Her lack of reading skills, Ms. Simpson recalls, exasperated teachers and family to the point where some suspected she was mentally retarded. The narrative of Reversals is a mix of memoir and nontechnical explanations of dyslexia and current efforts to treat it. This reissued paperback includes an updated introduction and a list of services and support organizations for dyslectics. This anthology is composed of essays and personal narratives by aspiring young urban writers who describe their daily struggle for survival. Fear, abuse, poverty, drugs, and sexuality are just a few.
Adrenaline flows faster than questions.
Hectic belong to Youth Communication, a New York City-based organization founded in 1980 that develops young writers. In Reading Lessons , educational psychiatrist Gerald Coles offers a critical analysis of how these approaches to literacy education fail children. The problem lies not in the method of teaching, he argues, but in educators' attitude toward literacy. Mr. Coles, who also wrote The Learning Mystique , urges readers to set aside arguments over teaching methods and inherent learning capabilities. Such factors as a student's health, emotional well-being, and socioeconomic status, he contends, are more important to learning than the exact method of instruction.