Julian Elliott, Professor of Education at Durham University, wrote that after 30 years in education he was unconvinced that there was a clear scientific diagnosis for the condition or any treatment that could help people identified as dyslexic. more....
Is dyslexia real? Or is it, as this article suggests, that people are attracted to the label because it is conveniently free of shame, since it's supposedly associated with intelligence (sometimes downright genius). It's much easier to say someone is dyslexic than someone is not very bright.
Or is this all part of that thing that we expect everyone to be good at everything? That we no longer accept that Jimmy might not be the best at writing expository essays but he can build 3 dimensional objects with appropriate angles with no problem. Or that Jane isn't so good with spelling but can solve large-scale logistics problems. We used to make space in our communities for the daft old codger, for the foolish young girl, for the village idiot, for the man who communicated in grunts but could do detailed metalwork. Now, we all have to be well-rounded, sophisticated and skilled in everything. And if you're not, you'd better have a really important sounding reason for it.
As for whether dyslexia exists - I'm leaning more to the disteachia diagnosis. With sound, quality instruction in phonics (which is NOT filling out endless worksheets and coloring vowels) I believe most people without organic brain damage can learn to read. But they may not excel at it, it may always be hard for them, it may just not be their 'thing'. And that's OK, that's who they are.
3 comments:
I like the things you say in this post. I was trained as a Special Education teacher, but once I was 'out in the field' so to speak, all that ivory tower knowledge was not so helpful. I think we do force everyone to be good at everything these days, not allowing for people to just be themselves in productive ways.
what an awesome post. as a former educator, i remember well being sooo disillusioned once i was out in the work force. i also recall years later when teaching in college being polled on whether we should teach (and this is what it was called) Black English. my platform against it was: well, do the majority of them live and have to function in a strictly Black America? if not, then no. what next? the mind boggles at the thought of where that road would have led us.
for one thing, the premise was that we need to bend learning to fit US rather than learn how to fit in, to live, work, play with the rest of society.
the second irrationality was that we don't have to admit our weaknesses and strenghten them. uh, yeah, we do - at least that's how it works in my world.
lastly, the assumption that we have to be perfect grates. sez who? and by whose standards? i'd like to see someone rewrite the bible or the koran and attempt defining THAT one and then selling it.
I'm with you on the dysteachia...
On a similar note, there was an interesting article in The Calgary Herald this past spring about teaching handwriting, which isn't done much in schools. It's faster and easier to give each affected kid a laptop. But some parents, who know their kids won't always have a laptop at their disposal, are hiring private occupational therapists to teach their kids. And one said that the problem is very easy to solve -- practice often while the kids are young. But that would be too easy, eh? Better to throw a laptop at them around Grade 5...
Sorry, don't know why I went off on a tangent. Must get more coffee ASAP lol.
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