Unlocking Literacy: Guiding Non-Readers to Success with Dr. Joseph Lockavitch

Imagine a classroom where every child reads confidently, their eyes alight with understanding. Today literacy sage, Dr. Joseph Lockavitch, unveils the blueprint to literacy success for non-readers. We tackle the daunting educational crisis head-on, discussing Dr. Lockavitch's revolutionary Failure-Free Reading Program, dissecting the unique challenges non-readers face. From the '30% factor' to the critical role of reading with comprehension and expression, we'll equip you with the knowledge to identify and support diverse learners in transcending their reading barriers.

As we journey through the transformative power of literacy, Dr. Lockavitch shares his beacon of hope for at-risk children. Hear how a ninth-grader from the Bronx, once lost in the shadows of illiteracy, found his way to the light through tailored intervention strategies, a rich vocabulary, and the essential background knowledge that turns words into worlds. This chapter is a treasure trove of insights for anyone invested in seeing students not just read but relate to the text, unlocking academic and lifelong success.

But the inspiration doesn't end there. We celebrate the incredible strides made by middle schoolers from low-income families, thanks to a vocabulary improvement program that dared them to reach beyond their grasp. With practical advice on how parents can become language teachers and navigators through the common roadblocks of reading comprehension, this episode is a testament to the untapped potential in every child. Join Dr. Lockavitch and me as we share these success stories, shining a light on the bright side of education where every non-reader can find their voice and every child can embrace the joy of reading.

To learn more about Dr. Joe Lockavitch and The Failure Free Reading Program, go to FailureFreeOnline.com.

Transcript

Dr Lisa Hassler: 0:10

Welcome to the Brighter Side of Education. I'm your host, Dr. Lisa Hassler, here to enlighten and brighten the classrooms in America through focused conversation on important topics in education. In each episode, I discuss problems we as teachers and parents are facing and what people are doing in their communities to fix it. What are the variables and how can we duplicate it to maximize student outcomes? In this episode, I discuss intervention strategies for non-readers. Is there an alternate instructional approach to quickly turn non-readers into readers?

Dr Lisa Hassler: 0:42

In the United States, a staggering 70% of adults behind bars struggle to read beyond a fourth grade level, while a concerning 90% of those relying on welfare have dropped out of high school. Shockingly, over 80% of individuals who don't manage to secure a high school diploma faced reading difficulties as early as third grade. This educational crisis not only limits opportunities, but also holds people hostage, eroding their self-worth. As of the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress N-A-E-P report, a discouraging 67% of fourth grade students were found to lack proficiency in reading. Digging deeper, 37% of these students fell below the basic level, indicating a deficiency in essential language skills required for fluent reading and comprehension. To address this issue, struggling and non-reading students often received interventions such as reduced group sizes, slow down instruction and intensive phonics focus. Regrettably, these measures can be slow and arduous, yielding minimal gains for the kids involved.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 1:46

However, the question that lingers is what sets non-readers apart and what tailored approaches are needed to make a real difference in their lives. Joining me today to discuss this instructional approach to empower students with chronic reading challenges is Dr Joe Lakovic. He's a former teacher, school psychologist, professor and special education director. As a pioneer in the field of literacy education, dr Lakovic developed the Failure-Free Reading Program, joseph's Readers Talking Software for Non-Readers and Verbal Master, an accelerated vocabulary program. Welcome to the show, Joe Well hello, Dr Lisa.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 2:24

What a joy to be with you today.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 2:26

Can you tell us about yourself and how you came to create the Failure-Free Reading Program?

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 2:31

I'm a former classroom teacher, university professor, school psychologist, special ed director and at one time I had the opportunity to have a national radio talk show called Reading Show with Dr. Joe, which was a lot of fun, as you well know. But primarily my work has been centered around the classroom and creating classroom solutions for the practitioner, as well as solutions for the frustrated parent, the parent who's out there seeking solutions to stop the tears or to reduce the anger or to look forward to actually going to school to hear something positive.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 3:16

So what are the characteristics of a non-reader and how does your program meet their unique instructional needs?

