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A review by bibliomaniac33
Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally E. Shaywitz
2.0
For all of the hype over this book, I’ve found several websites and videos to be more helpful. Perhaps due to the age of this edition. It was written when NCLB was a shining light of hope instead of the relic it’s now seen as. As a parent, the first 1/4 was helpful, but the rest clearly put a tremendous amount of faith in school system reading programs. The moral of the remaining 3/4 seemed to be: If you simply screen the children early enough and teach them systemic phonics instruction from an early enough age, you won’t have a dyslexia issue. This seems counterintuitive to the earlier point that it’s a processing issue, and therefore reading is going to be more difficult for these kids, full stop. Perhaps I misread, but my overall impression was the author saying that kids who struggle are doing so because they simply didn’t receive early enough intervention. However just because someone is taught phonics, doesn’t mean that the depth or the pacing is correct, especially since dyslexia occurs on a continuum.
In short, this book left me wanting a LOT more info- it did not teach me anything I didn’t already know. I feel like it’s a good general book to hand a parent with no teaching experience, who wants someone else to solve their child’s dyslexia issue in a relatively hands off fashion and simply wants an overview. It’s not a great book for parents who are already familiar with phonics instruction, OG methods, and wants to be the primary driver in addressing and teaching their dyslexic child. It’s clear the author does not believe the parent is in the best position to be their child’s instructor (which is ironic considering how little faith is given to public school dyslexia resources in the same book). I’ll be seeking out additional resources.
If you are reading this review and want to read this book I suggest buying the newer version. Hopefully its been significantly revised.
In short, this book left me wanting a LOT more info- it did not teach me anything I didn’t already know. I feel like it’s a good general book to hand a parent with no teaching experience, who wants someone else to solve their child’s dyslexia issue in a relatively hands off fashion and simply wants an overview. It’s not a great book for parents who are already familiar with phonics instruction, OG methods, and wants to be the primary driver in addressing and teaching their dyslexic child. It’s clear the author does not believe the parent is in the best position to be their child’s instructor (which is ironic considering how little faith is given to public school dyslexia resources in the same book). I’ll be seeking out additional resources.
If you are reading this review and want to read this book I suggest buying the newer version. Hopefully its been significantly revised.