Posted on 04/07/2009 5:24:44 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Professor Joe Elliott, from Durham University, believes many parents with children who have difficulty in literacy lessons push for them to be diagnosed with dyslexia so they can get the extra support they need.
Prof Elliott says this leads to children being falsely labelled and ignores the fact there are simply many children who struggle to read and should be given help at an early age.
The academic, a director of research at the university's School of Education, said: "Many of the messages that I have received from parents have pointed out that the system has forced them to use the dyslexic label in order to access additional resources.
"Parents believe that if their child were to be diagnosed as dyslexic, clear ways of solving their problems would emerge."
Prof Elliott's views are provocative and he sparked controversy following his appearance on the Channel 4 programme Dispatches: The Dyslexia Myth, screened four years ago.
In it, he claimed to have little confidence in his ability to define dyslexia, let alone diagnose it, despite 30 years in the field.
Part of the problem, according to Prof Elliott, is that dyslexia is not easily identifiable.
One recent study into the condition identified 28 slightly different definitions of the term. The symptoms typically associated with it include everything from poor short-term memory to clumsiness.
"Not only do these blend into other diagnoses, such as dyspraxia, but they are also commonly found in people who are not considered dyslexic", he said.
Prof Elliott argues that a diagnosis is a hollow victory for many parents, not least because there is no clear evidence that any one teaching approach is more suitable for dyslexics than any other group of poor readers.
Instead of spending time, energy and money on diagnosis, he believes that resources could be
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
There is no doubt it is abused for all the reasons many on here are stating but that does not mean these things are not legitimate issues.
I’ve worked with an individual with dyslexia and it is much more complicated than a lot of people on here are saying - which only shows me that they have not done any in-depth research.
I know more about ADHD but I have done some rather good research on dyslexia. There are different problems going on and there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the dilemma. I don’t think our modern society is helpful but I don’t think it’s right to pretend that these things are all made up either. Those involved in the field or who work with children, or those with learning disabilities know this all too well.
When I was in kindergarten and early grade school, I wrote many of my letters backwards and upside down, but they all looked fine to me. Whatever it was, it went away. I think.
ADD, incurable. The diagnosis is good for life. Lifetime prescriptions of RITILIN, synthetic cocain.
I was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, auditory processing disorder, and ADHD. They were all correct unfortunately. I suffered so badly for many years. Still do at 37, but it is a lot better.
Great last paragraph.
>>>Dyslexics of the world untie!
I know a dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac that spends many a sleepless night wondering “Is there a doG?”
>>ADD, incurable. The diagnosis is good for life. Lifetime prescriptions of RITILIN, synthetic cocain.
And soon there will be a 100% incidence of this in the male population.
That is not the same. Dyslexics also mix up directions - up, down; left, right and frequently have a deficit somewhere in how they hear sounds. For instance, I have worked with a dyslexic who when I asked him to sound out the words, would not HEAR certain sounds in the word so he would not know the letters to insert. See how it can be so much more complicated?
Reversing a couple of letters (e.g. b/d, etc.) is NOT the same.
>>I was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, auditory processing disorder, and ADHD. They were all correct unfortunately. I suffered so badly for many years. Still do at 37, but it is a lot better.
You have been sold a bill of crap, other than maybe dyslexia. The rest are excuses for you being failed by your parents and teachers and, of course, you being male.
They make it to be YOUR problem — but it is THEIRS.
I didn't believe them but my wife and mother-in-law had spoken, therefore it was fact!
My daughter graduated from the University of Arkansas and works for a major company in Purchasing. She operated the computer well.
My wife still insists my daughter had dyslexia. I talked with my daughter not long ago and asked her if she did have dyslexia, she said no.
I then told her I knew she didn't have it, because I recognized the tricks she was playing back then because I had pulled the same thing. She liked the first grade so well she was trying to stay in it!
These doctors are playing dog with the lives of these skid.
Schools learned decades ago that labeling kids with a disorder would give them more money for the government. There is so much wrong with this scenario.
Time to get down off my soapbox. ;-)
We think of the brain as a "meat computer" but even that's inadequate to the phenomena. Think of the blush. This is a more remarkable event than most people appreciate. The natural capacity for shame has to be informed by the society in which one develops. Then one has to violate social canons,. Then there is the perception that one has done so. And that perception, quite unconsciously, leads to a dilation pf superficial blood vessels, which almost has to be a hormonal phenomenon.
That's some complicated stuff, and it's not simply neurological.
Homeschooling does not have that rating. The kids are also smarter.
Thank you. Having a brain and also having some mild learning disabilities AND some neuroses. I have all the data I need to think about this stuff. And I think about it a lot.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
First I am a woman, second dumb doctors told my parents when I was 6 I would never be able to read. I went to a great private school where the teaches worked so hard with me. My parents never failed me. In fact they had a private tutor that came to my school to work with me during the day. at night my mom and dad busted their but helping me with relearning everything I learned that day at school. I was given every access to help by my parents who loved me and still love me. No one failed me. I’m quite aware of the issues I had and still have. It wasn’t man made and wasn’t anyones fault. So unless you have personal experience in dealing with these learning disabilities I’d just stay quiet!
You seem to write and spell well, particularly with the language disabilities you describe.
As a language therapist, I work with scores of students who possess myriad learning differences. With encouragement, multisensory teaching methodologies, and an ability to build upon their strengths, they can develop the skills needed to succeed academically.
These kiddos need more than cookie cutter lessons in overcrowded classrooms. One size fits nobody, particularly when learning differences exist.
Encouragement and skilled teachers are what students need the most. Folks who tend to point fingers and place blame aren’t going to teach anyone how to read.
Congratulations on finding a way to overcome the difficulties you have faced. Often, students with learning differences are among the most resilient, smartest, and creative kids in the building.
That is the most fascinating mind-twisting weird look on physics, psychology, forensics, the application of glue to a white rams rear end that I have ever heard.
Unlike what freedumb said about my parents failing me I just have to say that if I didn’t have the parents I have I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish everything I have. I’ve never used my learning disabilities as en excuse to fail. I graduated college, have my real estate license, am a stay at home mother of two boys, a wife of a great guy, etc... I doubt likely I would be where I am if my parents failed me.
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