In this short YouTube presentation, author and literacy specialist Lois Letchford challenges the common belief (Myth #3) that teaching decoding is the sole requirement for reading proficiency, especially for twice‑exceptional (2e) learners. She acknowledges decoding as a vital “trunk” of reading but argues that without a supportive “soil” of engagement, appropriate content (the “leaves”), and strategies for recall, children—particularly 2e students—will remain alienated. Using a tree metaphor, Letchford outlines how teachers must water, fertilize, and nurture the whole reading ecosystem: structured literacy, engaging material, and ongoing reinforcement. She calls on educators and parents to broaden their approach beyond decoding and sight‑word instruction, emphasizing the need for holistic literacy practices. The talk ends with a typical YouTube call‑to‑action.
Chapters
Hello, I'm Lois Letchford, author of the book Reversed: A Memoir and Literacy Problem Solver, here today talking about debunking myths of the twice exceptional child. Myth number 3. Myth number 3 is that teaching decoding is all we have to do to teach reading. We know that teaching of decoding is absolutely a critical skill. We also know that teaching structured literacy is a critical skill in teaching children to read. However, when children are struggling, and particularly our twice exceptional children are struggling with decoding, if all we do is focus on the decoding skills, we are alienating many of those children. There is much more involved in the teaching of reading than just Teaching decoding or teaching sight words. And when we come to the twice exceptional child, this is a myth I must debunk. Reading involves so much more, and I actually think of reading as a tree. Decoding is the trunk of the tree, critical component of the tree, but it's the trunk. What can we as teachers do with teaching twice exceptional children? All we can do is water it, fertilise it, and make sure— maybe first make sure it's in the right soil. And that is a soil of engagement, because if we haven't got engagement for our children, no matter how much we teach decoding, our children will not be successful in reading. So a tree, we can water it, the water and fertilise it, water goes into the roots. That is absolutely everything that we do. To teach reading. It comes out through teaching of decoding but also through content, and that content to me are the leaves. I need someone who's a brilliant artist to draw this for me. When we teach our twice exceptional child, we have to look beyond decoding to teach them to read. We have to have them engaged in all that we are doing. We have to see literacy as much wider than teaching of decoding. And we also have to make sure our children are recalling it. We are the teachers, are in control of the reading process and teaching of the reading process. Parents, when children are not being successful, go back to those teachers and say, what else do we have to do? There's so much more we can do. So debunking myth number 3, is that the only thing we have to do is teach our children to decode and they'll get the rest. There is far more involved in teaching reading than just teaching decoding. Thank you. Hit like, hit subscribe, and I'll be back tomorrow.
