Quick Take Away: Barack Obama is a highly intelligent, well schooled President-Elect of the USA. But he has stated that ONE person whose life/works he studies closely to succeed in his chosen career is Abraham Lincoln - who paradoxically, boasted few months of schooling, and spent over 30 years of his life failing BEFORE becoming president of The USA.

A check reveals that Lincoln - among other things - was self-taught, and reportedly walked miles to and from the library DAILY to borrow books to read. THAT is what Obama and Lincoln have in common - great proficiency in learning by reading. In my FREE book and One Hour talk on this subject, I share anecdotes about Thomas Edison, Daley Thompson, Mary Lou Retton and others to help you understand why your child may NOT be the dullard you (or his/her teachers make you) think s/he is.

And if your child is said to - or seems to - be doing well, what I share in this write-up may help you discover early enough why THAT may not mean s/he is actually being taught HOW To LEARN effectively, in a way that will enable him/her succeed later on in life!

Are you a parent to a school age child? Have the teachers in your child’s school been complaining to you about his/her performance? Does the child seem to frequently struggle to learn thing that other children in the same class seem to have no problems with? Does s/he for instance have problems recognizing letter of the alphabet, tend to read/write them in reverse (or mixes up some that appear similar e.g. b and d)? Does the child have a tendency to “forget’ what s/he learns after sometime even though the teacher has gone through numerous repetitions?

If any of the above or similar problems are what you find with your child, then you will do well to read this report right to the end.

Rote Learning Is Bad – And Makes People Dislike Studying

Our traditional teaching methods destroy our children’s ability to learn. By traditional methods, I refer specifically to the common practice in most of our schools where teachers emphasise learning by rote instead of teaching children to understand meanings in learning. A graphic example of the negative impact of this method on our children is what happens at Schools Debates. The fixed stares in the children’s eyes as they recite their debate “arguments” is only broken when the child misses a “line” in the recitation.

Leaning by Rote discourages THINKING. Thinking requires the use of the brain and the mind. The brain is just like any other muscle in the body. The more it is exercised, the more it develops.

Therefore teaching anyone to understand meaning will result in making the person one who seeks to understand by thinking. Subsequently, s/he will learn to apply that thinking ability to other uses – and eventually become creative. The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary defined “rote” as the process of learning by repeated study rather than by understanding the meaning.

That is how many of us Nigerian adults we taught to learn. And that’s also why many of us today are not exactly keen on thinking and reading. The truth is that rote learning is difficult, unpleasant and for children, can be especially painful, particularly if the child happens to be one of those who lack the aptitude to cope with that method of learning.

So in our case, as adults since that’s how we were taught to learn, most of our memories of school are unpleasant. And that explains why the average adult Nigerian typically announces s/he has finished “learning” upon graduation. Try and get that person to do any focused studying and you’ll meet stiff resistance.

The only other time s/he returns to studying is for a higher qualification, and evidence abounds to show that very often, s/he looks for the easiest and quickest way to get it over with – sometimes via “shortcuts”. If learning had been made pleasurable for Nigerian adults, they would not seek to avoid it so much.
Some children a naturally gifted at rote learning, and so tend to excel in it. But there are some who do not have the natural disposition towards learning by rote i.e. children who have been described as Visual, Spatial, Right Brained, 3D etc Learners. They belong to an elite minority group of people who have the unusual ability to learn by seeing things from a multi-dimensional rather than linear perspective.

For them rote learning is torture – and when forced on them makes them hate learning/school, plus they may become withdrawn or introverted or in certain cases, they could rebel and become difficult to control in class. Teachers in developed societies described many children who reacted like these as having disorders like ADD, Dyslexia, etc. It is children like these that I refer to when I talk about “Educational Dyslexia”.

Your child may be one of them – and if you stay insensitive to what I say here, s/he may suffer needlessly in the course of learning!

But What Is Dyslexia?

