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Episode 051: The Literacy Epidemic with Michael Maloney

We are very excited to have Michael Maloney as a guest today. He’s the founder of Quincy Learning Center and an expert in precision teaching and direct instruction. Along with other professionals, Michael started sharing his methodology with other teachers and practitioners. Today, it’s becoming a sizable force within the field. We’re seeing several challenges related to literacy within the educational system and ten million students within the U.S. public school system are illiterate. So many adults fail to thrive because they don’t have the fundamental literacy skills needed to get jobs, and Michael refers to the literacy problem as a global pandemic. 

Michael discusses what’s known as The Follow Through Project, which was the single largest study done in North American education, started in the 1970s. The study found that the two best methods to help children who were at risk of failure were behavioral analysis and direct instruction. Michael provides valuable advice for BCBAs who aren’t trained in these methods. He also explains why the system doesn’t want to address the literacy problem and where we can start to make positive changes. We’re also going to be covering this topic more in depth with Michael at our CEU webinar in July, so stay tuned for more information. 

What’s Inside:

  • Information on the Follow Through Project.
  • An explanation of direct instruction.
  • Why teaching kids sounds is more effective than sight words.
  • Resources for teachers and practitioners.

Mentioned In This Episode:

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How to ABA on YouTube
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Maloney Method Website