The Right to Read Reviewed by
Prof. Lyelle L. Palmer
Ph.D., Professor of Special Education (Learning Disabilities),
College of Education, Winona State University,
Winona, MN 55987, U.S.A.:

Discussions of dyslexia and remedial approaches to the problem have more than once been compared to the allegory of the blind men describing an elephant. It is refreshing to find a twenty-first-century discussion of dyslexia which provides not only historical erudition and a unique viewpoint, but an approach to curriculum and instruction (Audiblox) that is practical and researchable. The elephant of dyslexia has just become more interesting and manageable. Perhaps this book can assist us in finding our way out of the jungle of issues and opinions regarding reading disabilities.

The authors write from working with dyslexics and young children in a combined clinical experience of more than 35 years, mostly at the Center for Dyslexia in Pretoria, South Africa. The authors are schooled and knowledgeable in the field of education and psychology and are conversant with the scientific literature and the various theories of dyslexia. The book is written in an easy reading British tone with vivid examples and anecdotes. Before and after writing samples provide evidence of substantial progress of their students using their "Audiblox" program that teaches students to arrange and memorize colored block patterns.

The first half of the book is an overview of philosophy and opinions regarding the field and history of the topic of dyslexia. A chapter on Brains, Genes and Education briefly and effectively summarizes current biological research insights (that the authors consider largely irrelevant to the problem or its solution). The traditional and academic approaches to dyslexia are seen as laments rather than answers to the problem. The huge variety of multidisciplinary voices in the field present a problematic confusion of ideas more suitable to discussion than action, and the authors are clearly championing the need for the teacher to have tools that provide motivating progress for the student. The second half of the book provides specific directions for constructing tools and conducting lessons that provide such progress.

Strydom and du Plessis present their model of the "Act of Reading" (Reception, Decoding, Memorizing/retaining) as a fundamental framework that teachers and tutors can use in their teaching cycles. Their emphasis is on a pedagogical approach to the problem that they have found useful and effective. They present a pedagogical approach using the tools of assessment, curriculum and instruction to produce specific results.

The measures addressed include highly regarded direct objective measures such as saccadic fixations (number of eye fixations per 100 words), reading speed (words per minute) at various grade levels, and ocular regressions during reading (typically interpreted as searching for word recognition and/or meaning of text). These measures provide assurance of validity and reliability of baseline performance and subsequent progress that can be amazing (12 years progress in reading in one year of training!).

The Audiblox curriculum presented by Strydom and du Plessis is a unique contribution to the field. Several current approaches consider dyslexia to be a listening problem and attempt to teach explicit phonics or phonemic awareness (letter-sound association, auditory discrimination, sound blending, sound substitutions, etc) for decoding of words. These authors hold the contrasting and complementary view that using small wooden cubes to construct patterns in various colors can expand the visual memory and can eventually lead to reading. The visual aspects of the program include sequences of block imitation, card pattern imitation, eyes-closed dictation of designs for visualization, color sequences, directional and positional orientation for memory involving up to 40 different blocks! The authors detail the lessons and provide information on local procurement of materials. Math facility is also addressed through 1:1 correspondence lessons and performance counting forward and backward by ones and intervals. This emphasis on recitation provides students with competence and confidence. Following these readiness activities, students read word cards and word lists, including reading from right to left. A pyramid of repetition builds higher level skills on the foundation of mastered lower level skills. Students learn to perform the various parts of the curriculum at an automatic level.

From the neuro-developmental perspective of this reviewer, these activities activate the non-language gestalt hemisphere of the brain as well as the language hemisphere. Three-dimensional forms (cubes) are processed only by the non-language hemisphere, and when combined with designs or sequences these cubes stimulate whole-brain function. Reading from right to left promotes left field of vision activity that activates the right hemisphere. When continued for a long time and for a long duration each day, this brain activity can be expected to create brain development and new abilities. This approach appears, therefore, to be consistent with principles of neuro-development even if the authors are unaware of the biological changes being created and why the method works.

Reading is essentially a visual memory task in which recognition of written symbols connects with meaning understood by the reader. A number of methods produce advanced visual memory development in reading in normal readers, but few produce good results with dyslexics. Strydom and du Plessis provide a concise resource to teachers and a thought-provoking lead for researchers to explore. The "Audiblox" constitute a part of the dyslexia elephant heretofore overlooked: the phenomenal and legendary memory capabilities of the creature — in this case visual memory leading to reading.