Born and raised in Flint, Michigan, McCabe, a dyslexic himself, graduated from Flint Technical High School in 1950 as the class salutatorian. He received his A.A. degree from Flint Junior College in 1952, his Ph.B. degree from the University of Detroit in 1954. McCabe was then drafted into the Army Security Agency (ASA), sent to the Army Language School to learn Russian, and eventually to a military intelligence base just outside of Kyoto, Japan. He received his M.A. from the University of Detroit in 1962 and his A.B.T., the non-honorary, non-recognized degree from Michigan State University in 1985 after having completed all the course requirements for the Ph.D. degree. He began his teaching career in 1959 and taught high school and junior high until 1976 when he became the full-time Research Director of the AVKO Foundation. McCabe is listed in Who's Who, The Yearbook of Experts, Authorities, and Spokespersons, as well as many other sourcebooks in the field of special education. McCabe Is the author of over forty different books and articles relating to the teaching of reading and spelling including The Patterns of English Spelling, the only reference tool in existence in which a teacher or researcher can find all the words that follow any particular spelling pattern. He has done the unthinkable in the reading profession. He has studied what older "almost-non-readers" can and cannot read and compared his findings with what is and isn't taught. Lo and behold, these culturally or functionally illiterates had not learned what they had not been taught, i.e., the things good readers and good spellers somehow learn without being taught. He has discovered that English does have an internal logic that good readers and good spellers somehow subconsciously learn without being taught. Dyslexics tend to be logical and try to follow what they have been taught. But the way reading is taught today has nothing to do with this internal logic. English has highly consistent logical patterns. So, if we exclude the very few (but highly common) "insane" words such as was and does, English can be said to be 99.9% phonically consistent. The anti-phonics people fail to realize the vast difference between phonetics, phonemics, and phonics. McCabe is trying to spread the concept that adult community education programs should offer classes for those parents or spouses of dyslexics who would like to learn how to tutor their own. At present, only the very rich can afford tutors on a daily basis. But even the poor, McCabe believes, can afford to take classes that would enable them to learn what they can do at home to help their own children learn to read and write. Thus, it is not surprising that McCabe has become a strong advocate of homeschooling and has developed materials and techniques especially for parents who homeschool.  

Don McCabe Presentations
(Click any presentation to see description.)

Developing Your Own Spelling Program

The Mechanics of English Spelling`

Mouth Control

Spelling: Accentuate the Positive; Eliminate the Negative; Don't Mess with Mr. In-Between

Phonemic Awareness

Phonics

Developing Your Own Spelling Program

Participants will learn what research reveals about the following topics: 1. Methods that don't work but are still commonly used. 2. Methods that do work but are rarely used. 3. Selection systems for word lists. Some are good, some are bad, and some are completely inexcusable. 4. What most students learn without being taught. 5. What most students never learn unless they're taught. Participants will receive special AVKO handouts that will: 1. enable them to evaluate any spelling program, 2. construct their own sequential spelling program based upon their students' needs, 3. learn how to help students learn without having to study word lists and without having to copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy. 4. learn how to help students learn to spell without having to waste precious after-school-at-home-time correcting papers. 5. learn how to recognize and to teach the five different types of English spelling, the Simple, the Fancy, the Insane, the Tricky, and the Scrunched Up.
(Return to Presentation List)

The Mechanics of English Spelling`

Participants will learn what research reveals about the following topics: 1. The origin of the five different types of English spelling, the Simple, the Fancy, the Insane, the Tricky, and the Scrunched Up. 2. Why what is taught in Grades 1- 3 is not enough for 4th Graders to read to learn. 3. How Handwriting Exercises Can Be Used to "Smuggle" in Phonics, Vocabulary Building, Old Fashioned Basic Grammar, and Spelling. 4. How to Use AVKO's Word Families in Sentence Context or How to Get Students to Help You Create Reading Materials. 5. What most students never learn unless they're taught, including many of the gifted. Participants will receive special AVKO handouts that will: 1. enable them to evaluate any spelling program, 2. construct their own sequential spelling program based upon their students' needs, 3. learn how to help students learn without having to study word lists and without having to copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy. 4. learn how to help students learn to spell without having to waste precious after-school-at-home-time correcting papers.
(Return to Presentation List)