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 3:23

Well, that's a good question, Lisa. I'm glad you asked that, and, in order to answer it, I'm going to do it in two parts. The first part is I wanted to spend just less than 60 seconds talking about the state of reading research, and then I'll get to the three characteristics associated with non-readers. The first thing is and if I get too long, when did you tell me? But, as you well know, dr Lisa, reading is probably the most researched topic in all of education. Literally thousands of articles have been written over the years, but if there is one universal that you can take to the bank, it's that, while they're looking for a solution, they haven't come up with a solution that's 100% effective for all kids in all situations, and that is really due to two things the first is neurodiversity, and the second is what I call the 30% factor. We're all different. We all bring to the table strengths and weaknesses. Reading programs are no different as well. Based on who created them, based on their methodology, their approach, their philosophy, they're going to look at the issue of reading differently. Now, that said and, by the way, I also need to do one more thing I have to give you a working definition of reading.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 4:54

When I talk reading, I'm talking as demonstrated by comprehension. So reading, by my definition, is more than simply recognizing words. Reading is gaining meaning from the printed page, as demonstrated when a student, whether they're emerging readers or established readers, as demonstrated by expressive fluency. When a student reads with expression, then that student is demonstrating that they have comprehension. Far too often, when people talk reading, they're simply talking word recognition, they're talking decoding, they're talking sounding the words out. And so if I put a passage in front of you and asked you to read it, some kids would get all the words right, but you ask them what they've read at the end and they'd say I don't know, bitch me. And when you listen to them read, you'll hear, generally speaking, no pausing at commas, no, stopping at periods, a monotone, expressionless voice. That's not me. What I'm talking about are kids that read with expression, and when they read with expression, then they read with me.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 6:19

So, getting back to what we've said, all programs work. They don't work for all kids because of the principle of neurodiversity. You have to understand that there are kids out there that simply don't bring to the table what is demanded of them. Now that's where I get to the 30% factor. Just like you can say, all reading programs work and they don't work for all kids, what my research has shown is pretty much that, regardless of the intervention that you're using, up to 30% of those kids are not going to respond to it.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 6:59

Well, and so if that's the case, we have to look at why, and that's when we get into the whole notion of my three characteristics that the kids are PD, ed and LD. Ld doesn't mean learning disabled, that the PD is the most controversial part of my program, simply because when people jump into it they don't realize what I've prefaced on the whole notion of all programs work and the concept of neurodiversity. Does that make sense? Yes, so what are the three characteristics? When I said PD, it stood for a term that I've coined, which is phonetically deaf.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 7:49

Now like it or don't like it, there are kids sitting in classrooms that don't have a good ear for sounds. You go cat and they'll go cat and finally they'll say the words cat and the kid will say why didn't you tell me so in the first place? So what I found is that there are kids out there that need an alternative, and it's not the phonics is bad. Now let me say that again. It's not the phonics is bad. It's just that a lot of times, when being taught, they don't understand where it fits into the process because they don't understand what the process is. Now, if you already know what the process is, then you know why phonics is good, but if you are just beginning to understand that process, then adults need to understand why it can be bad for some kids. Let me give you an example.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 8:47

My favorite analogy is riding a bike, and so I'm going to teach you how to ride a bike to equally effective but totally different ways. I'm not saying that one is better than the other, and I'm going to ask you a couple of questions, but I will not embarrass you. Thank you, it'll all work out well. It's Saturday morning, it's a cold winter's day, I bring you into the garage, and in the garage, on the floor, are all the various bike parts. There's the wheels, there's the spokes, there's the handlebars, there's the gears. And I'm going to start drilling you on wheels, spokes, handlebars, gears, okay, yeah, now Lisa, I don't care if it's hours, I don't care if it's days, I don't care if it's weeks, months or years. You ain't getting on that bike until you can tell me about wheels, spokes, handlebars, brake, pedals and gears. What's the second way I can teach you how to ride the bike?

