The Battle over Dyslexia
theguardian.com
The Battle over Dyslexia
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Re: The Battle over Dyslexia
#2As someone who was diagnosed with dyslexia, and went to a special school because of it, a lot of things in this article brought back memories.
I'm unsure how others are taught to read or spell, but the school I went to used an almost extended alphabet. Where combinations of english letters like CH were taught as if they were the roots of spelling.
It did seem to work I went from three grades under my reading level to three grades over in one year.
Effects linger on, the feeling of wanting to use a word I can't spell, unintentionally mispronouncing words, and the inability to understand a word from spoken letters("L-I-K-E-T-H-I-S") are all things I deal with.
I was lucky to be born when I was, as computers entered the picture while in middle school. Spell check, text to speech, and text based communication via IM all contributed to getting my writing skills to their current level. The removal of stress from having to spell freed mental capacity for me to just worry about the actual content instead.
Re: The Battle over Dyslexia
#3As someone who was diagnosed with dyslexia, and went to a special school because of it, a lot of things in this article brought back memories. I'm unsure how others are taught to read or spell, but the school I went to used an almost extended alphabet. Where combinations of english letters like CH were taught as if they were the roots of spelling. It did seem to work I went from three grades under my reading level to…
I don’t believe I have dyslexia but I have the hardest time mentally (air spelling) multisyllabic words. Something like “Dinosaur”. But jotting it down is no problem.
Re: The Battle over Dyslexia
#4I wonder if "dyslexia" is at all related to the way we teach children to read? This thread[1] from a few months back comes to mind.
Re: The Battle over Dyslexia
#5"He also believes that the current system entrenches inequality, because children from poorer backgrounds tend to be less likely to be diagnosed with dyslexia."
So if I'm taking away what I should from this article, the biggest problem they have with "dyslexia" is that there's inequality and there's not a good way to diagnose it? In the end they say anyone struggling with reading should get extra help, dyslexia or not. I'm sure they experts know better than I do, but dyslexia seems like SOMETHING more than just having big problems with reading. Even if it's hard to diagnose and that diagnosis is inconsistent and expensive (and therefore not fair) it still seems like a useful diagnosis, especially in school aged kids. My son is taking a second round of tests next week, so I'm in the middle of this right now. It's been interesting, people said "expect to fight with the school" and our school has been GREAT. I guess we got lucky.
It closes with this:
"Back in 1976, Bill Yule wrapped up his Isle of Wight research with the following observation: “The era of applying the label ‘dyslexic’ is rapidly drawing to a close"
(thank you for posting this, oska, it's perfect timing for me)
Re: The Battle over Dyslexia
#6"He also believes that the current system entrenches inequality, because children from poorer backgrounds tend to be less likely to be diagnosed with dyslexia." So if I'm taking away what I should from this article, the biggest problem they have with "dyslexia" is that there's inequality and there's not a good way to diagnose it? In the end they say anyone struggling with reading should get extra help, dyslexia or no…
The inequality is not the root for why they are arguing that we should stop using "dyslexia" but because it they say dyslexia outright doesn't exist.
The inequality issue is that a spurious classification of children that gives access to better resources but is only available to parents that have the time/money/influence to get a diagnosis for their kids. The point is that having a incorrect label is not just a harmless historical idea but something that we should be motivated to eliminate in favor of a more truthful (and equitable) system.
Re: The Battle over Dyslexia
#7As someone who was diagnosed with dyslexia, and went to a special school because of it, a lot of things in this article brought back memories. I'm unsure how others are taught to read or spell, but the school I went to used an almost extended alphabet. Where combinations of english letters like CH were taught as if they were the roots of spelling. It did seem to work I went from three grades under my reading level to…
I was always a strong reader as a kid and have never had issues with spelling, or anything that would hint at dyslexia, but the spoken letter things is one of (in my opinion) my greatest weaknesses. I'm super visual and consider myself to have a really strong "minds eye", but for some reason the moment people start spelling something out loud, it's just mush. I've thought about it so much in recent years that I've considered just practicing with videos or a writing a program to do it to see if it's something I can eradicate.
Re: The Battle over Dyslexia
#8In the 70s, when dyslexia had a jump in 'popularity' (according to google ngram too), an education psychologist I knew had a curious experience.
There was a television program about this thing called dyslexia. In the following weeks and months, many parents came to him to announce that their child had dyslexia and must be treated specially.
I guess this is not actually that curious. In the sense that conditions seem to be contracted via mass media ... and now social media.
Re: The Battle over Dyslexia
#9"He also believes that the current system entrenches inequality, because children from poorer backgrounds tend to be less likely to be diagnosed with dyslexia." So if I'm taking away what I should from this article, the biggest problem they have with "dyslexia" is that there's inequality and there's not a good way to diagnose it? In the end they say anyone struggling with reading should get extra help, dyslexia or no…
I’m paid to manage a penguin farm.
Weak penguins need additional feeding. Thin penguins are just thin.
But there’s no objective criteria to tell weak from thin. And I have a budget.
Now, my penguins happen to have owners. But they don’t pay for their penguin, they pay into the penguin system.
Re: The Battle over Dyslexia
#10"He also believes that the current system entrenches inequality, because children from poorer backgrounds tend to be less likely to be diagnosed with dyslexia." So if I'm taking away what I should from this article, the biggest problem they have with "dyslexia" is that there's inequality and there's not a good way to diagnose it? In the end they say anyone struggling with reading should get extra help, dyslexia or no…
I’m paid to manage a penguin farm. Weak penguins need additional feeding. Thin penguins are just thin. But there’s no objective criteria to tell weak from thin. And I have a budget. Now, my penguins happen to have owners . But they don’t pay for their penguin, they pay into the penguin system.
That is extremely cool. Poetry.
What does it mean?