Dec 09
1
Phonics for Kids – Brain Research Supports It
An article in the ‘Age’ newspaper (Melbourne, Australia) on the seventeenth of November 2009 reports on the latest brain research of renowned French brain expert Professor Stanislas Dehaene.
The book, “Reading in the Brain” makes the following points:
- The complexity and irregular spelling of English results in significant delays in learning to read.
- Learning to read English requires more cortical space in the brain.
- Brain imaging has shown that once the eyes land on a printed word, a specific point of the brain lights up. Called the occipito temporal area at the back of the left hemisphere.
- The occipito temporal area of the brain does not function well in people with reading difficulties such as dyslexia. Apparently this area of the brain has evolved for reading. In evolutionary terms reading is a recently acquired skill for humans.
Professor Dehaene says that the theory that the brain learns to read by whole-word recognition is wrong. The brain gives the illusion that it does this but in actual fact it is processing all letters at once. The retina of the eye decomposes the word into little pieces, then the brain puts the word together again like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.
This process happens in a fifth of a second which is why it seems like a one step process.
The article:
It’s offishal-English iz darned hard to lurn
Bridie Smith – SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY REPORTER
Published in the “Age” newspaper, Melbourne, Australia
17.11.09
Phonics which is the knowledge of letter sound relationships is a vital part of learning to read. if you would like to find out about my book;
“Help Your Child to Read and Write Better: Step-by-Step” please visit
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