The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 6

I The VANCOUVER SUN: Mar. 6, 1973 SOII If We are suffering an epidemic of reading disability affecting 75 per cent of our children. The cost in heartache, humiliation personality problems and wasted lives is beyond measurement Now it seems possible the problem can be eliminated. This is the message of an important new book. p.

heartach must we seho of Tfo shot Reading disability can be predicted with nearly 80 per cent accuracy at kindergarten level. Once detected, relatively simple diagnostic measures define the problem so effective intervention can begin. Dy Dr. Carl Ilino f. Pttm I -r.

Our world is full of signs even signs which say "window" like this one at the Vancouver School Board Reading Centre. When you're a child and, you can't read, I loneliness is being on the outside looking in These facts, and other crucial information, are presented by two internationally recognized authorities in a new book: Preventing Reading Failure: Prediction, Diagnosis, Intervention. (Fltzberry Whiteside Toronto). Jeannette Jansky, clinical psychologist and Katrina de Hirsch, language specialist, have been working at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York for 30 years researching the causes and cures of reading disability. Recognizing the crucial importance of being able to predict which first graders are likely to have a reading problem, they have experimented for years in order to discover the best possible predictive methods.

In 196 they published their first book, Predicting Reading Failure. They continued their research, utilizing a sample of 401 children who were followed through grade two. Beginning with a battery of 19 predictive tests, they found that a group of five specific tests has the highest predictive ability. it This battery is called the "screening and predicts with 79 per cent accuracy when children are likely to fail to learn to read. At the top of the list of predictive tests is one called "letter naming." Other noted researchers Jeanne Chall, Selma Fraiberg and Donald Durrell have all emphasized that the child who comes to grade one knowing the alphabet and being able to name the letters is much less apt to have a reading problem.

Jansky and de Hirsch state that their scientific validation of this fact confirms their own clinical impressions. One of the exciting features of their predictive screening index is that it can be administered to large groups of children. It requires only about IS minutes to administer. Furthermore, teachers or para-professionals can easily be taught to administer the tests. Those children who are identified as being vulnerable to reading disability can be given diagnostic testing to further identify the nature of their problem.

The authors have developed an excellent, easy to administer diagnostic meth- Glenn Baglo Photo and others have pointed out "only by sustained, painstaking, innovative action can one hope to launch children in careers of fruitful learning." De Hirsch emphasizes that for children with reading disabilities, small group teaching or one-to-one teaching appears to be most effective. "The younger the child, the greater the need for small groups." Emphasis is placed upon the importance of the extensive training and use of volunteers, students, para-professionals, and community based per- 6onneL This makes the required pro-" grams economically feasible. UV This book provides a beautiful blue-sprint for action. By following the sea- soned and carefully researched methods outlined here, countless children can be spared the painful ignominy of failing to learn to read. The current epidemic of reading disability affects 15 per cent of our children.

It is the leading cause of emotional problems in children and of school dropouts. Eighty per cent of youngsters in juvenile court suffer from this problem. The costs in heartache, humiliation, personality problems and wasted lives is beyond measurement No child should fail to learn to read, given the appropriate individual help. It seems highly possible that following the format offered by Jansky. and de Hirsch could all but eliminate, reading disabilities from out schools.

The meaning of this most important preventive mental health measure is almost tod exciting to dare to hope for, yet it lies', within our reach. Afl of the forces of our, society should be mobilized to bring this program into being. If not now, when? I Dr. Kline is a clinical associate professor in UBC's department of child psychiatry. Ihere me no tree the at od which is described in detail in their book.

About 15 per cent of children tested will be identified as having a reading problem. Once diagnosed, these children can be helped in small groups individually in some instances, sparing them the frustration, humiliation and defeat of failing to learn to read. The reading readiness tests now in wide use in schools have been under fire for some time. Jansky says most tests reflect only one underlying competence. She also criticizes various tests, some widely used, which examine skills which are in no way related to learning to read.

As an example she cites that it is doubtful that a diagnosis of various aspects of a child's motor ability is pertinent to reading. Jansky and de Hirsch emphasize the fundamental importance of training in oral language development and verbal patterns matching and memory in preparing children for reading. They found, in fact, that among all factors studied, oral language was the most important contributor to later performance. They state that "even massive perceptual difficulty can be offset by superiority in the verbal area." While teacher competence was found to be a distinct factor in failure rates, it is not the only factor. The authors issue a gentle warning to educators and parents in their statement: "The field of reading is, if anything, more vulnerable to faddisra than are other areas and some bizarre findings have been used for the basis for elaborate and costly treatment programs." Jansky finds that structured settings are best and that in children who succeed against odds one usually finds a devoted teacher or tutor who serves as a model.

She emphasizes that "the major emphasis is upon mastery and its inherent rewards; it is not in game playing, not in finishing a workbook, not in pleasing the teacher." James Gayrs' observations annulled by fiat But one was not prepared for anger quite so vitriolic. In the discourse between the White House and the Hill hardly any courtesy remains. "He treats us like dirt," a representative with eight years' service in the House remarked bitterly of his president. "Wait until I get at that son-of-a-bitch's defence budget." For all this animosity, the White House and the Congress are both aware of and catering to a potent popular emotion. Among Americans today there is a rising tide of choler.

