Dyslexia Manifesto - An approach to language learning disorder

Dyslexic learners have great deal of trouble functioning in the world of written signs. The best approach to teaching them successfully is called the Orton-Gillingham (O-G) method of instruction. O-G is a kind of biopolitics, an apparatus for managing difference through a cascade of orchestrated techniques. Through a tight series of visual and auditory drills, structured multisensory repetition, detailed analysis of errors, thorough attention to patterns and exceptions, and calculated practice, O-G brings a strict order to language’s unruly assemblages. Researches have shown that children with language-learning disorder can be taught to see the word, the whole word, and nothing but the word. It works – we can teach most people to understand the relation between sounds, symbols, and meaning, to both apprehend and produce them in the proper order. We can teach most people to read and write. Building on Jacques Rancière’s insight into words as “silent paintings,” William Connolly’s analysis of neuropolitics, and Walter Ong’s analysis of oral and written language, Prof. Kathy E. Ferguson analyzes the sensorium of dyslexic learners and considers the various ways that our educational system has failed dyslexic learners, as well as ways that different educational approaches could serve them.

Ticket Information
Free and open to the public

Event Sponsor
Political Science, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Wumaier Yilamu, (808) 956-8357, wumaier@hawaii.edu, Ferguson's poster (PDF)

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