From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
Parents often ask me, “My child struggles with reading. What’s the best reading program for him?” Unfortunately, for two reasons, this question can’t be answered. First, programs do not teach reading–teachers do. As Richard Allington, past President of the International Reading Association, so rightly asserted: “In the end, enhanced reading proficiency rests largely on the capacity of classroom teachers to provide expert, exemplary reading instruction. . . . Teaching cannot be packaged. Exemplary teaching is not regurgitation of a common script but is responsive to children’s needs. In the end it will become clearer that there are no ‘proven programs,’ just schools in which we find more expert teachers–teachers who need no script to tell them what to do.”
