[senco-forum] Developing listening skillsinsecondarypupils-Eddie's CD

Aly - I am dyslexic - it have had to revise this particular short piece of 
prose at least twelve times just to make it barely comprehensible. Two of my 
five children are seriously dyslexic as are three of my ten grandchildren - 
yet I do not take dyslexia into account when developing any remedial 
literacy tool. Nor do I take into account any of the hundreds of other 
theories of learning disability and whether that attracts your opprobrium or 
not, it remains a fact of life.

When the MRC or anybody else comes up with objective evidence of the 
existence of APD and follows this up with objectively derived diagnostic 
instruments, I have no doubt that commercial interests will respond 
instantly and massively with appropriate resources to confront whatever the 
diagnosis turns out to be.

 I will not be among them. I do not associate my products with specific 
diagnoses but with specific defects in the subskills that are necessary for 
the acquisition of general literacy skills. I am regret that is an approach 
which you find 'disgusting' and freely admit that there will be plenty of 
people that share your views. The medical model of learning disability 
involves 'diagnosis' which should be followed by 'prescription' which in 
turn,should be followed by 'cure' I see precious little evidence of the 
efficacy of that particular approach. I am happy to leave such theories to 
the upper reaches of academia or medicine.  I am struggling to keep afloat 
in my own little pond and would hesitate to dive into their much bigger and 
more impressive lakes.

My aims are very simple. If a child's ability to 'listen' or 'decode' or 
'blend sounds' is hampering his/her ability to acquire general literacy 
skills, I will repond to that specific deficit in my own way which involves, 
research, development and trial. I will assess the outcome of my work, not 
in terms of its impact on any diagnosed condition but only in terms of the 
improvements in general literacy skills which are achieved. And if 
significant improvements are the result of this intervention, the particular 
label which is applied to the child's learning difficulies will be of no 
interest to me - none at all. I am happy to leave that debate to others.

I regret that you disapprove of my approach but your hobbyhorse is your 
hobbyhorse - it is not mine! I have my own problems. I neither deny nor 
support the existence of APD, ADHD or ADDHD, short term auditory or visual 
memory deficit or any other theretical form of learning disability - I just 
don't try to take any or all of them into account when developing a remedial 
literacy tool. I prefer the validity of my products to be measured by an 
objective analysis of improvement in general literacy skills.

Eddie C.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Olanys at aol.com>
To: <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 4:33 PM
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Developing listening 
skillsinsecondarypupils-Eddie's CD

>
> I will reply despite my better judgement, only to clarify the  facts
>
> "Did Graeme not report that the MRS had withdrawn their statement of 
> support
> for the existence of such a condition?"
>
>
>
>
> Why would the MRC withdraw their support for the valididty of the very 
> thing
> they are researching?? I think you have misunderstood... I am in regular
> communication with the MRC/IHRS who are soon to issue a press release 
> explaining
> about APD and urging a standardised approach to its diagnosis and
> management.  The new APD tests will be available in the New Year. There is 
> debate
> within the MRC/IHR ranks about the nature and extent of its  involvement 
> in
> dyslexia, which is where you may have been misled. there are  varying 
> theories but
> nobody has said this in't the case, just that they need  more research to 
> see
> how much it affects individuals with dyslexia and  communication problems, 
> as
> this is not within the boundaries of the current  MRC/IHR research 
> project, only
> the tersting at this stage But there are other  ongoing research projects 
> in
> the UK and overseas in that area, which will  show just how much 
> involvement
> there is in dyslexia, Semantic Pragmatic Disorder  and even autism which 
> there
> is speculation may also be caused by a  root deficit in auditory 
> processing.
>
> "I could not diagnose APD any more than could produce a rabbit out of a 
> hat
> and I am happy to leave that to those who have expertise in those 
> particular
> fields."
>
>
> I didn't ask you or anyone else here to diagnose it, in fact I have
> advocated that this is not f
> done by anyone but an audiologist trained to do so. All I asked is  that 
> you
> acknowledge APDs existence when preparing programs to aid listening, 
> which
> you don't care to do because you don't even acknowledge APD  exists, which 
> in
> turn throws the validity of your interventions into serious  question. The
> reason, perhaps, why you choose to ignore APD....
>
>
> Best wishes,
> Aly
>
> Chair Auditory  Processing Disorder in the UK/APDUK
> www.lacewingmultimedia.com/APD.htm
> www.apduk.org 