For most parents who are not necessarily familiar with medical terminology, the Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary offers an easy to understand definition: “a slight disorder of the brain that causes difficulty in reading and spelling”. There are numerous Internet resources dedicated to providing support for children with Dyslexia. Some are maintained by research organizations, government bodies, private institutions and even individuals.

What is ironic is that many children who failed or refused to learn in these traditional ways often ended up becoming extremely successfully later on in life – sometimes in fields that require formal schooling or literacy, and in certain curious instances, without even having continued with formal schooling.

An example is Albert Einstein, whose teachers described as “dull-witted” and “would never amount to anything”. But we all know Eistein etched his name in history as one of the greatest scientific minds the world has ever seen.

Thomas Edison’s teachers had concluded he was “addled”. Consider this Oxford Advanced Learners’ dictionary application of this adjective(used derogatively to mean “confused”): His brain was addled from years of drug abuse. That means the teachers believed Edison’s brain was not functioning normally. But thankfully his mother refused to accept what they told her. If she had, we probably would not have his 1091 inventions – including the light bulb and electricity.

Here’s an excerpt from an online biography about Edision: “Edison was a poor student. When a schoolmaster called Edison "addled," his furious mother took him out of the school and proceeded to teach him at home. Edison said many years later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had some one to live for, some one I must not disappoint." - Excerpt from “The Life of Thomas Edison” (Online Biography)

Tony Buzan in his Speed Reading Book described some Common Reading Problems which he said in 90% of cases were due to wrong methods people were taught to read rather than the “illnesses” they were attributed to. It was also the parents of both Daley Thompson (World/Olympic No.1 Decathlete for 10 years - chattering all previous world record) and Mary Lou Retton(Los Angeles Olympics Gold Medallist)  who refused to accept what teachers said about their children’s difficulties with learning to read/write in school.

In the case of these two individuals, teachers had complained of their inattentiveness and hyperactivity, and recommended use of tranquilizing drugs to get them to be more subdued like other children. Instead the parents asked the schools to find ways to help the children put their extra energy to productive use. This led to each child being introduced to sports. The rest is history.

Now in all the cases described above, the Parents played a crucial and decisive role by influencing the manner in which their children were given formal schooling. They did not leave their children at the mercy of teachers who already felt overburdened with the responsibility of attending to many children. Teachers who as a result of their workload, among other things would not spare the time to try and understand the child and discover why s/he was acting different.

Why YOU Are Your Child’s Best Teacher

It is instructive to note that very often, these children who struggle with learning like this actually come across in all other areas as healthy and highly intelligent. That makes it even more difficult – for the teacher/others - to understand why they find it difficult to learn the way their peers do. These children only stand a chance when someone who truly cares takes out time to help them.

That’s why the parents have a crucial role to play. They are often their child’s only hope. But sadly, many Nigerian parents think their most important role is to pay for the school and leave the teachers to do the rest. When the child starts getting battered with negative comments about his/her performance or ability, the child is unable to muster the courage to tell the overworked, over-busy and absent-mi9nded parent what s/he is going through(that is if s/he is not too young).

When the parent learns of the child’s poor performance, the fear of ‘embarrassment” of friends and relatives learning that the child is doing badly in school makes them put pressure on the child, threaten etc. Very rarely does that help. Most times, the child struggles through that phase, but emerges with a badly battered self-image, which in adulthood reflects in a weak, introverted personality, and with few exceptions, poor academic performance.

You NEED to stop being scared of how your child's supposedly poor performance makes YOU look and focus on HELPING him/her overcome any obstacles s/he faces in learning effectively.

Children Are NOT Poultry Broiler Chicks or Catfish Babies

Broilers are hybrid poultry birds that are fed with commercial rations by farmers to get them to grow togetherr – quickly – from day-old chicks to 2kg market/table bird size in 4-6 weeks. Catfish babies(or fries) are also fed formulated rations with a similar objective of accelerating their growth to physical maturity faster than would normally have occurred if nature were allowed to take its course.

