Now they're challenging dyslexia. A real problem that needs a real solution.

[The Backlash Cometh]

The researcher's conclusion is asinine if it's applied broadly in an attempt to do away with the diagnosis altogether. The author claims that middle-class parents are rushing off to have their kids diagnosed as dyslexic, because that diagnosis is better than to be labeled a low achiever. This is so wrong on so many grounds, I don't know where to start, but I'll try:

First, you can test and measure someone for dyslexia and the results will turn up very different than someone who is a low achiever. One way is to look to see if there is a glaring difference between their math and reading test scores in a timed test situation. If they're testing above their grade level in math, but grades lower in reading, chances are they are dyslexic.

Second, the author has encountered something that is a true problem for real dyslexics, but her conclusions are way off the mark. There is something going on that is being abused, but shouldn't be applied to kids who have been diagnosed since the elementary grades. What is happening is that kids of the rich and middle-class are having trouble getting the scores they need in the SATs to get into the better colleges. So, the parents are rushing off to private physicians in an effort to get their kids diagnosed with a reading difficulty so they can get more time on the tests. We're not talking about kids who are just trying to get into an average college, but to a Harvard or other Ivy League. The SAT testers currently don't flag the tests in any way so that a college would know which tests are given to kids with more time, and which ones are not, so, the well-to-do are abusing the system. This is making it that much harder for kids who have had to deal with this problem all their life, and have worked very hard just to get mainstreamed. Now their condition and accommodations are being exploited by the well-to-do who are gaming the system.

I don't know what the solution is, but maybe a start would be to determine that dyslexia is a valid diagnosis, but there are people who are exploiting the situation - gaming the system - and something needs to be done about it.

Dyslexia 'is just a middle-class way to hide stupidity'
By REBECCA CAMBER -

Dyslexia is a social fig leaf used by middle-class parents who fear their children will be labelled as low achievers, a professor has claimed.

Julian Elliott, a leading educational psychologist at Durham University, says he has found no evidence to identify dyslexia as a medical condition after more than 30 years of research.

"There is a huge stigma attached to low intelligence," he said.

"After years of working with parents, I have seen how they don't want their child to be considered lazy, thick or stupid.

"If they get called this medically diagnosed term, dyslexic, then it is a signal to all that it's not to do with intelligence."



http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fpages%2Flive%2Farticles%2Fnews%2Fnews.html%3Fin_article_id%3D458160%26in_page_id%3D1766%26ito%3D1490

[ComerPerro]

1. I am sure I don't have to tell people here that there are very specific, defining symptoms

and characteristics in the reading styles of those diagnosed with Dyslexia. That's how they were able to identify it in the first place.

I can't say this as an expert myself, but can say it with confidence as the son of a woman who taught elemetary Special Education for over 30 years, and who while opposed to "quick fix" medication treatments (as in, Doctors and others who overdiagnose problems like ADHD because it is an easy out) was a firm believer in the existence, indentification, and treatment of Dyslexia.

It is very real.

[electron_blue]

2. I think the point of the article is that people are 'faking' dyslexia. Not that it doesn't exist.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Actually dyslexia is a very rare condition

A person who has what is often mistakenly called dyslexia probably has a learning disability in reading.

A true dyslexic has great trouble learning to read and most true dyslexics never do learn to read much other than simple sight words.

The rest of the post is true. Parents really do wish disabilities on their kids in order to get disability checks from the govt or to grant them modifications on SATs. Not a lot of parents but it does happen.

[EFerrari]

Is it one of those spectrum thingies, P2BL?

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. I hadn't heard that it was

But that doesn't mean it isn't.

It means I am not up to date on the latest research. :)

[EFerrari]

29. There you go being honest again.

:pals:

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Now there is the thing, isn't it?

If you have dyslexia, you will have a reading disability. If the letters keep getting scrambled, you have trouble learning how to read. A diagnosis of dyslexia generally means you have trouble processing things for short-term memory. So the solution is to either memorize words in long-term memory and also, learn "tricks" like learning the roots of words.

