Note: this post has been edited. I moved my comment, with further criticism, from the comments section to the body of the post.
One Marilyn Redmond is promising "new hope for dyslexia":
Marilyn Redmond, Clinical Hypnotist and Registered Counselor, in Edgewood, Washington is combining hypnosis with other complimentary health methods to improve the process with children and adults. When she heard the latest scientific release that Russian biophysicist and molecular biologist Pjotr Garjajev has scientifically proven that affirmations along with meditation/ hypnosis (another term for meditation) will raise consciousness, well-being, and even change DNA, she became interested in helping students with Dyslexia.
What a load of hogwash.
This is the material I added:
As justification for offering hypnosis for dyslexia, your press release reads in part:
"There is a new use for therapeutic hypnosis and holistic
counseling. Harold B. Crasilneck, Ph.D., and James A. Hall, M.D. of
Dallas Texas states that relatively little use of hypnosis is used in
treating dyslexia. However, they report that “three-fourths of the
dyslexic children treated through hypnosis demonstrated moderate to
marked improvement.” "
I went looking for scientific evidence of this claim.
1. Crasilneck and Hall as joint authors have published six articles,
according to PubMed. None deal with dyslexia, reading, or learning
disabilities.
2. The statement above implies that Crasilneck and Hall have
recently announced the effectiveness of hypnosis for dyslexia. The most
recent of their articles was published twenty-eight years ago. This is hardly
cutting-edge research,especially in light of the great increase in the roots of dyslexia revealed by brain-imaging studies by Shaywitz, Eden, Beringer and Aylward, among others. The claim that “three-fourths of the
dyslexic children treated through hypnosis demonstrated moderate to
marked improvement.” seems to be drawn from Crasilneck and Hall's 1985 handbook, Clinical hypnosis: principles and applications, 2nd Ed, Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
3. Again according to a PubMed search, there are absolutely no
controlled studies indicating that hypnosis is an effective approach to
remediating dyslexia.
4. The press release also claims that hypnosis is a valid treatment for dyslexia based on a "scientific release" from a Russian scientist, biophysicist and molecular biologist Pjotr Garjajev, with the following claims
scientifically proven that affirmations along with meditation/ hypnosis (another term for meditation) will raise consciousness, well-being, and even change DNA
Garjajev has no citations in Pubmed. The claim for DNA modulation seems to come from the article entitled, "The Biological Chip in our Cells", by Grazyna Fosar and Franz Bludorf, published on their website, "German Magazine KonteXt reports on current developments within the ranges of border science and spirituality." There are a number of claims made, but no data to back up the claims. Remember, "Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary
proof". We can reject the Fosar-Bludorf claims for lacking evidence.
5. The press release also states "Frustrated parents and schools
have not found ways to improve or resolve this malady [dyslexia] for
successful school careers." That is also not true, on two counts.
a. Dyslexia is not a "malady" in the sense of disease, ailment, or
unwholesome condition. It is a neurological variation in how the brain processes the relation between symbol and sound.
b. "not found ways to improve" --this is just a flat misstatement of truth. Multi-sensory, structured, intensive, instruction in synthetic phonics will allow most children to learn to read. Anne Alexander and Anne-Marie Slinger Constant's article "Current Status of Treatments for Dyslexia: Critical Review" (J Child Neurol. 2004; 19 (10): 744-758.) is perhaps the most comprehensive current review:
treatment studies have shown that the majority of children respond to evidence-based treatment interventions
Yes, there are children who continue to struggle despite being in comprehensive programs, and there is certainly room for improvment in both diagnosis and treatment options. Alexander and Constant suggest a checklist:
- An evidence-based program to remediate dyslexia and the phonological system weakness
- Evaluate child's ability to focus/pay attention (remediate as necessary)
- Evaluate the child's working memory function (remediate as necessary)
- Evaluate the child's executive function,(remediate as necessary)
- Evaluate the child's sensorimotor capacity (the ability for fine and gross motor control. Deficits in this area can lead to dysgraphia. (remediate as necessary)
- Evaluate the child's psychological status (ADHD and dyslexia have a high degree of co-incidence; anxiety disorders also seem to be associated with specific language disorders)
I do not see the utility for a primary, secondary, or even tertiary role for hypnosis in the checklist above.
Parents, if your child has difficulty learning to read, do not waste your child's precious brain, or your money, on twaddle such as hypnosis. (Or colored lenses, or balance training, or optometric interventions like vision therapy, or seasickness drugs or movement therapies.)
Back to the original post:
What should parents of poor readers do? Here's what works: multisensory, methodical instruction in phonemic awareness, grapheme-phoneme correspondence, and further training in the structure of the English language.
If there isn't a Masonic Children's Learning Center near you, an independent Orton-Gillingham-based remedial program (see list below), or you can't find other help, go to Susan Barton's website and learn to tutor your child.
A list of good solid programs follows. Here's a description of effective teaching.
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