Dr Lisa Hassler: 9:53

Get on the bike and go.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 9:55

And get you on the bike and be next to you and as you experience or feel what it feels like to ride that bike. I'll tell you about handlebars, I'll tell you about brakes, I'll tell you about gears.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 10:11

Yeah.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 10:12

The first technique very effective for many, is a skills first approach.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 10:19

Okay.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 10:20

The second technique is a process first approach. My work is stressed on the notion of getting them to understand the process, so that once they understand what it feels like to read, then the skills make sense. Thoughts.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 10:42

It's just a different strategy for the same outcome. So I look at anything in life and you have to have different entry points. They make sense to different minds, but with the same result.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 10:53

The key here for the parent to understand that if they're not doing well, the first step is why. What's being taught and how is it being taught in the classroom. If it's a skills first approach and your kid doesn't get phonics initially or gets phonics but then understand why it's important which is also a thing you get a lot of kids that develop what's known as splinter skill, so you're teaching them a particular skill with a qualified professional and you're spending a great deal of time and energy teaching it.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 11:34

Yeah.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 11:34

So they master the skill and in this case would be decoding but they can't generalize it. So they've learned a compartmentalized skill that, while good while being taught, doesn't have the applicability the one would expect.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 11:54

Yeah, I've seen that a lot.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 11:56

So I'm going to ask you a question Is Dr Joe anti-phonics?

Dr Lisa Hassler: 12:00

No.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 12:01

Thank you, because that's the biggest difficulty. I have people coming at me, Dr. Joe is pro-kid, Dr. Joe is common sense. Dr. Joe is find another alternative and don't get stuck. And what we have right now a lot of times is the kid doesn't have a good ear for sounds, so the is so clearly they're having difficulty with phonics. And if they don't get it well within the classroom, then they're pulled out and get a little bit more. And they're pulled out and then they get small group and then they're pulled out and they get one on one, and so the problem with that is that could take years.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 12:43

The issue that I found is that when you provide a viable alternative I'll discuss that in a few minutes when you provide a viable alternative, a lot of times all of a sudden you see and I'm not, I'm not understating this, you see dramatic change. I mean dramatic change in their ability. Can I talk a little bit about that? Yeah, okay, but so when I started my company, which has been in existence for 30 plus years, I had two children under the age of 10, a wife who was pregnant, and she was so supportive. She said, okay, let's try it, let's go for it. And so I literally had no safety net, but I believed in what I was doing because I was seeing it over and over. I had already had close to 10 years of direct experience with special needs kids, at risk kids, and no matter what was happening, I was seeing success and I would base that on two conditions where I would do a live demonstration.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 13:50

Okay, the first. I would call the school and I'd say I'd like to come and do a live demonstration on two conditions. So she said okay, that intrigues me. What's the first condition? I said number one item only want to work with the worst kid. Well, she said I got a lot of those, but I've got one or two in particular that just pop up and, lord, if you can help them, it's worth my taking time to do it. What's the second condition and this word really got exciting If you don't see a dramatic change in their fluency, comprehension and attitude within 30 minutes, I'll walk out the door and you'll never hear from me again. To that she'd say what time can you come?

Dr Lisa Hassler: 14:29

Absolutely.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 14:31

And literally I would sit down with kids, with the team, I'd show them a passage. I'll give you two examples, one that I use in my book, the Fill you Free Methodology, developed for non-readers. And I got a call from the assistant superintendent, special education, Bronx, New York, and he said I heard about this claim that you're making and you'll go anywhere under those two conditions. I'm in the Bronx, New York, would you come there? I said yes, I will. And he said I've got kids, we don't know what to do with it. I said, fine, I'll be there. So I went in at that time that was 10, 15 years ago, and God, it looked like war torn Europe. I went in there. There were metal detectors before kids had metal detectors. And they bring me this young boy who was ninth grader at the time. He had arrived in school as a sixth grader, as a virtual non-reader, reading at a first grade level. They tried all of the interventions. Three years later they did an assessment. Guess what his reading ability was.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 15:35

First grade.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 15:36

First grade. So they're desperate. So we go into a room, the assistant superintendent's there, his team is there, and the young boy comes in and he was a Latino, African American, good looking kid, and I said you know I'm in trouble. I said I just need some help. I want you to just tell me how you feel about this approach, this reading approach. And as soon as I said reading non-verbally, his body cringed. So I showed him the passage and I looked at the passage because, especially when you get teenagers and older kids, they're their own worst critics. They don't believe in themselves anymore.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 16:19

