SHAME: The Dark Heart of Reading Difficulties - 8 Video Segments

Statistically, more American children suffer long-term life-harm from the process of learning to read than from parental abuse, accidents, and all other childhood diseases and disorders combined. In purely economic terms, reading related difficulties cost our nation more than the war on terrorism, crime, and drugs combined.

Children who blame themselves for the struggle of learning to read are in serious psychological and intellectual danger. They are at risk of becoming ashamed of how they think, how they learn, and who they are.

These video modules produced by The National Center for Family Literacy are part of the the "Children of the Code" project. They highlight the emotional cost for children who struggle to read.

The first segment provides a good starting point for appreciating the "SHAME" that struggling readers experience. Next, "The Power of Shame" describes shame's painful life-long and often life-distorting effects. The next three segments explore the "Public Shame" of the classroom; the "Fear of Shame" felt by children as they anticipate being asked to read out loud in classrooms, and how both drive the "Secret Shame" that causes children to hide their reading difficulties from parents, teachers and peers. "Emotionally Learning Disabling" and "Avoidance" build on the previous segments and show how powerfully behavior-determining and learning-disabling shame avoidance can be. Finally, "Cognitively Learning Disabling" begins our discussion of the `downward spiral of shame' and describes how shame disrupts, distracts, and chokes the cognitive processing that is necessary for learning to
read in the first place.

For more information on the Children of the Code projects as well as videos related to:
*** The history of the code and its effects on the world around and within us;
*** The cognitive, emotional, academic, and social challenges involved in learning to read
*** How the structure of the code affects learning to read it
*** What the brain- sciences are teaching us about learning and reading
*** and How teachers and parents can help their children learn to read better.

Visit the Children of the Code website