I was very sad to find out from an email sent to me that my former academic supervisor, Professor Mary Ashworth, had passed away on January 20, 2009.

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Professor Mary Ashworth taught in the Department of Language Education between 1967- 1988. I was fortunate enough to have been under her supervision when I was working on my M.Ed. degree in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). I will always remember Professor Ashworth for her frequent allusion to a saying from the Book of Proverbs in the Bible – “There is nothing new under the sun.” I actually put this verse on the front page of my M.Ed. graduating paper! I guess, this was the observation from a “seasoned” veteran who had fought the “system” time and again for the sake of ESL children in British Columbia.

I am particularly grateful to Professor Mary Ashworth for the sage advice she gave when I was her student at UBC. She was always helpful and practical. I still remember how she used to tell us not to treat our master’s thesis or M.Ed. major paper as “the writing that will change the world.” Her admonition was: be sensible, do what you need to do, graduate, and then you can change the world!

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Professor Ashworth is probably smiling down at all her former students now from heaven above. I hope I am one of these students!

We love you, Mary! And we are so proud to have been you students.

Recently, in Janet Steffenhagen’s blog, she shared with the readers an email sent to her by a mother whose child is learning disabled. What followed was a great deal of heated discussion and even I submitted a post to support this “long suffering” mom, Teresa Corsie. To make a long story short, basically, Teresa’s son had a terrible time in public school and was not getting appropriate help. Finally, the parents took him to James Cameron, a school specializing in teaching children with learning disabilities. Now the child is doing well.

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As I sat in my office thinking over the details for my office dedication ceremony tomorrow, I couldn’t help thinking about the words of St. Augustine…

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.”

It was back in 1998 that I had a direct confrontation with some school administrators because of my friend’s son. The vice principal of the school basically told me that “even if the boy had dyslexia – whatever that was – there was nothing they could do about it.” I was angry about the attitude displayed by this vice principle. In fact, I was so angry that, years later, I ended up with a Ph.D. from UBC specializing in learning disabilities.

I honestly hope that mis-diagnosed cases of ESL children with a language-based learning disability such as dyslexia will be more and more rare in future. There is a lot of work ahead of us. My friend, Dr. Susan Kwan, a board member at SUCCESS, is a supporter for educating the public about dyslexia. This April, I will be speaking at the Dyslexia Conference organized by Dr. Kwan for the Chinese speaking public. I will share more details here at my blog as the information becomes available.

In today’s fast-paced and quickly changing world, as professionals, we have to keep current constantly or we risk becoming “Dino the Dinosaur,” grinning a silly grin as the world passes him by because he hasn’t been keeping up. Of all the information processing skills that humans possess, reading is the most basic skill to have for navigating our text-based world. If you cannot read, you are very limited in what you can do. True, we can have the computer read to us nowadays, thanks to visionary-inventors like Kurzweil. However, it is so much more convenient being able to read without any high-tech aids. And this is what gets me up every morning. I have a passion for teaching children and adult alike to learn how to read.

I love books and I love reading. I feel very bad for those who cannot read because their inability to read prevents them from being able to obtain and assess information for learning. It seems that the more “basic” the skill, the more crucial it is for us to master it. Perhaps that is why, for computer programmers, the more basic the programming, the more they get paid. Without the basic processes in place, the computer cannot run the more sophisticated processes. At least, that is how my friend and colleague, Cecil, explains the work that his wife does! Similarly, without mastering basic reading skills, one cannot go on to learn content in the various branches of knowledge. It really sets one back as a learner when he or she cannot read.

If 21st century students are to take advantage of George Siemens‘s connectivist ideas in learning, they must be proficient readers. True, there are educational podcasts available, and one can take in information by hearing; however, text-based information enables one to glance and quickly “get the point,” so to speak. This made me think that we, those who are involved in doing research in the science of reading, have an important task. Without the ability to read, making “connections” in the academic world would be extremely difficult if not next to being impossible.

Back in early November, I had coffee with Linda Reid, M.L.A. of Richmond East. It was a pleasure to talk to Linda, as one professional to another. Why? That is because before Linda was elected to the Legislative Assembly, she worked as a language therapist, teacher and school administrator for the Richmond School District. That makes us natural “allies” as fellow educators sharing the same passion for helping children with language learning issues. In addition to that, Linda and I both graduated from the University of British Columbia with advanced degrees in education specializing in exceptional learners and language acquisition.

The meeting area in the office.

One of the things that came up in our conversation was that many ESL parents are unaware that they are entitled to participate in the Individual Education Plan (IEP)process for their children who are exceptional learners. That means, these parents are passive receivers of the IEP and often, they do not know what the IEP is supposed to do and what their roles are in their children’s education process.

I would like to see more ESL parents take an active role in the IEP process. Parents’ involvement in their children’s education is vital, especially when the ESL children are exceptional learners requiring special education services. That is why when we planned for our office space, I made sure that we have an area where we can host IEP meetings and have all parties meet comfortably in an environment conducive to open and constructive discussion. Those who have visited my office know that I keep a selection of fragrant teas on hand at all times. I’ve always known that a nice cup of tea can do wonders to calm nerves. Parents who need to deal with their children’s learning problems often lead stressful lives. It is not unusual for parents to shed a few tears at my office while recounting the difficulties that they encounter on a daily basis; and I am perfectly at ease with it because I understand what life is like living with children who have a learning disability. A cup of tea and some kind encouragement means a great deal for these struggling brave parents!

This past Saturday, I attended a conference at UBC on early Mandarin bi-lingual learning. It was a wonderful experience for me as I was able to catch up with some former colleagues and make new friends at the same time. The enthusiasm amongst the attendees was contagious and I was so glad that my friend, the Chief Administrator at Pui Ying Christian Services Society, Saintfield Wong, informed me about this conference and suggested that I attend. (more…)

In this day and age, being dyslexic, if detected early and if appropriate technological support is made available, should not be a major impediment to achieving success academically and professionally.

One young man who was formerly my student is a computer “geek” and he was able to circumvent most of his memory problems (he forgets things) by using hand held devices and his laptop. In my own private practice, I make it a point to “custom fit” our clients with appropriate high-tech tools to help them achieve their learning goals.

Check out the article below on technology and the adult dyslexic. Enjoy!

http://www.bnna.info/adult-dyslexia/modern-technology-and-adult-dyslexia.htm

http://blogs.princeton.edu/librarian/

Given the information glut that we are facing today, there is an urgency for researchers like us, those who are consumers of information in large quantities, to turn to our friends, the academic librarians, for help.

(more…)

Recent research has shown that different areas of the brain are implicated in Chinese dyslexics and English dyslexics.  I have attached a presentation on this topic by Prof. Wai Ting Siok here (media_ppt_2008). The presentation is in both Chinese and English.  You can also find the original paper in PNAS here PNAS vol.105, pp. 5561-5566.  Enjoy!

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