Tentative Paper Proposal
Jaci Jackson
ENGL321 Online
What is the Cause of Dyslexia?
I would like to pursue the cause of Dyslexia because I am in the process of finding my focus of my Masters Degree. Due to the recent push of reading and writing in our school systems, reading specialists are in demand. Through the past decade reading and writing were taking a backseat to math and science, but when our literacy test scores began to drop drastically the push for literacy in the classroom became huge. I am focusing my bachelor’s on K-2nd grade, in which the primary focus is literacy. If I develop a background that includes dyslexia and other reading disorders, I will be more apt to identify disorders in my students. In the first few years of school many of these disorders get pushed aside, until the gap is too large to close. If these disabilities are identified early in the student’s education, there will be less time wasted and they can get the extra assistance that they require. If disorders are not diagnosed, then their difficulties are transferred into all areas of education, and their life becomes affected as well. The students and parents do not understand why their child has such difficulty, become discouraged, and often times in even those first few years the child just gives up on their education.
I want to pursue this topic to make me a more effective and useful teacher, and also to make my efforts more marketable and hopefully give me the edge when I enter the intense teacher job market.
This is a great, and relevent topic. The argument can go back and forth as to if ADD/ADHD is overdiagnosed, or is dyslexia the root of the problem. My oldest son had a terrible time all through school. I remember 1st grade clearly, he is now 22 yo, I came to the teacher stating that something was wrong. I was told his 'flipping' of letters was common in 1st grade. 'We will see how he does.' At the end of 1st grade, I was told we had serious problems. So, why couldn't we have started 9 months back in solving the problem? When TV was on and the channel number at the bottom read 13, he said we were watching '31'. He made a Piston's basketball sign to take to a game that if held in a mirror, it would have read correctly. I am gratfull we were in small Christian school that gave him lots of help through resource room help. I was a very proud mother when he graduated.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I saw, is that the memory compensates for those with dyslexia. They have great memories! They can't keep up with taking notes, listening, and writing at the same time, so they just commit to memory. What helped my son was having notes given to him from the teacher before the lecture. He could focus on listening instead of the process of writing.
The other thing I could comment on is that the public school system, from what I heard at lectures from other parents, needs to have the child 2 grade levels behind to get help. This is a grave system that I hope is not still true today. They need help before they fail, not after.
I just came home from teacher conferences, my younger 2 children do not have these issues. What a night and day difference!
Sorry, I went right from Classical/Rogerian arguments to this. I should not have looked at this as a paper on rogerian essay due next week, but our Long Analytical Report. Your topic of dyslexia will also be good for this. I am looking forward to hearing the causes of dyslexia. Trying to find solutions and feasability of these, and comparing current school trends will make a good paper.
ReplyDeleteEileen