| Dr. Marlon Kuntze's Address |
| Wednesday, 02 July 2008 | |
"Learning to read: The story behind the stories"Presentation by Dr. Marlon KuntzeHere are some excerpts/summaries of Dr. Kuntze's presentation: About Deaf program at Boston University --Guess who started it years ago? A.G. Bell. Very ironic! A Biological Fact --Everything in the biological world is a product of the interaction between the organism and the environment. (All of us have histories which contribute to who we are. How do we become who we are? It's the interaction with the environment that shapes the organism into its adult form.) --How an organism reacts to the environment is a product of its genetic characteristics --The quality I'm a nature lover. I enjoy forests. I saw many parallels between trees and other organisms. Compare trees that are in a severe climate vs. trees in a more temperate climate. Those in the severe climate--much more difficult to grow. Trees in the temperate climate you'll see lush branches. Both a product of their environment. The human brain Here on this slide is a tree that is "bushy" with many branches, but as the tree grows taller there are fewer branches near the bottom. Why? Part of it is lack of sunshine--no access to the sun. Branches near the top do have access to the sun. There are different growing conditions, even though it's the same forest. Within one forest you can see a variety of trees, all naturally occurring, depending on their environment. What's the point? The brain is very complicated, and it's difficult to understand how it works. We can't remove a brain from a living person and look at it function. For the Deaf child, it is the environment that shapes the Deaf child's brain as well. All of us here know that sign language is very important. The issue of "the signing environment" is important. Genetics is important. Children have different skills and a different genetic make-up. That can't be changed. But the environment CAN be changed to create a better outcome. Mental stimulation is very important. There are many things that affect people. Other types of stimuli do not affect people. Biological responses are important. It's important that we make sure that the stimulation is there as early as possible and is adequate to make sure that the child becomes fully literate. (We'll discuss the meaning of "fully literate" later.) In the brain there are billions of neurons. When a child is born the brain is still developing and changing. A neuron is similar to an electric wire. It does conduct electricity. The dendrites complete the connection. This is analogous to the young trees growing and reaching toward the sun. In the same way, in a child's brain, there needs to be stimulation while the dendrites and neurons are developing. If the stimulation is not there, it will be similar to the way a tree lacks branches when there is inadequate sunlight. These are biological facts. Synaptic connections Complex connections from all directions... thousands of billions of connections like this (slide). It's a very complex, intricate network. Billions of neurons all interacting with each other...new connections developing. If there's no stimulation, those neurons will be "pruned," just as what happens in the forest. Overproduction and retraction The Brain in Childhood When a child is born there are important developmental benchmarks along the way. Certain things grow at a certain rate. One of the things that develops right away is the brain....The brain grows quickly, more rapidly than other parts of the body. As the child develops, then other aspects of physicality develop appropriately. At the age of 5, those processes are basically set. The brain is pretty much at its optimum size. So everything that will be developed, within the brain, is basically set at age 5. Dendritic Spreading Dendrites looking for expansion... At 24 months there is a "sea" of dendrites. But even as early as 6 months, the retraction starts. The overproduction and retraction eventually levels out. The retraction continues for life. Timetable of synaptic overproduction and gradual retraction All of these basic functions... seeing, hearing, breathing... all of the things necessary for higher functioning, higher reasoning--all of these early experiences are very important. By two or three the brain is expanding and gaining more of all of those experiences. Pattern of gradual retraction The architecture stays the same. Who an adult is is so much dependent on the type of experiences they've had growing up. Sensitive periods (aka critical periods) Understanding the way synaptic connections work, and the effect of the environment. It all relates back to the basic foundation which must be started early. The pattern of neural connections is vital. The stimulation needs to be there (in early childhood). There's no way to get it back, if the opportunity was missed. Once it's gone, it's gone. Some "pruning" in the brain is normal, just like with trees. Too much pruning is dangerous. Some amount of pruning is good, but not too much. And it has to be done in the right way. The things that are essential for future growth must stay there and not be pruned. All this has a profound effect on life. Babies need stimulation. Scientific studies of rats. Studied old and young rats. Put an old rat who did not have a lot of stimulation in an environment were there was a lot of stimulation. The younger rats did better with