Dignity, pride, self-respect are key ingredients. They don't want to sit in front of material dancing bears and bunny rabbits, which is one of the reasons why a lot of my materials intentionally ugly. I make it just plain black and white text because kids equate that with older texts, older kids equate that with more traditional reading material, and so yeah, and so it reinstills confidence. And I showed him the passage that I was about to teach and I said too easy to aren't just right. To which he said he looked at it, looked at me and he said too hard on it, I can't do this. And now, meanwhile, I'm looking at the assistant superintendent and his team true story. And they're looking at that passage, they're looking at that kid, they're looking at me and if their eyes and their expressions could talk, it basically said we've invited a madman here, we've got to get the police to take this man out, because there's no way under the face of this planet that this kid's going to read this within this clown's 30 minute timeframe. So now I sit down and I go through the methodology Based on the pre word premise.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 17:33

Reading is relating you can't read for me and something you can't relate to. A lot of the problems were based on ED. Ed stands for environmentally denied. So many kids are coming to school with limited background knowledge because they haven't had the experiences that middle and upper income kids have Right, agreed, agreed. So because they're coming in with limited background knowledge, it's difficult for them to relate to the content. And then the third is LD, and LD stands for the phrase language deprived or language denied. And it's the researchers. And we'll talk about the vocabulary project in North Carolina down the road. So it's just absolutely clear If I could give your audience and give your parents and give the professionals that are listening to this a one word key to success in dramatically improving the students academic performance and, down the road, what they can do in life. Would you say that it's worth? They're listening to me run my mouth.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 18:35

Yes, absolutely.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 18:37

Well, let me give you that one word. Key you ready, ready, vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary. No student can read from meaning above their language level of comprehension. Here's I'll give you a statistic that will really almost knock you off the chair. Okay, the researchers have found that third grade highest achieving students have a vocabulary superior to 12th grade lowest performing students.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 19:05

Wow, that's quite significant. Nine years.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 19:08

If you're going to elevate the vocabulary, then you have to do it in such a way that they can relate to it. So many of our kids have never been exposed to sophisticated language. We know that there's a huge gap. So I sit with this young man. By the way, I just gave you the three characteristics PD, the net, the deaf, ed, environmentally denied and LV language deprived. How was that?

Dr Lisa Hassler: 19:32

That was great.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 19:33

So I'm sitting there and I start talking to him and I said do you know what this word is? He just do something, word out and he goes attorney. I said attorney, that's good. I said do you know what an attorney is? He said, no, I don't know. So I said well, let me ask you something. Do you know people that get in trouble with the law? I'm in South Bronx, to which I said well, what happens? Did they get arrested? Oh, yeah, okay. Well, now let me ask you something. When they get arrested, what's one of the first things that they need to which? He looks at me and he says a lawyer. I said, well, guess what an attorney is? It's just a fancy name for a lawyer.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 20:28

Yeah, oh, it goes. Then I said how'd you get here? Well, ms So-and-so took me here into this room. I said, so, she come with you. And he said, yeah, she was right here. And I said, well, then she accompanied you, let me stop. He said, yeah, so she came with you, or she accompanied you? Did she accompany you? Oh, yeah, okay. And then I said do you have a lot of friends? Well, yeah, and are some better friends than others? And just some kids that you know, but you know so they're acquaintances. He says yeah, 20 minutes later he's reading this passage.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 21:18

The attorney and her acquaintance were astounded at the abundant size of the rock singer's house. The house was large enough to accommodate over a hundred people. Too easy to are just right, too easy. Well, now, wait a minute. Who just took this passage from too hard to too easy in under 30 minutes? He said I did. Now, here's where. Now, gang, that's exciting because that's what I want to do Reading attitude adjustment.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 21:49

You've got to these kids don't need slower, lower and less, they need faster, higher and more. We're underestimating the ability level of these kids. The enemy is not the parent, the teacher, it's the approach. The administrator, it's the approach. Changing the approach, you will change the performance outcomes. It's as simple as that, yeah, so in this particular boy, though, he's already beat himself up. He's in ninth grade. He doesn't believe he can. He's real close to going out the door and joining the largest class in America, and you know what? That is the underclass, and that's sad. It is sad it doesn't have to be. But he's also his own worst critic. If I put first grade material in front of him, the first thing he's going to say is I had this in kindergarten. Why am I doing this? I want to get out of here.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 22:37