For me the tour's most revealing observation was not delivered at the briefing at the Foreign Affairs Fudge Factory, American columnist Joseph Kraft's far-from-affectionate nickname for the state department it was overheard in the airport bar. An American bureaucrat is talking with a European visitor. "When are you going to send us your Marshall Plan?" The question is not so facetious as may be supposed. There is a concern amounting to vindictiveness that a quarter century of American benevolence has built no credit in the bank. A sense of unrequited generosity is souring U.S.

attitudes towards allies, poisoning the wells of friendship. The countries of the Common Market are mainly chivvied for their selfishness, along with the Japanese. But there is the feeling, too which Senator Vance Hartke who brought a reporter to the meeting to break its bonds of confidentiality so that his allegation that the auto pact is a species of U.S. foreign aid to Canada would resound widely outside the foreign relations committee room is exploiting very skillfully that Canada owes the United States a better deal and living. Making every allowance for the special strain on U.S.

policy-makers during a day when their diplomats were kidnapped and their dollar was under attack, there can be no mistaking the querulous and defensive mood in which Washington is or will soon be talking to Ottawa about an agenda where the need state Katrina de Hirsch, probably the greatest living authority on the subject, writes the chapter on "intervention." Meaningful intervention should begin -in the important early years of the child's life. This does not mean teaching babies to read. It means seeing to it that they get plenty of oral stimulation. Talking with children and exposing them to beautiful, well-written, age-appropriate stories helps to build good facility in receptive and in expressive language. Parental involvement in these earliest teacher roles is highly important De Hirsh is critical of methods of teaching children to read which have no direct relationship with reading itself.

lunches for improving the American balance-of-trade position is sure to be to the fore. Dean Acheson's warning long ago that Canadians must not take the U.S. for granted has never been more pointed. There is a grievance over our behavior in the Michelin affair. Washington was not consulted, learned of our plans to lure the plant to Nova Scotia by lavish subdies from the Financial Times of London.

Washington then warned Ottawa that U.S. laws would lead to countervailing duties. We responded, somewhat airily, that we'd looked into that and were not worried. To which the Americans icily replied that they thought they knew their laws as well as we did, maybe better. So it proved.

Lunch at the state department was rich in fare, Cornish rock hen, rice, asparagus, a Chateauneuf du Pape, if anything a degree too noble for the occasion, richer still in symbolism. "The department of tour members were informed on their arrival, "has kindly made available to us the suite of diplomatic reception rooms on the 8th floor. These are used by the secretary of state for formal receptions in honor of distinguished visitors. "They are elegantly furnished with antiques and pieces from the department's historical collection. We are deeply grateful to the department of state for making these rooms available to us.

"It is an unusual privilege, and we have decided to take advantage of it There is, however, a liability on our part We will have to pay for our lunch. We believe members will be willing to meet the additional cost of $15 per person. There is no such thing as a free lunch, especially at the department of state. When you sup with its secretary, it is not enough to use a long spoon, you should carry a big wad. With the arrival of the Cornish rock hen, toasts were proposed to the Queen of Canada and the president of the United States.

Sheer cowardice propelled me from my seat as we drank to the health of a man I am profoundly convinced is guilty of crimes of war. Reflecting on all that we had learned. I thought of a more appropriate toast department She attacks programs such as the De-lacto patterning technique which takes children back to activities they may have missed during their early stages of development, such as crawling, in the belief that this kind of "catching up" experience will gravitate to reading. She is also critical of related neurological programs, such as fitting pegs into holes, and walking on balance boards, which are designed for improving perception, but, rPain, do not relate directly to reading. All learning to read methods, she stresses, must centre on the language and the child.

She disapproves of the use 1 of teaching machines, which flash words and phrases on a screen, because the most important consideration is the spontaneous inter-relationship between teacher and pupil, which helps to foster a sense of excitement and discovery. The hope for instant enrichment and miracle cures is a vain one. As Deutsch OPENING SOON GUESS VJHO MAUDS A $4.95 S7GACI TASTE LIKG A niLLION 3 1 lit mi Need a carpenter for home repairs? You'll find men and materials in the Classified Section of The Sun. To place a Sun Want Ad phone: 736-2211 i A group of 90 Canadians from all walks of life bank presidents, investment tycoons, mining magnates, timber barons, titans of petroleum, moguls of manufacturingwas trundled down to Washington last week for a briefing on what the U.S. policy community currently thinks about and expects from us.

1 This meeting of our business elite (overwhelmingly Wasp and entirely male, as sociologist John Porter would have noted without surprise) with the Washington end of what has been called "the U.S.-Canadian constellation" all of those components of the American policy machine which generate those acts of state directly or indirectly bearing upon Canada was an event of con-' siderable historical importance. Nothing quite like it has happened before. Nothing quite like it may happen again. There was not time enough in a 2V4 days' visit to touch base at all of the nine executive departments, six execu-, tive offices, and two independent agencies which, in addition to the White House and the Congress, comprise the U.S.-Canadian constellation. But there was time enough for a morning with Senators Muskie, Ful-bright, Aiken and Hartke, lunch with a congeries of Congressmen, an afternoon at the treasury, and a full day at the state department Within the letter and I trust the spirit of the awesome oath of secrecy which the few media people in attendance were sworn to honor and obey "The information obtained during the tour is for background use only.

"It may not be attributed to any briefing officer, speaker or participant" here are some impressions of the moods of the moment Washington is White House City. King Richard reigns in splendid isolation. A strong president wise in the ways of power in his nation's capital, sets his mark and tone on everything. So all-pervasive has presidential rule become that the separation of powers has not just been threatened, it is being overwhelmed. At these encroachments on their traditional prerogatives Congressmen emit a strangled cry.

One had read beforehand of senatorial anguish as act after act program after program, were virtually for future Canadian-American gatner-ings: Here's to you and here's to me. And may we never disagree. But if by chance we ever do Then here's to me and to hell with you. homos Adams ESTABLISHED 1802.