There is no such thing as dyslexia.

[VioletBaudelaire]

www.theherald.co.uk/display.var.1430434.0.0.php?utag=40859
I've had my say!

Prehaps there isn't a system that will work for everyone, but if you only have 8% of kids not being able to read at secondary level instead of 28% then its easier to help those children.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6192891.st m

"Five years ago 28% of youngsters starting secondary education in the disadvantaged area of West Dunbartonshire were functionally illiterate.

Two years later only 8% fell into this category."

I think in the early stages of primary school its best to concentrate on what works for the majority of children.

It's not a new 'theory' and some people just wouldn't admit what is obvious. I knew children who were dyslexics and i knew teachers who were developing special ways of helping dyslexic children who are often bright and talented. The argument that people want to be called dyslexic to be recognized as gifted is plain stupid. it's like saying that someone pretends to be a stammerer in order to get attention from the parents, teachers, etc. I think it's very important that dyslexia is recognized and the teachers are educated to help the children learn with dyslexia. It sometimes helps to colour the words in different colours, to write them bigger, to work with the strength of the child. It doesn't help at all to say that dyslexia doesn't exist because the child will be left to his/her own devises and struggle often in situations which could be overcome with the help of teachers, parents,etc.

This man is just misguided and likes making a name for himself. If he think that assessments don't flag up dyslexia, then I can only suggest he isn't using the right tests or that he doesn't know what to look for. His whole argument falls apart if you really look at it. He focuses on reading, but dyslexia affects more than just reading- a whole range of behaviour and learning styles.
I have been teaching yslexics- all ages- for over 10 years- and have a son now at uni who is dyslexic.

If anyone wants to read my feature on identifying dyslexia in young pre-schoolers or young children, it is in this month's My Child magazine, available at large Tescos and Borders bookshops, and other outlets.

If anyone wants to know more on a personal level, I canbe contacted on [email protected]

Sorry i haven't had time to read the whole thread - only joined MN a week ago & just found this...but, i would think if dyslexia is not genetic, then why has my dh, his dad, his uncles, aunts and Nana all showed 'symptoms' of the same type of dyslexia? Oh, and my 9 year old twins both show many signs of it too. As somebody said tho - we can't find out cos we can't afford testing .

Dh was only diagnosed at age 22, after thoroughly failing in the education system. He still has no education as he is only encouraged to improve his english and maths skills, which seems to be nearly impossible even with specialist teaching! However he did get his iq tested and was 129 on just the problem-solving part. Apparently they didn't bother with the language part

As literacy is not a biological trait it cannot be transmitted genetically, but a familial trait can be transmitted culturally. 'Thus, contrary to what practitioners may sometimes suppose, family relationship (familiality) alone is not a reliable indicator of genetic heritability' (Rice/Brooks p32) The cultural factors involved in reading disability are the transparency of the spelling code and the method used to teach reading.

www.nrdc.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_166.pdf Developmental dyslexia in adults: a research review. Rice and Brooks.

Um, Maverick, sure there isn't a gene for literacy, no problem with that, but what about the research showing the genetic markers identified for dyslexic individuals? Cultural differences are not going to impact on genes either!

Unless you are 100% certain what dyslexia is then you can't say whether its genetic or not.

My family have several people who have had problems learning to read, but are extremely bright. They have had problems learning to read because of deafness. However a bright person having problems learning to read because of being deaf is different to dyslexia.

People with poor eyesight also find learning to read harder.

If the right teaching methods were used in schools then the number of people who couldn't read would be smaller.

SEN resources could then be used to help people with REAL special needs as opposed to victems of dysteachia.

Absolutely agree that dysteachia should never have to be an issue.
I think the research into glue ear and dyslexia is a growing area at the moment. Some people feel that one can have a genetic predisposition for dyslexia that could be triggered by glue ear - and some disagree. There is still so much that we don't know.