And all of a sudden he's going to be aggressive and act out. On the other hand, I put something in front of him that's challenging and all of a sudden he's intrigued. But sadly, when I ask him what grade level is this? He looks at me and he says now he's a ninth grader. First thing out of his mouth is fifth grade, so he's automatically deducted four years. So I say no. And he looks at me again and he says fourth I say no, he goes third. I stopped him at third. I said you're going the wrong way. All of a sudden he says sixth and his jaw juts out just a little. I said higher. Seventh and eighth, his back is getting straighter. Ninth I said this is ninth, tenth grade material. How's it feel to read that? And all of a sudden the kid that came in is not the kid that's about to leave. No, now that's what I mean by.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 23:40

We've got to impact quickly. That's why I've got, for parents or for teachers, a free online lesson. We do the diagnostic prescriptive. There are 11 entry points from kids who are virtual non-readers all the way up to SAT ACT level material. We find the too hard moment. We put them in the lesson. If it's a good fit.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 24:00

You'll see a change in 20 to 30 minutes. Do we cure them in 20 to 30 minutes? No, but now you've got an approach that you know is going to work as long as you do it. The other is age appropriate. It's got to be age appropriate, because if it's not age appropriate, you can be successful. Till the cows come home, the only thing they want is to get the heck out of that classroom, and they certainly. These are kids that walk around with what I call the Big Book Syndrome. That was before we had backpacks, but these were the kids that would walk in the class in the hallway holding the biggest book that was there. Now you ask them to read it. They can't read it at all, but they had the image of reading it.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 24:44

Oh, I'd never heard of that before. But that makes sense. They want it. That's the whole thing is they want it. It's sad that they're not able to know. You've talked about published research studies in national international publications. You've done a lot of research. Can you talk about the vocabulary research?

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 25:01

Yeah, we're involved in a program and I thank the North Carolina legislature, but it's the National Assessment of Educational Progress nationally. This is probably our standard. It started in 1990s and it's given every other year to fourth grade, eighth grade at the time and now 12th graders. You've got a way to look at what's going on in the classroom. If you look at what's happening in the eighth grade kids and we've invested billions of dollars in education we've got more theories and you can shake a stick out. Money is not an issue. The issue is if you always do what you're always done, you always get what you're always gotten. All they're using is variations on the same theme. What really comes up is you start looking at kids who are low-income kids, ed kids, kids that are limited English language. All of a sudden, you're looking at a passing rate of under 13%, 13%! There's room for improvement. I asked the legislatures would they look at a pilot in which we would go in to work and focus primarily on sixth, seventh and eighth grade in the improvement of vocabulary, because my research was quite clear you elevate their vocabulary, you elevate their confidence and their comprehension.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 26:25

We're starting the third year of the project. We work with 15 middle schools, about 1129 kids. One of the unique features is that we have a diagnostic that identified their current reading frustration level. We started them at a point where they said this is too hard, I can't do it, which is usually at least one to two grade levels higher than other interventions that are out there. Then we looked at how well they were doing on a daily basis when they were placed at this level, at this too hard level. What we found when the kids used the methodology, what we found? That 95% of those kids were scoring at least 70% to 80% daily on the material that we gave them. Then we found that 49% of those students were successful in reading material that was written above their current grade level. That's impressive.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 27:26

Yeah, and 212 of those kids were reading one to two grade levels higher. 194 of those kids were in material three to four grade levels higher, and 119 were actually in five to six grade levels higher.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 27:46

This is coming from failing students. The lowest achieving 13%.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 27:53

But the most part was also to be beneficial to the teacher. All we required was we had added a self-pacing component to our software that did a lot of the instruction itself. So what we're asking was just give us 20 to 30 minutes a day daily and let's see what happens. So what they don't need is dancing bears and button rabbits dignity, pride, self-respect. Now I'm using the program with chronically struggling first graders, second graders. That's our Joseph's Readers program. This is our verbal master program, and the verbal master teaches 6, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, ACT, SAT level material to those kids. So it's really exciting. Yeah, Again, we go back to don't underestimate the ability level of these kids.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 28:44

So what can parents do to accelerate their child's reading ability, even if they absolutely hate reading?

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 28:52

The first thing. Well, let's take two. The first is what can you do to accelerate their reading? I'm going to write a book shortly and it's called how to Prepare your Preschooler for the SAT. And the reality is is that if you are a parent, if you want to accelerate the reading ability of your child, accelerate their vocabulary, become language teachers, first reading teachers, second content teachers, third. The next thing that a parent needs to do is to understand that the enemy is not them and it's not their child, believe it or not. This is Frida Ebert's work at the University of California, in which she said that text TEXT does matter in the teaching of reading, and my research is found that they're in the text. They're roadblocks to reading comprehension. So we are the first intervention to control for the roadblocks. And what are those roadblocks? Well, uncommon names, dates and places.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 29:57

Again if they can't relate to it, they can't read it and if they've never heard the name, the date or place. So if you see a passage that you're reading to your child or your child is coming home being asked to read and they don't have a clue as to name, dates and places, comprehension is going to suffer. Yeah, figurative speech, idiomatic expression, is very, very hard, especially for newcomers to the language. They're literal learners in a figurative world and they don't fully understand our language because it's rich with idioms. What happened to the person who worked here before? Or he was fired or he got the ax. Well, that's a pretty scary statement if you don't understand what fire and what he got. The ax means Basically means that they lost their job. But that's an idiomatic expression. The way that something's written, the grammar, is very, very confusing for some kids. The man drove the car, the car was driven by the man. Both sentences mean the exact same thing, correct?

Dr Lisa Hassler: 31:04

Yes.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 31:05

Which one will be read easier.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 31:08

The first one. It's a direct sentence.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 31:10

The man drove the car because it's simple, active, positive to Greg's sentence. You go into the second one. It's complex, passive. You're using more words to say the same thing. You have to look at that. Is it too cumbersome? And then the last, and here's the biggest thing repetition for our kids.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 31:28

We know that the lower the literacy level of the kids, the greater the number of times you have to say it. Traditional material is not repetitious enough for our kids. Parents of preschoolers know this over and over and over again, which is sometimes you got to say the same thing 15 times before it sinks in. Yes, you put pre-seeds out, put it, get as much into their system before they can get it out. So don't be afraid to say it again, say it over and over. Look at the eyes, the eyes of the mirror of the mind. If your kid's understanding, move on. But if they don't, how can I say it a different way?

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 32:03

Now, if they hate reading, the next question is why do they hate it? Most people don't hate something that they're good at, so usually it's a situation of there's something here that's preventing them from being successful One of the things that I stress, especially for my middle and older kids. A lot of times they're having difficulty in their science, their math, their social studies, and a lot of it keeps on. Coming back to language, you know, a lot of times a teacher will say I'm a math teacher, I'm not a reading teacher, I don't teach reading, but you have to teach the language of math in order to teach what they're reading in that textbook.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 32:41

That's right.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 32:42

And so one of the best things is, if a parent, or if you're a homeschooler, a homeschool parent, one of the best things that you can do for your child is read that passage aloud to them. Read it before you ask them to read. Don't use the book to introduce. Use the book to reinforce something that you've already introduced to them, and then read their mind and then ask some questions Do you understand, do you know this term? If they don't understand the term, can you put it in a way that they can understand? It's something that they can't relate to, like the young man in the story didn't know what an attorney was, but he sure as heck knew what a lawyer was. So what's an attorney? A fancy name for a lawyer. What's an acquaintance? A fancy name for a friend? That kind of situation. Tie it into their base, build on their base and then expand out Very good.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 33:33

I'm thinking about Amelia Bedelia books. Are you familiar with these? Absolutely, these are my kids, oh my goodness. So is that a good thing or a bad thing? It's a good thing, it's a good thing, okay.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 33:45

Amelia Bedelia. Yes, if the kid has a good ear for sounds and understands the concept of rhyme.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 33:50