Unfortunately, our children have different rates of learning, and different “strengths” which tend very often to determine how fast they progress in different endeavours. That’s why Dr. Bruno Bethlehem’s research findings (mentioned in Robert Kiyosaki's book titled "If You Want To Be Rich & Happy, Don't Go To School?") that some children may not be READY to read until they are twelve (12) years old are quite instructive and worthy of note – for the wise parent. Stop trying to force your child(ren) to move at the same rate/pace of learning in the same areas as others. Help him/her/them find their natural learning style, pace, and interest, and BUILD on it in a way that ensures success in adulthoold.

How Do Nigerian Schools Teach Reading/Writing? Holistically Or Phonetically?

The teaching methods/techniques employed by schools and/or teachers determine to a great extent how well children learn – especially children that are visual-spatial, wholistic or 3D learners.

Most Nigerian schools have followed the look-say method of associating words with images or pictures. Samuel L. Blumenfeld is the author of six books on education, including How to Tutor and Alpha-Phonics, widely used by American homeschoolers in teaching their children to read phonetically. He also authored a book on the reading problem, The New Illiterates, in which he revealed the true origin of the look-say as Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet's method of teaching the deaf to read.

It was in Blumenfelds’ article that I first encountered the "educational dyslexia," that is, dyslexia, or reading disability, caused by the teaching method. And that was when it struck me that some children who struggled to learn the way schools teach could be doing poorly more because the teaching method conflicted with their preferred learning style than because they were less intelligent or academically capable than their peers.

Don't Let Your Child's School Turn Him/Her Into A Sight Reader

It has been said that phonetic readers become good, independent readers because they have developed a phonetic reflex which makes them read/write effortlessly. A holistic, sight reader, on the other hand, must rely on memorization of individual word forms and use all sorts of contextual strategies to get the word right.

I end this year’s last issue of my newsletter by asking you to INVEST plenty of time in helping your child(dren) develop a strong phonetic reflex that will make them more effective learners inside and outside the classroom.

Get The Book And A One-Hour Talk On This Subject FREE!

There is a lot more insight available where this came from. Most of the above are excerpts from my book titled “Does Your Child Have Educational Dyslexia?”. Invite me (Fill/submit this form, and THEN Call Me On 0803-302-1263) to speak to members of your group or oganisation today, and get a FREE copy of that book, so you can become more useful in giving your child a real-world relevant education that will make him/her a more successful learner in the real world.

SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Built-In Excel Solutions Development

ON-DEMAND LEARNING EVENT: In-House Excel-VB Programming Coaching For Your Employees

Minimise Expensive Software Purchase By Developing In-House Excel-VB Programming Expertise Among Your Staff.

Your company can eliminate vital decision making delays due to IT personnel being overloaded for instance, by empowering “champion” employees within individual departments to quickly and easily develop solutions to that address the immediate business data analysis/reporting needs of their respective units.

Other benefits of having In-House Excel-VB Solutions Development expertise:

(a). It will provide temporary alternative to - or relieve pressure on - the IT department.

(b). Provides users a useful/friendly development environment for new reports and analyses - which in turn enhances software needs definition - reducing software development or purchase costs.

(c). Empowers employees to analyse company data to improve performance.

It is my belief that just as I was able to develop over four(4) automated spreadsheet applications to solve real-life problems – in my spare time - as a non-IT staff in Guinness Nigeria Plc (read details on the about page at www.excelheaven.spontaneousdevelopment.com), your staff, if equipped with similar skills, can do the same for your company – and possibly help you AVOID expending scarce cash (1). buying expensive commercial software or (2). hiring "pricey" software developers.

Click here to learn how I have built custom Excel-VB driven software for client companies for as much as N200,000.00(Proof Available). While there you can request/download my FREE MS Excel Coaching Skills Matrix workbook and a one-page Excel VB Programming Coaching Course Outline.

Call 234-803-302-1263 to request further details.

Web www.spontaneousdevelopment.com

Click here to view other recommended resources

Yours in Self-Development!

Tayo K. Solagbade
Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist