The pariah of dyslexia

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Science Journalist for ACAMH

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Sometimes, academia calls for a thick skin, particularly if you’re notorious for denouncing an entire area of research.

In the case of Prof Joe Elliot, the subject of his doubts – dyslexia – has also formed the backbone of his own career. I met him at a recent ACAMH conference on dyslexia in Cardiff to find why he’s so against the label.

“It’s a term that means all things to all people,” he said.

The broad application of the dyslexia diagnosis, and the resultant dilution of its meaning, is just one aspect of this area of research and practice that frustrates Joe. As well as contending that the diagnosis is inconsistently applied, depending on the context and motivations of the professional involved, Joe doubts whether dyslexia exists as a single condition at all.

“What we haven’t learnt yet is any way of differentiating in a meaningful, scientific way between a dyslexic child and a non-dyslexic poor reader,” he said. “We’ve got two kids reading two or three years below their age, what are the criteria that you can use to say one has dyslexia and one doesn’t?” he said. “No one’s done that yet. Until they do that I think it’s a load of chicken shit.”

Understandably, his dissenting views have caused some friction in the dyslexia community, although he seems comfortable wearing the controversy.

“I had dinner with the trustees of the British Dyslexia Association – it was like Lucifer being invited to the chapel choir concert,” he said.

Apart from the lack of specificity in the way the diagnosis is applied, Joe is also wary of the effect it has on those who have trouble reading, but for various reasons, miss out on the benefits of a diagnosis.

“They don’t get resources that could go to a system-wide intervention for poor readers, those resources go to the individuals who get these labels,” he said.

Joe gives examples of dyslexia diagnoses given by university disability teams on the basis of students’ mental processing speeds, or by school teachers at independent schools on the basis of working memory problems.

In both cases what is being tested is a cognitive faculty that is thought to underpin dyslexia, rather than an actual measure of reading ability, he said. He believes this focus on unproven links to brain functions that are only tangential to reading ability also undermines the effectiveness of interventions.

“You put kids in front of a computer an hour a day doing working memory tasks and they’ll get better at it, but it’s not transferable,” he said.

“Imagine we had a tennis ball and we stood in the middle of this hall and tried to hit a pillar all day,” he said. “Ultimately, we’d probably get quite good at it, would it actually cause you to become better at tennis? Probably not.”

Although the ‘dyslexic’ university student who gets a free laptop or the pupil who gets extra time in a test may be deserving of such benefits, Joe believes that assigning need in this way can entrench existing patterns of disadvantage.

“If you give the diagnosis of dyslexia everyone loves you. Parents love you, the school’s happy – they might get more resources – the kid’s happy,” he said. “Everyone’s happy, except for a kid in a tower block in Liverpool or Peckham who just seen as a thick kid and gets no help.”

He suggests an alternative approach, based on more narrowly-defined reading difficulties and interventions tailored to address these.

“We should be talking about the particular difficulties we’re concerned with and identifying which of these we should be putting resources into,” he said.

He acknowledges that other areas of practice may also suffer from overly broad diagnostic criteria, but has no misgivings about his own choice of target.

“I do think dyslexia is the most crap of all,” he said.

Hopefully, the battle he continues to wage will lead to better support for those who struggle to read, regardless of how they’re labelled.

Discussion

So far a great article.

If a person has a low reading score, then we can use the label dyslexia or reading disability. There is no difference between individuals with poor reading skills as a function of their IQ or any cognitive process. Professor Elliot is correct; there is no way to differentiate. So why not call any poor reader dyslexic? The problem is not the label “dyslexia.” The problem is a lack of logical thinking. If you have a severe reading problem, we can call you dyslexic or say that you have a reading disability

In relation to educational and social interventions labels may be more problematic and discriminatory than any possible accrued benefits. They not only blur the subtle and important distinctions between individuals but, as Tajfel showed, they also strengthen bias in favour of ‘in group members’ against members of an ‘other’ group.
Dyslexia illustrates these phenomena very powerfully.

What is Dyslexia?
Is it a child who can’t read, if so, why is that. Is it induced dyslexia because of the failings of the education system.

Why is it we have children unable to read on one end of the scale and then we have children who have been given the dyslexia label but are able to read and write and given extra time in exams on the other end of the scale. Something not right in our society where this is allowed to happen.

I’ll just add I’m dyslexic but a great reader. I simply needed to learn how I switch things in my head without meaning to. Today, I just need an extra five minutes reading menus and practing what I have to say since words constantly flip around when I read, listen, and speak when I’m tired or stressed. I am also klutzy, and I don’t recognize when I misspeak or read out of order. It’s harder to learn languages and I’ll never memorize lyrics or know how to sound things out. The difference between me and my classmates at 6 years old, is someone just sat down with me and taught me how to understand how my brains flips stuff. Then I ended up graduating university at 20 with 2 BAs. I’ll always be dyslexic but it just doesn’t effect me in any real way. Everyone should get resources. It’s just at the end of the day, dyslexia can be managed with compensation techniques. For example, using complex words reduces my risk of switching then simplified sentences. It’s just cheaper to teach dyslexics how to compensate. But 1 in 5 are dyslexic so they likely both have it.

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