Vijaysimha, Indira
(2009)
The reading disease.
Learning Curve (13).
pp. 4-5.
Abstract
“Reading is like an infectious disease: it is
caught not taught. (And you can't catch it
from someone who hasn't got it...)
- Christine Nuttall (1983: 1927)
In my own case I was infected very early and managed
to infect my first born before her first birthday! No, she
was not a child prodigy, nor would she have managed to
pass the simplest (grade inappropriate) test for
reading. But consider this: she could perform a series
of actions corresponding to the text of the story,
(Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit) no doubt an imitation of
my own actions as I read aloud the story to the infant.
In a short while she would toddle off to the book shelf
stuffed with sundry books of all sorts and unerringly
pick out her book. Neither of us is clear about when or
how she picked up the actual mechanics of reading. We
have complementary memories of experimenting with
Doman's 'whole' word approach that was quickly
abandoned. In the years that followed, this child
seemed to go through her days absorbed in reading,
managing chores with one hand while the other held a
book. At meal times I invoked my mother's rule for us
when we were children, “No reading while eating.” As
you can see the reading disease has to be managed in
order to allow vital functions to take place.
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