Okay.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 33:51

If they don't understand. It's like cat and a hat. Yeah, Cat and hat is great if you're an adult or if you're a young child who understands the level of sophistication of cat and hat. But a lot of times, yes, I am Sam, Are you Sam? I am Sam. It's too confusing. So again, it keeps on coming back to this. Look at their eyes. The eyes are the mirror of the mind. They'll tell you whether or not they're comprehending. If they're not comprehending, don't assume just because it's a preschool book that they should understand it. Go find a better preschool book If they don't understand cat and hat, which comes from the Dr Sue series.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 34:30

Maybe it's not a good book, but go buy Are you my Mother? Where the bird is in the nest and the mother leaves her egg to go get food and all of a sudden the egg cracks and the little baby bird is in the nest up in the tree and has no mother. So she falls out of the tree and starts looking for her mother. And it's a cute little story. But the beauty of it is is, how many times did they say Are you my Mother? Are you my Mother? Are you my Mother? So it's a meaningful, creative story within a context that they can relate to.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 35:04

Yes, everyone can associate the birds and the nests and the moms and the eggs, and so, yeah, it's a cute story. I love that one.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 35:11

And I want to bring up one more thing as adults are so wrapped up into the whole notion of nutrition and diet and nutrition as adults. Here's something that Iber brought up and that is what type of reading diet are the kids on? So it's a lot of kids who are in a skills-based approach. The instructional time and energy is being taught in the teaching of single, isolated words.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 35:37

Yes.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 35:37

These kids, the kids that are having the greatest difficulty, are in a lean diet LEAN, I call it a starvation diet. They're not being exposed to large numbers of words within meaningful context, so you've got to fatten their reading diet, otherwise they're going to starve to death. That's a kind of a cool concept.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 36:01

Yeah.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 36:02

My keyword is not slower, lower and less. What they need is faster, higher and more, absolutely.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 36:07

So before we wrap up, do you have any advice for parents and teachers?

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 36:11

Remember the enemy is not you and the enemy is not the student or your child. The enemy is the instructional approach or the text. Changing the approach, changing the text, get it more comprehensible, things that they can relate to, Repetitious. Here's the main thing never give up. Understand. If they're in an intervention and they're being reasonably successful, you've got to ask is it fast enough to get them to a point that they can do more, or do you need to bring in other interventions or approaches to start to accelerate, because they're not going to catch up if they're on an intervention, no matter how effective, but it's based on slower, lower and less. They need faster, higher and more.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 36:55

And again.

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 36:57

try a sample lesson. I'm not selling it, I'm just giving you an opportunity to use it. But if you try the sample lesson with your child or with your student, restrict 20 minutes of uninterrupted time so that you can see how they're doing. Give me a call on my website. I'm very happy to talk to anybody. Email, call me. I'm on a mission. We're underestimating the ability level. Change the approach. You'll change the performance outcomes.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 37:24

It's a good mission. There's a lot of kids out there that need help and we are at a loss to ask how to do that, so it's exciting that you found an approach that helps with that very large gap. So thank you, joe, for joining me today to discuss non-readers and your innovative approach to turn them into readers. To learn more about Dr Lachovic and the Failure Free Reading Program, you can go to failurefreeonlinecom. And where can they go for that free lesson?

Dr. Joe Lockavitch: 37:51

That will be right on the website itself, so all they'll have to do is click it. Reserve that 20 minute. It's all self-explanatory, it's all self-pacing, but I want an adult maximum in order to make sure that it's a good fit. You don't have to waste months, years. You'll see whether or not it's a good fit very, very quickly.

Dr Lisa Hassler: 38:12

That's exciting, okay, great. The call to action is to change the instructional approach to better meet the needs of non-readers, giving them hope, opportunities and a bright future that comes with fluent reading ability. If you've a story about what's working in your schools that you'd like to share, you can email me at drl isar ichardsonhassler@ gmailcom, or visit my website at www. drlisarhassler. com and send me a message. If you like this podcast, subscribe and tell a friend. The more people that know, the bigger impact it will have. And if you find value to the content in this podcast, consider becoming a supporter by clicking on the supporter link in the show notes. It is the mission of this podcast to shine light on the good in education so that it spreads, affecting positive change. So let's keep working together to find solutions that focus on our children's success.