Editor,
We are in Press Democrat territory up here. But about 6 mos. ago we decided to skip even purchasing (not subscribing, just going to the local store) the PD & I gave up on the Chron after March 2003. (On the PD) Talk about a fossilized editorial dept., and sections that defined “trivial”…. (Yes, I know the NYT owns the PD.)
I liked that you wrote the article, and your reasons seem- reasoned, and reasonable. I agree on many levels, for what that’s worth (and BTW you missed checking that it’s “its”, not it’s, before the word “entertainment”. ) I’m coming to the conclusion that the “great” dailies harbor fascist tendencies, reflected in our society. People are afraid to speak out, for fear of many reprisals, not just losing their jobs, though that is enough (but let’s look at what we dare to say to our neighbors, or our friends). NPR news is a joke. Democracy is the new buzzword for “religion”, but real freedom, to choose democracy or not, and to tolerate choices others make (here & in Iraq, for example) is not discussed. I see a United States populace that hates itself & is hated. I used to laugh at the term “fascist insect” when that was used by fringies to describe the mainstream press. I don’t laugh at it any more, I understand, sadly enough. I think there’s a fair number of people who might agree with me, and that’s another section of society not buying “the news” any more.
Thank you.
Paul
Editor,
The proverb ‘penny wise, pound foolish’ aptly describes SFUSD approach to dyslexia. Estimates indicate that nearly 15% to 20% of the population are dyslexic, or nearly 3-5 students in each classroom. Most dyslexics are not diagnosed until 3rd grade. This is too late especially as there are simple tests that can diagnose future struggling readers as early as pre-k. The understanding of dyslexia has come a long way thanks to advance technology, specifically MRI brain scans. Now, scientific research has been able to pinpoint the area in the brain where a dyslexic reads from. They can also see that dyslexic readers who have undergone specific tutoring with a systematic multi-sensory phonemic based method begin to use the part of the brain that normal readers use during reading.
According to NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development), widespread implementation of scientifically proven prevention and early intervention programs will substantially reduce the number of children that need special education. One school in Tallahassee Florida implemented such a program. The percentage of struggling readers dropped eightfold- from 31.8 percent to 3.7 percent. The benefits of early intervention are numerous, not only do the students excel and test scores go up but the long and short term cost savings can be enormous.
Dyslexic students can only qualify for an IEP once they are two years behind. But once again this is too late, not only do they have to catch up to their peers, they also need to keep up while relearning basic reading skills. According to the reading specialists I spoke to there simply isn’t enough time during the school year to remediate properly; therefore most of the tutoring sessions are centered on keeping the students from falling anymore behind instead of learning the skills they are lacking. What these students need is an intensive summer course similar to one that Nancy Cushen White offers here in San Francisco. The results are impressive. However, space is limited and the cost is prohibitively expensive for many families. SFUSD could institute a similar summer school that allows older students to catch up before school starts in the fall. An innovative approach would be to open San Francisco’s own Charles Armstrong type of school for dyslexics. Not just for the rich, but for all San Franciscans.
Its time San Francisco Unified takes a pre-emptive view of dyslexia. With early and proper intervention programs dyslexics can become successful students now instead of struggling students always. Imagine the cost savings to the district if all struggling readers were taught to read while in 1st and 2nd grades rather then waiting for students to fail before they are given help.
Eve Mendelson
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