I am 100% certain what 'dyslexia' is! Dyslexia is a descriptive term not a diagnosis of a discrete condition. There are vaste swathes of continental Europe with NO DYSLEXIA. ALL children in these particular countries (e.g. Austria, Germany) learn to read and spell within 12 weeks of starting school -I'm not making this up!

www.societyforqualityeducation.org/newsletter/archives/dreaded.pdf The Dreaded Dyslexia: It's caused by a teaching disability not a learning disability.

frances5 - im not sure how dyslexia is described but i think it would be fair to say that we are all a result, in part or our genetic make up. So even if no defective genes have been identified (yet) which might be involved in dyslexia, there is a pretty good chance that it is genetic. I do rather like the term dysteachier but i do feel it is unfair to put the problem with the teachers...0-+n (help with typing again!) but it must be difficult when teaching a class of 30 with individual needs. I guess if specific needs are identified then this is when SEN teaching is brilliant. I have heard of dyslexia being described as a different way of learning, could it just be that it is just not suited to "ordinary" teaching methods - but how to you have a system that caters for everybody - i+m wa+fflin.g
3now 013 and dd is helping so im off

i mean, we are a result in part, OF our genetic make up, not or!

So is dyslexia only a problem with reading or is it much wider?

Maverick, are you related to the McGuiness family??????????

It think that part of the problem is having millions of methods for teaching reading in the classroom. I think that the idea of different types of learners is taken to far.

Its important to look what works for the largest number of kids possible. Study after study have shown that synthetic phonics produces the smallest number of weak readers. What a lot of people fail to understand is that synthetic phonics has to be used without any alternative teaching methods. Using Jolly phonics hand actions with a good smattering of guessing from picutes is NOT sythetic phonics.

Schools make learning to read far more complicated than it should be. My five year old son is at a school that uses pure synthetic phonics. He has mastered reading easily inspite of being partially deaf. Admitally doing dication is a nightmare, but he is getting one to one help for spelling tests next year.

Learning phonics has also helped him with lipreading.

I thought dyslexia was a difference in how the brain worked pertaining to language processing. If so then why shouldn't it be genetic?
That would explain why in some places there is no dyslexia - they obviously cater for all learning styles. I don't know why our system of teaching makes it so difficult for some kids. One of my dds in particular seems to get it hard as her teacher firmly believes that if she writes a word repeatedly (up to 200 times) it will sink in. No it does not.

frances - how do you do 'ght' in phonics? Or 'tion/sion'? Cos dh is 31 and he still doesn't get it.

"One of my dds in particular seems to get it hard as her teacher firmly believes that if she writes a word repeatedly (up to 200 times) it will sink in. No it does not"

I am not surprised.

Lots of kids copy the date of the blackboard and still don't learn to spell Wednesday. Ruth Miskin do a book called Superphonics spelling that teaches children to spell.

What is the word your daughter needs to learn to spell?

Loads. Ones that look obvious and ones that don't. Got 'beautiful' once, after ages trying to write it, i taught her it myself. She can still remember it from 2 months ago I taught her it orally, but this doesn't always work.

beautiful

Put a circle round the bit that is irregular. ie. "eau". This word is french and the "oo" sound is spelt as "eau". The rest is phonetic though. You have to memorise which bit is irregular. English is a bit of a bastard language in many ways.

If a kid wrote "bootiful" in a GCSE exam the examiner would know what they meant. Admitally phonically spelt words look funny, but the reader can understand it. Only 5% of marks in a GCSE exam are for spelling, presentation and grammar. 95% of marks are for content. At least in science exams.

For example if a kid wrote "clorofill" in a science GCSE exam and used the word correctly the would proabably get some marks. If they were unlucky they might lose half a mark.

Things like 'igh' are 'phonetic' - they are just a different representation of a sound.

So you teach that the most common ways that the sound IE (as in 'pie') is represented are 'ie' ('pie'), 'y' (fly), 'i-e' (mine) and 'igh' (sight).

Have a look at this.

www.syntheticphonics.com/scroll.pdf

Phonics can get extremely complicated. Its a matter of building up gradually.

shineynewshoes, no I'm not related to the McGuinness family- but I'm a remedial reading tutor and the programme I use draws heavily on the work of Diane McGuinness It's called the Sound Reading System and using it I can teach anyone to read, (diagnosed as 'dyslexic', or not) in 15-25 lessons

Maverick - so is the programme you use similar to Phonographix, then? (I think that's what it's called??????)

Ok, fair enough, but...what if the child/adult has short term memory problems and many of the phonetic sounds just aren't remembered?
Dh can explain the ories of space and time but just don't ask him to spell 'electricity'. Dh and dds also seem to get halfway through a complicated word and forget what they've written

Honestly, I'm not sure; I am not a teacher, nor an expert. I think with the synthetic phonics teaching, it is a matter of committing sound/symbol correspondences to long-term memory, just like learning times tables. So short-term memory shouldn't be an issue.