Why Our Children Can't Read and What We Can Do about It - by Diane McGuinness (Paperback)

About the Book

Drawing on 25 years of cutting-edge research, the author presents scientific support for a new method of teaching children how to read that provides a real solution to the national literacy crises.

Book Synopsis

In America today, 43 percent of our children fall below grade level in reading. In her meticulously researched and groundbreaking work, Diane McGuinness faults outmoded reading systems for this crisis -- and provides the answers we need to give our children the reading skills they need. Drawing on twenty-five years of cutting-edge research, Dr. McGuinness presents bold new "phoneme awareness" programs that overcome the tremendous shortcomings of other systems by focusing on the crucial need to understand and hear reliably the sounds of a language before learning to read. Maintaining that any child can be taught to read fluently if given proper instruction, she dramatically reveals how dyslexia and behavior problems such as ADD stem not from neurological disorders but from flawed methods of reading instruction. With invaluable information on remedial reading programs that can correct various ineffective reading strategies, this book is a must for concerned parents, teachers, and others who want to make a difference.

Review Quotes

E.D. Hirsch, Jr. author of Cultural Literary A superb achievement...This clearly written and authoritative work is the work to read for parents and teachers who wish everyone in our democracy to be able to read.

From the Foreword, by Steven Pinker author of The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works Why Our Children Can't Read is one of the most important books of the decade. Read it for your own pleasure and enlightenment, and buy copies for the people in control of your children's education.

Rita Kramer The Wall Street Journal The real news this book brings us is that no child has to fail at learning to read, that there are ways to help those who have trouble without consigning them to the dustheap of special ed classes. For parents of children with reading problems, this book is a clear guide to effective remedial programs.

About the Author

Diane McGuinness, Ph.D., is a cognitive-development psychologist and Professor at the University of South Florida. The author of When Children Don't Learn, she lives in Sanibel, Florida.