And I'm here to tell you that you can teach a dyslexic to read and that they can grow up to take higher level grades and attend good colleges. Yes, it takes more than just a good program in the public schools, it also takes private tutors all through elementary, middle and high school, but it can be done.

[TechBear_Seattle]

25. It is not all that rare, and it does range in severity

Says someone with actual dyslexia, is an avid reader and who has generally been an academic overachiever. :hi:

In my case, dyslexia strikes mostly with numbers, which I didn't realize until I was in college as a math major. Fortunately, one of my first professors noticed I kept making the same kinds of transposition errors and helped me get the assistance I needed. As long as I pay attention and don't rush, I have no problem dealing with long strings of numbers (although dialing an unfamiliar telephone number or entering a software product code can be a real challenge.)

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. It has become a garbage word

meaning it is used inappropriately.

I am a special ed teacher and I was taught in grad school that it is rare. Sounds like you have what we call dyscalculia, which is more common than dyslexia. And BTW, Thomas Edison was dyscaluliac and look what he accomplished!

The important thing though is not what we call these disorders but how we deal with them. And for 99.9% of people who have learning disabilities, it is possible to teach them how to learn.

[TechBear_Seattle]

30. I won't argue with your experience

I only know that I was told I had "numeric dyslexia" and that it and dyslexia with letters were both caused by very similar processing problems in the brain, one where we process numbers and one where we process text. Also, I've always heard Edison (and Einstein and others) described as having dyslexia, not dyscalculia.

Lastly, the Wikipedia cites sources which say that between 5% and 9% of school-aged children, possibly as high as 17%, have dyslexia. That does not sound "very rare" to me. (Wikipedia article)

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. When it is used as I was taught, it IS rare

And yes, your stats are correct. Around 10% of all kids have learning disabilities.

[Nite Owl]

4. The excuse given is not even correct.

This is a learning disability and has nothing to do with intelligence, nothing. What is wrong is labeling people who learn differently as being somehow inferior. Not everyone fits nicely into the a little learning module to come out all knowing.

Here's a list of famous people with learning 'problems':

http://www.dyslexia.com/qafame.htm

It's an amazing list of talented people: Paul Wellstone, Ted Turner, John Chambers, George Washington, Nelson Rockefeller, Picasso, Ansel Adams.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Exactly.

In fact, they "see" things differently. For example, at an age, earlier than most kids, they might be able to count change, but they can't add the numbers up if you put it on paper, because they haven't yet memorized the written number.

[Echotrail]

13. Thank you! Fact: people with dyslexia generally have "superior"

to advanced intelligence and many have creative strengths in music, sports and other areas.

It has NOTHING to do with intelligence.

[EFerrari]

5. I have to put my right hand over my heart to figure out where right is

-- as we did as kids reciting the pledge. But, that's as bad as it gets for me. My sons, on the other hand, had more serious problems and it was hell trying to get the schools to test them instead of chastising them.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. I see two things that a parent needs to do to protect their kid's future:

Early testing, and if they have a problem, try to do whatever you can on a private level, because whatever gets done at school creates a whole new set of problems as the kid grows up thinking they're different than everybody else. Those classes ARE necessary, but, hopefully the child will get mainstreamed before they hit the middle school years. Then at the middle school years, try to get private tutors for them. That's the key to success.

Finally, if they do hit a wall with those standarized college tests, at least you have a foundation that proves your child was early tested.

[EFerrari]

17. That's excellent advice. My guys are grown men now

but I will pass it on to my ambidextrous brother who has three girls under 12. Thanks!

[silverlib]

14. I'm in your club...

I don't "do" right and left either. I was in my forties before I found someone else with this minimal form of dyslexia and I didn't have a name for it until a doctor was checking my reflexes and he told me his wife had it also. Later I found out she was a surgeon. Later, I met a P.A. who carries a small rock in his right pocket. Turn right? well that means turn in the direction where the driver's ed teacher sat over forty years ago. When the whistle blew in marching band, right was toward the hand where I carried my clarinet. I turn "toward that Jack-in-the-Box on the corner," not right or left. As I also posted in response, and as you state, this is nothing in comparison to what some go through. But it's always reassuring to know others are "in the same boat," so thanks for enlarging my boat.

