[etni] Fw: letter from Phyllis Oded

From: "Ask_Etni" <ask@xxxxxxxx>
To: "ETNI" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 20:26:03 +0300
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Phylllis Oded - phylliso@xxxxxxxxxx

Dear David:

I read with deep regret the letter written to ETNI by the dyslexic student 
who will most likely not do well on his English exam/s [if he passes at all] 
because of the 'new' modifications instigated by the Bd. of Ed.

As the mother of a severely dyslexic son [now age 33], I can only say that 
my son graduated high school in Israel due to 'shiach-tuv', by dictating the 
answers to a teacher who wrote them down for him AFTER reading the 
texts/exam/questions to him aloud.

Not only that, but he is about to  finish his M.A. in criminology because he 
has been permitted to dictate all the exams to a third party all along.

 It may be true that many students 'buy' their compensations. After all, 
those testers charge around 3,000 shekels so they HAD BETTER fulfill request 
compensations, usually in the form of 25% more time on each exam. It is the 
true dyslexic student who will now suffer due to this 'inflation'. These are 
bright students for the most part, who have severe difficulties in reading 
and writing. [My son would try to read the word 'window' for example, 
mouthing 'M' instead of 'W', so no wonder he couldn't understand the word! 
He would write 'dab' for 'bad'; forget about the nightmare of spelling!]

I can only say that had there not been 'shiach-tuv' when he did his bagrut 
exam in English, he, a native speaker born in Israel but made to speak 
English and only English with his mother [me] from birth, and who is now 
studying in NYC, would never have achieved his bagrut certificate. I well 
remember Dr. Judy Steiner's exceptional personal intervention on his behalf 
when she permitted him to do an additional Unseen rather than the cloze 
exercise, which he could never cope with.

 We are dealing with human beings, who through no fault of their own, have 
been born with this particular defect.

No matter how hard they try, and believe me, they DO try hard, they will 
continue to have these problems. Too bad the Bd. of Ed. is insensitive; this 
problem is NOT going to just 'go away'. We will only lose bright students 
who will be dropped from the system due to the lack of sensitivity and 
compassion once shown to them.

What a pity! We are educators! We know that not each child is the same. Let 
us work on the strength of each student and not penalize him for his 
weakness/es! Is there anybody UP THERE listening???

Sincerely, Phyllis Oded
 


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[etni] Fw: letter from Phyllis Oded

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