More on the dyslexia debate

GMTV debate about the recent article

Professor Julian Elliott, who has raised doubts before about whether dyslexia exists as a medical condition, said he believes the label is used by middle-class parents terrified their children will simply be classed as low achievers.

(I should add that in the debate his point of view is actually not as grim and daft as the above quote suggests. He seems to call for more specific labelling and that some people present with symptoms that are too broad to be called dyslexia)
Watch the debate here

Dyslexia facts :

The word 'dyslexia' comes from the Greek and means 'difficulty with words'
Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty, mainly affecting reading and spelling. About 10% of the population are affected by dyslexia to some degree.
Dyslexia tends to run in families; it is known that there are several genes that contribute to a genetic risk of dyslexia.
Dyslexic people usually find it difficult to analyse and work with the sounds of spoken words, and many have difficulties with short-term memory, sequencing and organisation.
Dyslexia is not the same as a problem with reading. Many dyslexic people learn to read, but have continuing difficulties with spelling, writing, memory and organisation.

Possible difficulties you may experience being dyslexic :

Reading hesitantly
Misreading, making understanding difficult
Difficulty with sequences, e.g. getting dates in order
Poor organisation or time management
Difficulty organising thoughts clearly


The ideal thing to emerge from this debate would be more research into learning difficulties, more excavation on the specifics rather than it fading to a bunch of mudslinging in three newspaper articles.

Two links on dyslexia debate

www.Iamdyslexic.com is a website maintained by a teenager over the years charting his experience with dyslexia and the accommodations that helped him. It gives a great insight to his expereince finding strategies that work and his subsequent success at school as a result.

The Daily Telegraph speakers corner have a bunch of comments in response to their article Dyslexia -- an expensive myth? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=BLOGDETAIL&grid=P30&blog=yourview&xml=/news/2007/01/15/ublview15f.xml

You'll also find the original article by searching that newspaper site.