Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Learning to read

Some of you may have already seen this, but it fits into a conversation we were having on another thread. When we talk about how kids learn to read, phonics vs. whole word, I wonder how this plays into the puzzle:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

That is really wild. I hadn't seen this before.

I saw this before and it's truly amazing. I think it explains why we sometimes misread words. I will try to watch for the words my younger one misreads/guesses to see if he at least keeps the same first and last letters.

I've been thinking about this since I posted it and it seems to me that it proves that we do not use phonics once we become fluent readers. Sounding-out would get you nowhere on that.

I think you are so right. It also explains why my child with visual tracking/perception issues can also be reading on a very high level. Very interesting!!!

Kcab,
What's up with your state of panic?
Or just a fun pun?

Since we're talking about our locations, and lest someone worry about me (since I'm ALWAYS here... ), I'll point out the change to my location for the rest of the week.

I may have the chance to check in during the late evening once or twice, but probably not. See you when I return!

K-

Have fun Kriston!

cool paragraph - I can't wait to show DS11!
Grin

Have a nice vacation Kriston!

I can totally relate to kcab's whole paragraph reading style. And this theory definitely explains DS7's reading style too and the occasional mistake he makes. I think he almost sucks in whole paragraphs at a time when he reading a book for pleasure. We joke he reads faster than DH, which is actually true at this point.

I think that paragraph is really interesting, but I think that it shows how much we get from context, not just that we read "whole words". Since all the little words are spelled correctly, 40 of the words in the paragraph are right and 50 are misspelled. So there are a lot of correctly spelled words there to provide context.

See if you can read this: ptircue


Now try this: Silme! I wnat to tkae yuor xxxxxxx!




Context is not just what the sentence is about, it is also the structure of the sentence. So not only do we get the clue "smile" we are also expecting the missing word to be a noun, something that someone "takes". Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not sure this paragraph actually demonstrates what it claims to be demonstrating.

Cathy A: Lol I wonder where my head is? I read it as "Slime! I want to kick your a$$!" THen I adjusted to "Slime! I want to take your a$$!"

ha ha ha

Ha - well it's good to know I'm not alone! That's exactly how I read it too.

LOL.... I wonder what that proves about context...

Maybe I have to think of a better example. Or maybe you need more than one sentence to really get context. Were you able to read "ptircue" easily?

Not really. I gave it a shot but when I wasn't certain, I moved on to the next sentence. I even heard Dirty Harry's voice when I read it.

Hmmm... so does that mean that you don't read whole words? Personally, I don't think that's what it means.

interesting. I got picture right away, then slime...

"Slime! I want to take your Xs" was what I read.

Does that mean that I take things too literally? :p

I think context matters a lot! Smile/Slime is isolated, so that complicates matters.

Also none of the mixed-up words in the sample paragraph are really written to look closer to other words than they are to the right word, as Smile/Slime was closer to slime than to smile. That changes how you read the word, too, I think.

Finally, I suspect the words in that paragraph and the order of the letters was very carefully chosen. Case in point: I don't think there's any way to mix up the word "camera" and make it readable without some pretty clear contextual clues. cermaa? cmraea? creama? I don't think anyone would look at any of those and know what I was writing.

This explains why GS8 can read at an 8th grade level, but his spelling is horrible!

I read Slime too, Also I spell like a 4th grader. never learned phonics, just whole words. Because of this and what we have read my DW (Great speller, very structtered) taught or DS5 some phonics and decoding.

It's funny how we learn. I am a big picture, visual learner. No really structure, I just know or can figure things out. My DW is very structured, step by step, very verbal. before our DS5 was tested we would always play arround with who's side of the family his giftedness comes from (I always win with that I was smart enough to choose her, and trick her into marrying me)and how does our DS5 learn. Visual vs verbal. After testing he was only 1 point different in his scores on visual vs verbal. I am glad my DW is there to help with the structure.