By Leslie Griffy, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
May 18–Say “cat.” Take away the “c.””At” is what is left.
The developer of such simple but powerful lessons used to teach thousands of children to read died Saturday in her Arroyo Grande home.
Patricia Lindamood, 83, was co-founder of the private education firm Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes of San Luis Obispo, one of the biggest educational firms in the nation. She was named a Cuesta College Woman of Distinction in 2004.
As a language and speech pathologist, Lindamood used research and created detailed lessons to help students better understand the relationships between sounds and the written word.
“She was one of the pioneers when it comes to developing tests and materials,” said Mark Sadoski, a Texas A&M College of Education professor and researcher.
The company that Lindamood helped found in the 1970s with reading specialist Nanci Bell distributes lessons and trains educators from here to Australia.
The firm’s programs get results — kids learn. In a five-year study of a Lindamood-Bell program implemented in a Pueblo, Colo., school district, Sadoski said the results were clear.
Before the district’s teachers had been trained in the program, the school’s reading scores were below the state average. Five years later, 83 percent of the students tested scored at or above Colorado state standards, a jump of 16 percentage points.
“One of the things that the Lindamood-Bell people did was that they spent a good deal of time working to get buy-in from the teachers, staff and the community,” Sadoski said.
While working as a trained pathologist, Lindamood was also substitute teaching.
She noticed that some children struggling to read weren’t getting extra attention.
So she eventually persuaded parents to let her work with some students. Nine months later, students communicated better.
She continued working with children out of her home and began doing research.
Bell came to work for her and the two then founded the company, which began as a nonprofit. Their work soon expanded to training teachers and developing lessons to be used in schools.
“She had an absolute commitment to helping children,” said county schools Superintendent Julian Crocker. “She did a lot to advance education.”
Her detailed teaching and student materials gave specific instruction for children on how to make certain sounds, Sadoski said.
A “T” is a “tongue tapper,” because you tap your tongue on your mouth. Those instructions “helped a lot of children read more effectively,” Crocker said.
“How much more could you ask for?”
Reach Leslie Griffy at 781-7931.
—–
Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected].
Comments