more stimulation compared to the older rat. For example, the older rat had lived in a cage with only one wheel. The younger rats did so much better when they had so much more stimulation before that. If you place a child in a wrong environment with a lack of stimulation, at a certain point it's going to be too late. If you put them in a rich environment with lots of stimulation (it will be much better). Results of the lack of complex engagement How does a child develop? They need their brains. If they don't use their brains to think early, it's going to be difficult later. Problem solving, being motivated---if they had or have the right stimulation, then that motivation will occur. We can do something about the environment. Many times a parent will give the child the same environment that the parent had growing up. There is a shared experience. Maybe those types of experiences are not optimal for that particular child. Continuation of the story: The story behind the scenes in learning to read.[Quote from Deaf Ed paper:] "....the fundamental discrepancy between the child's incomplete spoken language system and the demands of a second, speech-based written language."Let's examine this quote... The word "incomplete". Think about written language. Why is there the assumption that it needs to be speech based? A Deaf child does not acquire spoken language. The theory is that if spoken language skills are lacking then it is virtually impossible to learn written language. Perfetti and Sandak--their perspective is WRONG. It's audio-centric logic. They think there is only one route to take in learning to read, which is using auditory English to build written English skills. This is the way they look at Deaf children, claiming that Deaf children have limited potential for developing literacy. When people see this analysis (such as AG Bell) The flawed logic of "little is better than nothing" People who follow Perfetti and Sandak think that they are right (!), that spoken English skills are essential. Often times sign language is looked at as being useless in helping a Deaf child learn to read (because signing and written English is so different). They hang onto the wrong philosophy that spoken English is essential in the development of being able to understand written English. Misapplication of theory. They encourage sign language to be done in English word order. These are the people (who are hearing people) who have been in control of the curriculum that is used with Deaf children. We need to take that power back and be in control of how our children learn to read. Deaf people KNOW how children can learn to read. We need to start thinking "out of the box." That is the job we need to focus on now. Think out of the box and convince the larger society to do so as well. Many Deaf individuals have wonderful reading skills, but they have never heard the spoken word. We need to examine these individuals and do more research on how they developed written English skills, even though they did not hear spoken English. Deaf people's skills are much different. When Deaf people talk about English, they usually mean written English, not spoken English. The developed English skills by reading a lot as children. Deaf people KNOW. And we can show them the way. Because their way has failed up until now. Hearing people view written English as being based on spoken English. We have two very different perspectives (because written English is a language in itself.) This explains why the struggle has existed, because hearing people and Deaf people are talking about two different things. Social process of written English acquisition Complex engagement when reading a book to or with child --How to help them get to the next level, to gain mastery, making inferences The Deaf child is fine. The problem in the past, when some Deaf children did not learn to read, is the environment. The environment can be changed. Sign language can be used to develop literacy. We need to build that institutional support for the early use of of ASL. We have to change people's thinking and challenge their mental constructs. We need to build structure that will allow ASL to be provided to all Deaf children. Historically there have been many efforts to suppress and even annihilate ASL. There is a strong, English-only movement. Systems such as SEE have caused damaged and wasted time. ASL is the answer. ASL is the answer. Once we help people see that, I think we will see major changes. Deaf people have adapted to the environment that we live in. That is how we came to have Deaf culture. The experiences we've had helps us develop our thinking. This can help Deaf children, as long as they are provided that visual environment. Deaf children depend on the visual mode. We need to support that and make sure they are given optimal conditions for learning. Individuals have different capabilities. Biology (heredity) is important, too (as well as environment). The environment is key, and is something we really need to look at. Where is the information? We've already had the experiences. We ARE a reference. We are a system of resources. Those resources have not been tapped into yet. A child is born...A baby is Deaf....The baby is not disabled. It could BECOME disabled if the environment is not right. The baby has all the capability of developing its brain...They are born ready for a rich life. |
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