestions for teachers and resources including audio book websites and Livescribe pen information. This would be fantastic to be able to encourage colleagues with the approaches and suggestions for ways to help these students be successful in the classroom.

Center for Effective Reading Instruction, International Dyslexia Association, (2016), Phonics

Instruction: The Value of a Multi-Sensory Approach,

article/phonics-instruction-value-multi-sensory-approach

This article is written for the teacher of dyslexia students to help them use multisensory approach in teaching phonics. There are no materials to purchase in order to implement these activities. Multi-sensory activities help any child who has difficulty grasping new concepts. The article gives teachers pointers on the type of activities that could add multi-sensory touches to their lessons. It was written by the International Dyslexia Association and can be found on their website. They give permission to copy the article for non-commercial distribution.

Mercer, C. (2002), Accommodating Students with Dyslexia in all Classroom Settings, Fact Sheet

#51, International Dyslexia Association,

General Education teachers could benefit from reading this article and instituting some within their classrooms. The categories give directions for accommodations involving materials, interactive instruction and student performance. This article could be used with secondary teachers because there were several references to lectures, notes, highlighting, ear marking pages and reviewing previous lessons as introduction. There were not many references to technology within the article so I felt it could have used some updating to include these.

Part II

The discovery of what I wanted to do for my professional development happened when I was researching articles to use on my book review. I came across this article targeting general education teachers and giving accommodations measures that they could do for dyslexia students. This article spoke to me because of two recent discussions I had previously with general education teachers who were having a difficult time trying to accommodate two of my students who struggle with reading delays. These students are very good listeners but have poor reading, decoding, spelling and writing skills. They can follow simple directions and seem to grasp subject lessons that are considered “hands-on” learning lessons. The problem they were having involved multiple steps that the teachers felt were simple enough but required transferring written material through several steps to record the results of the activity. This article explains how these students should be given accommodations instead of requiring written work each time.

My whole idea of the professional development was born through these discussions and article read. The professional development is one that I feel is necessary for general education teachers to be able to look at reading delays in terms of other subject overlays. I also wanted to incorporate how they could add multisensory activities to all subject areas in order for students to be able to transfer this learning to deeper levels of memory. The accommodations within this article fall into three categories—materials, interactive instruction and student performance. I want colleagues to understand that although it seems simple to us if we are expecting students to cross over from left to right brain activities we may need to accept oral or other creative means of expressing the concepts for assessment. Educators seem to grasp the concept that learning needs to be hands on but haven’t reached the point that assessments have to be written assignments. My plan is to take the educators past this obstacle of written assessments being required.