Dyslexia Not a Myth
Professor Margaret Snowling, one of the leading dyslexia researchers and featured heavily in the Channel 4 Dispatches program The Dyslexia Myth as stated that dyslexia is not a myth. In a piece being carried by the British Dyslexia Association (BDA), Professor Snowling talks about dyslexia, its causes and its treatment.
Much of what she says I agree with including her broad definition of dyslexia:
- Developmental disorder with brain basis.
- Genetic origin.
- Characterised by phonological deficits.
- Primarily (but not exclusively) affects learning to read and spell.
- Characterised by poor verbal memory and poor phonological learning.
- Often affects development of arithmetic skills, foreign language learning, speech development, expressive language skills.
- May have knock-on effects on organisational skills and on confidence and self-esteem.
- Typically shows poor response to standard forms of literacy teaching.
- Life long condition but can be ameliorated.
The last point I disagree with purely because I was dyslexic and now I am not dyslexic, at least by the above definition. Since my treatment with DDAT my spelling has improved immensely along with my confidence and general language skills.
Professor Snowling also says "dyslexia has been linked erroneously to left-handedness, balance deficits, persistence of infant reflexes, visual perceptual abnormalities and nutritional deficiencies". This seems a very strange statement from a scientist. Each of those ideas: handedness, balance, reflexes, visual problems and nutritional issues; have good scientific evidence associating them with dyslexia. What there isn’t is any proof of is that these issues are the sole causes dyslexia or that all dyslexics will always have all these issues.
Dyslexia is not a single problem with a single cause. If you try and treat dyslexia as a problem with a single cause, such as phonetic deficits, then dyslexia will be a lifetime condition because to truly beat dyslexia, all the underlying problems need to be addressed.
Find Out More:
Books:
- How To Reach and Teach Children and Teens with Dyslexia: A Parent and Teacher Guide to Helping Students of All Ages Academically, Socially, and Emotionally
- To Read or Not to Read: Answers to All Your Questions About Dyslexia
- Dyslexia My Life
- Reversals: A Personal Account of Victory over Dyslexia
- Dyslexia: Seeing Spells Achieving: Improve your spelling, reading, memory, dyslexic symptoms, in any language, by using your brain the way nature intended, through NLP and visualisation
October 24th, 2005
Dyslexia
Comments on: Dyslexia Not a Myth
My son is suspected of dyslexia. He is not able to cope up with his studies. Hence I would like to know more information about dyslexia. Can you please recommend the sites and books etc.
Thanks
Newton
Posted by: newton February 23rd, 2008 at 5:23 am
Newton, this site is a great place to start, you won’t find anywhere in one place so much information at your fingertips. In fact, just above each list of replies here, is a list of relevant information and books!
Posted by: FrazzleDazzle February 23rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
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