c:\doc\web\97\09\distar.txt
DISTAR GOOD FOR EDUCABLE RETARDED,BUT NOT NORMAL STUDENTS
\doc\web\97\09\distar.txt


Loopies, this is from Chey Simonton, a short time former
loopie who helped make the video "The People vs The
Educational Confederacy, Educational Restructuring on
Trial." Melanie


 -----------------------------------------


 Mel,


 Feel free to pass this on if you wish.


 My oldest son is developmentally delayed due to premature birth.  He
was a conjoint study child for the University of Washington Child
Development and Mental Retardation Center at age 3.  He participated
in their Developmental Delay preschool and subsequently spent 13.5
years in the Special Education program of our school district.  He
learned to read in the DISTAR program in the mid-to-late 1970s.  His
small special ed class had children with a variety of severe
behavioral problems that hindered successful interaction with the
regular population.  Therefore, it was appropriate that behavior
conditioning, posifive reinforcement techniques were used to help
these children toward more normal behavior.


 Now an adult, he is considered "functionally literate" and can
recognize and pronouce difficult vocabulary, but his comprehension is
limited.  He has been employed for the last 7 years in a
federally-underwitten social service agency doing routine, manual
work.  There is no opportunity for advancement however, he is proud
of his work and is a fully-conditioned, compliant employee.  Due to
his disability, this is not a bad thing.


 I believe, however, that children of normal intelligence and
behavior can gain no benefit from the behaviorally-oriented methods
advocated in these reading programs.  If the object of of education
is to fill low-level employment slots with compliant workers, I can
attest that DISTAR will assist this effort.  If the object of
education is to provide a child with the skills to succeed in a wide
range of areas, DISTAR will certainly limit their horizons.


 Chey Simonton,

 Room Mother for 2 Sons and
 Classroom Volunteer in Special and Regular Ed  for 7 years












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