I have an MEd in reading and before retirement, I taught grades one through twelve and college level developmental courses.  In all those years, I worked with thousands of students.  The students with true disabilities could be counted on the fingers of one hand.  The others with reading problems had simply never been taught correctly.  If every child was given pure phonics instruction in first grade, 99.9% would be competent readers and most would know more about the English language than today’s classroom teachers. 

As cute as they were, the “Dick and Jane’ method of sight reading instruction led the way to today’s problems.  Interestingly, the publishers now warn that these books shouldn’t be used for reading instruction.  Unfortunately, attempts to move back to pure phonics are met with stiff, but misguided resistance.  Meanwhile, the children continue to suffer.

Now I know why younger people are so ignorant of basic knowledge.

Stupid me, I thought it was the public education they were almost getting.

In thirty years, I have never seen or heard of the label Specific Reading Comprehension Disability.  Any fool knows that reading comprehension starts with language comprehension.  Maybe this article is American.

Ken, young people today know more than we did when we were their age.  It’s hard to believe that you think that the amazing flow of information hasn’t raised everyone’s general knowledge.  I think you like to fabricate things so you can grind on about something.

Gloria,
I have to disagree with you.  I taught reading in the classroom using sequential phonics and most students caught on quickly.  I have taught remedial reading for 15 years and the majority of my students do not catch on quickly.  Teaching these students to read is a much longer process requiring considerable patience. These students have exceptional difficulties with sound/symbol connections and they for sure have some sort of reading block or disability.  If you’ve ever tried to teach yourself to have perfect pitch you would know the challenges these students face.  if you can count on one hand the number of students you taught with reading disabilities then I can only conclude that the majority of your experience was not with Sp Ed students.

Only someone with their head in the sand would think that today’s youth have more knowledge than people educated in the 60’s and 70’s.

You only have to talk with them for 5 min. to find out how little they were taught in the public education system.

The ‘flow of information’ never got to them. Make sure you count the change they give you at the cash register.

Gloria,
I taught beginning reading in the classroom using sequential phonics and most children caught on quite quickly.  For 15 years I have been teaching remedial reading.  For the majority of my students, the process is long and arduous.  Teaching them requires considerable patience and empathy.  Chalking their reading difficulties up to poor teaching does little to promote our understanding of the very real challenges these children face each and every lesson.
Try teaching yourself to have perfect pitch (unless you already have it) and you will experience their challenges first-hand.