[EFerrari]

20. People have gotten irritated with me over the year because

my competency is okay in most areas. High reading speed, a near photographic memory, did fine in dance, good coordination with instruments and with sports and so on. So, when this right/left thing would surface, they thought I wasn't trying or paying attention or I don't know what.

lol

:hi:

[silverlib]

6. My husband has dyslexia....

He is sixty-one years old. There was not diagnosis when he was a child. He was just told he was stupid because he could not read. Many days from about the age of eight, he rode the bus seven miles to school, got off and took the school day to walk home. He has never received any help and is fortunate to be a successful carpenter today, although one with degenerative disk disease still carry bundles of wood on his back up ladders and not allowed to draw full SS until the age of 67 (but that's another story). He is one of the most intelligent people I know. To make up for the inability to read, he developed an incredible capacity for audio learning. He seldom forgets anything he hears. When my family plays Trivia Pursuit, we read the cards aloud and he slaughters us in every game (and he is playing with family members that have master's degrees). We once checked in to getting him some help, as the community college offered some courses for adults with this diagnosis (he has never been professionally diagnosed), but the slots went first to those sent through the court system, generally on probation and he could not get into a class.

I absolutely cannot fathom that we could go back to the way he was treated as a child.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. We can learn a lot from dyslexics.

They have their own way of learning and sometimes it's just phenomenal. My own daughter can text message as quickly as she can push the buttons without even looking at the pad. I first noticed this when I was giving her a lecture when I noticed she was quieter than usual and not giving me back-talk. I realized her arm was at her side and she was holding her cellphone pushing buttons and she had a bored look on her face.

[Book Lover]

7. Rawstory picking up a Daily Mail (!!) piece

Please. Let's not mistake any of this for real journalism.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Thanks.

I have no idea what Daily Mail is, but I can say that it's a topic which goosed me.

[Book Lover]

21. Take a peek yourself

www.dailymail.co.uk

and the wiki background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Mail

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. Well, I'm glad I looked.

It's a conservative british rag. If a conservative is involved, it can only be because they want to do away with social programs.

I also noticed that the british researcher referred to the people who were abusing the system as "Middle Class" and in the U.S., the articles with a similar conclusion called the people who abused the system as "well-to-do."

I see a very different class system situation here and it says more about the researcher's cultural perspective.

[BlooInBloo]

8. Everybody hs everything. Nothing is under anybody's control. Wusses.

[Echotrail]

10. Gee, neurologists seem to believe dyslexia is a "real" disorder

They can see when dyslexia exists in imaging studies.

An educational pyschologist is not a medical doctor. Mr. Elliott is clearly in territory he doesn't understand. As a sibling of an adult dyslexic and a parent of a dyslexic child I say shame on him.

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/search?sortspec=relevance&author1=&fulltext=dyslexia&pubdate_year=&volume=&firstpage=

edit: I paid for intensive remedial training for my kid out of my own pocket. I paid for tutors out of my own pocket, too. Public schools don't have money to diagnose let alone help kids with dyslexia. As far as government checks, never heard of that either! Where do we sign up? :P

If anyone wants a recommendation for an intensive course that was a life saver for my daughter, PM me.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Private tutoring is essential, though the public school system did

a phenomenal job with the resources they had.

[Bobbieo]

19. I don;t know my left from my right and I get words mixed up all the time when I am typing

But i have trained myself to be able to read without any problems. Do I have a form of dyxlexia???

[silverlib]

23. Me, too...

My doctor told me that it was a minimal form of dyslexia. I was so happy that it had a name, although I don't have any of the other symptoms at all. (See earlier responses) And welcome to may boat.

[Bobbieo]

26. I went that way for 60 years not knowingg my left from my right -

I trained myself, on a street map, to know where I was going every time off took off in the car for an unfamiliar address even to the point of which side of the street the new location was on.

One day a friend asked me "Do you know your left from your right?" That was the day I discovered dyslexia.

[Blue-Jay]

22. No wya!