Dyslexia remark stupid but.......

Graham Stringer has made himself look a complete nit-wit with his comment that there is no such thing as dyslexia, although it's not the first time such comments have been made. Professor Julian Elliott from Durham University made the same allegation three years ago and said that dyslexia was a contrived condition with no scientific or medical basis and that the reasons for its elevation as a more prevalent condition in society was because it was an 'emotional construct' designed to protect children who read badly and who, it is felt, need to feel better about themselves.




Although experts point to certain neurological traits in sufferers from dyslexia, it is true that there are no clear and accepted neurological symptoms on which every medical expert can agree.

Although Graham Stringer has clearly put himself up to be shot down, I do feel there may be something in both his and Professor Elliott's suggestion that too many kids are being defined as dyslexic simply because of poor teaching methods. No child learns to read with quite the same facility as another and my concern would be that educationalists are finding 'dyslexia' to be an easy label and including too many children in too wide a web. The worry for me here is that too many children are effectively being labeled as suffering from a disability and packed off to some special needs facility when what they really need is more individual help and a more understanding home environment.

I am certainly not joining Mr Stringer in suggesting that 'word blindness' does not exist but I am suggesting that 'dyslexia' might have joined those words it's fashionable to toss out to explain a slowness in grasping a particular skill, which probably takes something away from the 1 or 2% of children, classed as dyslexic, whose inability is total and who do need special help.