SHEILA KING spoke of Spelling By Routman to DAN TRIPLETT on 11-30-96
SK>Dan Triplett wrote to Carl Bogardus on 10-29-96:
SK>-> About kids in England being one year ahead of American kids....I
SK>-> find this hard to believe.  We have kids in
SK>-> prekindergarten.....developmental preschools and developmental
SK>-> kindergartens.  Kids do what kids are able to do at that age
SK>-> (cognitively, socially, physically) and no early schooling will
SK>-> change the developmental sequence or hurry it up.
SK>I'm not sure that I buy into your idea that no amount of tutoring or
SK>intervention can "hurry up" a kid's developmental stage.
Before you begin to read this let me say from the start that I am in 
agreement with you on the issues you raise here.  I think we may have a 
difference in defining our terms.  We'll see how this goes.
I think we may be talking about two different ideas here.  I have read 
your entire post and you make some very valid points.  When I speak 
about "developmental" I am referring to a child's readiness for 
particular concepts (and children will arrive at this readiness stage at 
different times).  Children (all people) learn on a continuum from 
novice to expert in any given domain of learning of development.  Age 
has little to do with the developmental stage a child is in.  What I 
mean by this is that two children who are exactly the same age could be 
very different developmentally.  Even two children exactly the same age 
from homes that are equally enriching and nurturing could very well 
differ significantly developmentally.
OTOH, children who live in homes where there is not a lot of enriching 
activities and where learning is not a priority will likely have some 
learning delays.  These delays are (could be) more an environmental 
problem and here tutoring plays an important role.  A few years ago I 
had a student who couldn't seem to follow directions in whole group 
projects.  At free time he often needed to be directed toward an 
activity.  He couldn't write his name and for the most part was non-
verbal.  At our school we have a "Home Interventionist."  This is a 
teacher who will go into the home (at the request of the teacher and 
permission of parents) and work with the child on a variety of skill 
building activities.  In addition to this tutoring work, the Home I 
Teacher "teaches" the parent(s) about what they can do at home to help 
Johnny along.  In this particular case I saw immediate results.  This 
child went from non-verbal to gradually talking in front of the class.  
He began to write his name within the first two weeks of tutoring and by 
the end of the year he was slightly above average.  His progress 
continued and he is now in 4th grade and he is doing very well.  
  
SK>I know that in math I often encounter kids who seem unable to deal
SK>with abstract concepts. Yet, if they come in for regular tutoring
SK>after school for an extended length of time, not only do most of them
SK>manage to cope, but for some of them I actually see the "ah-ha" take
SK>place to where they are competent at handling this type of thing, and
SK>eventually don't need to come in for help any more. Had they not come
SK>in for extra help, they certainly wouldn't have improved and been
SK>able to "developmentally handle" these abstract concepts. 
When I use the term developmentally I don't apply it in this way.  These 
kids had developed to the point where additional lessons could get that 
light "turned on."  Developmental education considers the physical, 
intellectual, social and emotional characteristics that are _typical_ of 
children at a particular age.  These characteristics are viewed on a 
continuum since we know that children at any given age will differ 
somewhat in their development from their peers.  Since all children are 
on this "developmental continuum" then it makes sense that not all 
children will leave kindergarten (or whatever grade) at the same level 
of skills.  No amount of tutoring will take that bottom kid and make 
him/her a top kid  (I am speaking generally here...of course everyone 
can cite an exception...but exceptions are not the norm).  Should we 
give up on the tutoring....absolutely not.  But children will not learn 
skills/concepts before they are ready.  
sk>The
SK>tutoring seems to have made the difference. (I'm sure you are
SK>familiar with Bloom's taxonomy, and being able to generalize and
SK>handle abstractions is a higher level skill than working concrete
SK>examples and manipulations and calculations. Certainly such a student
SK>has reached a higher developmental stage, and it seems to have been
SK>brought about by the tutoring.)
I want you to know that I think you are absolutely right on!  I think we 
are just defining our terms differently.  Yes we can increase a child's 
understanding (if they are developmentally ready for it) by providing 
the child with many experiences with a given concept.  I think that this 
is what you have described.  The student's had the developmental ability 
but didn't have the pre-requisite skills (or experiences) to understand 
the concept.  
SK>As for reading readiness and kids who enter Pre-K or Kinder with
SK>different stages of being ready to learn...
SK>I thought that much of this (the child's readiness) was attributed to
SK>the environment that they experienced at home and whether anyone read
SK>to them and counted with them and engaged in dialogue with them,
SK>etc.. Truly some kids come to school with very little language
SK>experience (as you have noted here previously) and are not well
SK>equipped to learn to read. Whereas others come from homes where they
SK>have been immersed in language and reading and books and are quite
SK>ready. Wouldn't you term this some type of intervention which can
SK>actually make a difference in how quickly a child progresses from one
SK>developmental stage to the next? (I would.) 
Yes...again you are right on...and this has _typically_ been my 
experience.  The majority of students who do very well in my classroom 
come from homes where the things you described are taking place.  
  
sk>A child who is kept in a
SK>dark closet for years and years and given only basic physical needs
SK>for existence and now mental stimulation is hardly likely to progress
SK>from one developmental stage to the next.
Yes...this is true....and what you say here has many implications 
regarding the idea of developmental stages.  What would happen if *all* 
children lived in nurturing environments (such as the one you described 
above)?  I think that most kids would be farther along in their 
development.  
SK>I think that it is very niave to say that early schooling will not
SK>hurry a child up in a developmental sequence. 
I don't like the word "hurry."  If you said that early schooling could 
"help" a child in his/her developmental growth, then I'd buy that.  In 
my view you could help the child progress to a higher point on the 
continuum, but you can't really "hurry" a child along.  Certain ideas, 
like teaching kindergartners to add, using work sheets, are not 
"developmentally" appropriate.  
sk>I think that such
SK>thinking is essentially an excuse for us to think that students who
SK>are not doing well could not do better and cannot be helped. So we
SK>will dumb down our standards and let these kids get by on less and
SK>not try to spend tax payer dollars on improving their abilities
SK>through special learning programs and tutors and interventions.
This has crossed my mind as well (that such thinking is an "excuse")  
It's a scary thought and I would guess that it would hold true in some 
cases.  I don't mean to suggest that students cannot be helped.  I do 
mean to say that they cannot be hurried. 
SK>Is this a better topic of debate than math texts? I'm sure that
SK>others are not avoiding posting here because of the WL thread, etc..,
SK>but rather (as in my case!) due to lack of time.
Yes....it is a time consumer.  I like the discussions here because those 
that frequent here have very good perspectives on educational issues.  I 
like to disagree (notice?) because first I believe in what I am saying, 
but these issues need to be measured from opposing view points.  I 
belong to a Whole Language listserv and since every one there is pretty 
much in agreement, few questions are raised.  Both ways are healthy I 
think.  
Dan
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