Mouth Control

Participants will learn how to help students acquire NEW PATTERNS OF SPEECH that will help them avoid violent confrontations and help them develop self-confidence and self-esteem. Hypothesis in Academic Jargon Emotional states trigger specific and predictable speech patterns (verbal and non-verbal) that are developed over time. These speech patterns in turn trigger the specific emotional or mental states associated with them. Too frequently, these states and behaviors interfere with learning and create unwanted and unnecessary disturbances. To the extent that a person is in control of his emotional state, he is in control of his language. To the extent that a person is in control of his language, he is in control of his emotional state. The way a person chooses to dress is a reflection of a behavioral mode. Hypothesis in plain English The way you feel helps make you say what you say and the way you say it. What you say and the way you say it helps determine the way you feel. If you can keep your cool, you can control what you say. If you control what you say, you can keep your cool. The clothing you wear is a form of an ongoing statement from black trench coats and gang colors to student uniforms. Body Language Tone of voice--It may not be what you say, but HOW you say it. Facial expressions that affect you feel and how those around you react to you Body postures that affect how you feel and how those around you react to you. The way you wear your clothes can affect how you feel and how those around you react to you. The Different Kinds of Speech Patterns -- The verbal can be described here; the non-verbal can only be demonstrated in an inservice. Attention Grabbers. Negative: Hey, Man! or Hey, Boy! or Hey, Girl! or Hey, You! Positive: Excuse me, Names Negative: Jones Positive: Mr. Jones Demands vs. Requests Negative: You gotta..... Positive: Would you mind... Making it emphatic Negative: Cuss Words Positive: Slow, deliberate tempo No way, Jose. Negative: Like hell, you say. Positive: You have a point, but... Don't interrupt me/Let me finish. Negative: Shut up..... Positive: Just one moment, and I'll get back with you...I Yeah, I'm listening, keep talking. Negative: Yeah, man I hear you. Positive: You're right about that. Defend/Attack Negative: Why are you always.....? Positive: I have a hard time understanding you when you.... Name Calling Negative: Expletive deleted. Positive: Still searching for a single example. This is the way it is, I can't be wrong. Negative: I never...... or you never said... Positive: I don't recall.... Participants will receive special AVKO handouts that will cover: Step One: Recognizing the Problem Step Two: Giving Staff Inservices Step Three: Making Sure the Staff Understands the Underlyhing Theories Step Four: Helping the Staff Plan the Course of Action.:
(Return to Presentation List)

Spelling: Accentuate the Positive; Eliminate the Negative; Don't Mess with Mr. In-Between

Participants will learn what research reveals about the following topics: 1. Methods that don't work but are still commonly used. Study, Test Test, Study Test Teacher correction 2. Methods that do work but are rarely used. Student Self-Correction Immediate Student Self-Correction Careful Sequencing of Onsets and Rimes 3. Selection systems for word lists. Some are good, some are bad, and some are completely inexcusable. 4. How Handwriting Exercises Can Be Used to "Smuggle" in Phonics, Vocabulary Building, Old Fashioned Basic Grammar, and Spelling. 5. How to Use AVKO's Word Families in Sentence Context or How to Get Students to Help You Create Reading Materials. 6. What most students never learn unless they're taught, including many of the gifted. Participants will receive special AVKO handouts that will: 1. enable them to evaluate any spelling program, 2. construct their own sequential spelling program based upon their students' needs, 3. learn how to help students learn without having to study word lists and without having to copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy. 4. learn how to help students learn to spell without having to waste precious after-school-at-home-time correcting papers.
(Return to Presentation List)

Phonemic Awareness

Participants will learn: 1. What phonemic awareness is and is not. 2. That nearly 100% of the audience will fail to be aware of one or more phonemes when McCabe plays one short word on a tape recorder. Only after the word has been written will the participants be able to hear all the phonemes. 3. The Difference between Phonics and Phonemics and Phonetics. 4. That most criticism of the way phonics is currently being taught, has some truth in it. Most phonic programs have serious flaws. 5. To identify the five types of English spellings: The simple, the fancy, the insane, the tricky, and the scrunched up. 7. What most students never learn unless they're taught, including many of the gifted. Participants will receive special AVKO handouts that will: 1. enable them to evaluate any spelling program, 2. construct their own sequential spelling program based upon their students' needs, 3. learn how to help students learn without having to study word lists and without having to copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy. 4. learn how to help students learn to spell without having to waste precious after-school-at-home-time correcting papers.
(Return to Presentation List)

Phonics

Participants will learn: 1. The more scientific the definition, the more likely it is to be accepted by the academic community and the more likely it is to be dangerously far from the truth. 2. The Difference between Phonics and Phonemics and Phonetics. 3. That most criticism of the way phonics is currently being taught, has some truth in it. Most phonic programs have serious flaws. They assume that the spelling/sound relationship progresses neatly left to right. It does in words such as cat, man, and girl. But watch out for "Ma, Mag, Magi, Magic, Magician. 4. To identify the five types of English spellings: The simple, the fancy, the insane, the tricky, and the scrunched up. 5. What most students never learn unless they're taught, including many of the gifted. Participants will receive special AVKO handouts that will: 1. enable them to evaluate any spelling program, 2. construct their own sequential spelling program based upon their students' needs, 3. learn how to help students learn without having to study word lists and without having to copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy. 4. learn how to help students learn to spell without having to waste precious after-school-at-home-time correcting papers.
(Return to Presentation List)